Using concept maps to teach reading to efl learners at ho chi minh city university of technical education m a 60 14 10

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HOCHIMINH CITY
UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE

USING CONCEPT MAPS TO TEACH READING
TO EFL LEARNERS AT HO CHI MINH CITY
UNIVERSITY OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION

Submitted to the
Department of English Linguistics & Literature
in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL

By
LE THI BICH THUAN
Supervised by
LUU TRONG TUAN, PHD

HO CHI MINH CITY, JUNE 2011


i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my thanks to many people who have assisted my study.
To my supervisor, Dr. Luu Trong Tuan, I owe a special debt of gratitude for his
patient guidance, encouragement, valuable comments and suggestions, and
constructive supervision throughout my research. Without his generous support, I
could not have finished this thesis.
I would like to thank my friends of this MA course, TESOL 2008, for their useful
advice, support, encouragement and willingness to share their resources and
experience.

I am indebted to all of my teachers in the MA course for their instruction.
My sincere thanks also go to my students at Ho Chi Minh City University of
Technical Education who have enthusiastically participated in the study.
The support extended to me by members of my family has been immeasurable. I am
deeply grateful to my parents, my brother and my sister for their support and
encouragement throughout the course and the completion of this thesis.


ii

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY

I certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled:

USING CONCEPT MAPS TO TEACH READING
TO EFL LEARNERS AT HO CHI MINH CITY
UNIVERSITY OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION

in terms of the statement of the Requirements for the Theses in Master’s Program
issued by the Higher Degree Committee. This thesis has not been submitted for the
award of any degree or diploma in any other institutions.

Ho Chi Minh City, June 2011

Le Thi Bich Thuan


iii

RETENTION OF USE

I hereby state that I, LE THI BICH THUAN, being the candidate for the degree of
Master of Arts in TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the
retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the Library.
In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in the
Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance with
the normal conditions established by the Library for the care, loan or reproduction of
theses.

Ho Chi Minh City, June 2011

Le Thi Bich Thuan


iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements --------------------------------------------------------------------------i
Statement of originality --------------------------------------------------------------------- ii
Retention and use -------------------------------------------------------------------------- iii
Table of contents --------------------------------------------------------------------------- iv
List of tables ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- vii
List of figures ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ vii
List of charts ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- vii
Abstract--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ix
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ------------------------------------------------------ 1
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY ------------------------------------------------ 1
1.2 PURPOSES OF THE THESIS ------------------------------------------------------ 4
1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS --------------------------------------------------------- 5
1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY ------------------------------------------------ 5
1.5 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY ---------------------------------------------- 5

Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ------------------------------------------------- 7
2.1 CONCEPT MAPS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 7
2.1.1 Overview of the emergence of concept mapping -------------------------------- 7
2.1.2 Defining concept maps and concept mapping ------------------------------------ 8
2.1.3 The theoretical underpinning of concept maps --------------------------------- 13
2.1.4 Concept map creation -------------------------------------------------------------- 14
2.1.5 Other visualization techniques of ideas mapping ------------------------------ 17
2.1.6 Procedures for constructing a concept map in second and foreign language
teaching class ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 22
2.2 THE LINKAGES BETWEEN CONCEPT MAPS AND LANGUAGE
LEARNING -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 25
2.2.1 Concept mapping as a form of pre-task planning ------------------------------ 25


v

2.2.2 Concept maps facilitate knowledge acquisition via meaningful learning --- 27
2.2.3 Concept maps assess learners’ critical thinking -------------------------------- 30
2.2.4 Concept mapping as a means to facilitate reading comprehension ---------- 32
2.2.5 Concept maps enrich classroom discourse -------------------------------------- 35
2.3 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK -------------------------------------------------- 36
2.4 SUMMARY --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 37
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY --------------------------------------------------- 38
3.1 RESEARCH QUESTIONS --------------------------------------------------------- 38
3.2 RESEARCH DESIGN --------------------------------------------------------------- 39
3.2.1 Study setting ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 39
3.2.2 Participants -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 39
3.2.3 Experimental teaching ------------------------------------------------------------- 45
3.2.4 Instruments -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 47
3.2.4.1 Tests -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 47

3.2.4.2 Questionnaire --------------------------------------------------------------------- 48
3.2.4.3 Observation ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 51
3.2.5 Materials ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 53
3.2.6 Data collection procedures -------------------------------------------------------- 53
3.2.7 Data analysis procedures ---------------------------------------------------------- 54
3.3 SUMMARY --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 54
CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ------------------------- 55
4.1 DATA ANALYSIS ------------------------------------------------------------------ 55
4.1.1 Posttest results ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 55
4.1.2 Results from Questionnaire 2 ----------------------------------------------------- 56
4.1.2.1 Pre-reading activities in previous courses ------------------------------------- 56
4.1.2.2 Students’ opinions towards teacher’s application of concept mapping in
reading class ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 57


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4.1.2.3 Students’ attitudes toward benefits of concept mapping in reading ------- 58
4.1.2.4 Students’ attitudes towards the difficulties in concept mapping ----------- 63
4.1.2.5 Learners’ expectation toward the use of concept mapping ------------------ 65
4.1.2.6 Learners’ application of concept maps in extensive reading ----------------- 66
4.1.2.7 Students’ self-assessment of their English competence after the reading
class using concept maps ------------------------------------------------------------------ 66
4.1.2.8 Learners’ perceptions of their confidence after the reading class using
concept maps ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 67
4.1.3 Results from classroom observations --------------------------------------------- 68
4.2 DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS ------------------------------------------------------ 71
4.3 SUMMARY ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 73
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ----------------- 75
5.1 CONCLUSION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 75

5.2 IMPLICATIONS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 77
5.3 RECOMMENDATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------- 80
5.3.1 A framework for concept maps ---------------------------------------------------- 80
5.3.2 For teachers -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 81
5.3.3 For learners --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 84
5.3.4 For the administrators --------------------------------------------------------------- 85
5.4 LIMITATION -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 85
5.5 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH --------------------------------- 86
REFERENCES ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 87
APPENDICES
APPENDIX 1: Reading Pretest ---------------------------------------------------------- 96
APPENDIX 2: Reading Posttest --------------------------------------------------------- 98
APPENDIX 3: Questionnaire 1 (Vietnamese Version) ----------------------------- 100
APPENDIX 4: Questionnaire 1 (English Version) ---------------------------------- 101


vii

APPENDIX 5: Questionnaire 2 (Vietnamese Version) ----------------------------- 102
APPENDIX 6: Questionnaire 2 (English Version) ----------------------------------- 105
APPENDIX 7: Observation ------------------------------------------------------------- 108
APPENDIX 8: Classroom observation summary ------------------------------------ 110
APPENDIX 9: Lesson plan-------------------------------------------------------------- 111
APPENDIX 10: Concept maps constructed by students ---------------------------- 114
APPENDIX 11: The paper entitled “THE LINKAGES BETWEEN CONCEPT
MAPS AND LANGUAGE LEARNING” -------------------------------------------- 117

LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1: A comparison of concept maps and mind maps ---------------------- 18-19
Table 3.1: Students’ age ------------------------------------------------------------------- 40

Table 3.2: Students’ gender --------------------------------------------------------------- 41
Table 3.3: The place where the students attended high school ---------------------- 41
Table 3.4: Students’ English learning length ------------------------------------------- 42
Table 3.5: Information regarding whether students had attended extra English classes
elsewhere ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 42
Table 3.6: Other places where students had attended extra English classes ------- 43
Table 3.7: Descriptive statistics for the pretest scores -------------------------------- 44
Table 4.1: Group statistics for reading posttest scores -------------------------------- 55
Table 4.2: The output produced by the t-test analysis of the reading posttest scores-55
Table 4.3: Pre-reading activities in previous courses ---------------------------------- 57
Table 4.4: Impact of concept mapping on motivation -------------------------------- 59
Table 4.5: Impact of concept mapping on activation of learners’ cognition ------- 60
Table 4.6: Impact of concept mapping on activation of prior knowledge----------- 60
Table 4.7: Other benefits of the use of concept maps in reading lessons ----------- 61
Table 4.8: Impact of concept mapping on learners’ cooperativeness ---------------- 63
Table 4.9: How difficult the students found in concept mapping -------------------- 63


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Table 4.10: Difficulties in concept mapping -------------------------------------------- 64
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.1: Concept Map about Concept Maps by Novak --------------------------- 10
Figure 2.2: Improved concept map of Johanna concerns her municipality ‘Parikkala’
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12
Figure 2.3: Concept map of “Intellectual Stimulation” -------------------------------- 17
Figure 2.4: Conceptual framework ------------------------------------------------------ 36
Figure 3.1: Summary of research instruments ------------------------------------------ 52
Figure 4.1: Summary of the findings ----------------------------------------------------- 74
LIST OF CHARTS

Chart 4.1: Students’ opinions towards teacher’s application of concept mapping in
reading class ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 58
Chart 4.2: Learners’ expectation for the use of concept mapping ------------------- 65
Chart 4.3: Students’ application of concept maps in extensive reading ------------ 66
Chart 4.4: Students’ self-assessment of their English competence after the reading class
using concept maps

67

Chart 4.5: Learners’ perceptions of their confidence after the reading class using concept
maps ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 68


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ABSTRACT
This study sought to investigate the impacts of concept mapping on reading
comprehension and to examine the students’ attitudes toward reading lessons using
concept maps. 77 EFL learners from two reading classes, one treated as the
experimental group and the other as the control group, at Ho Chi Minh City
University of Technical Education (HCMUTE) participated in this research.
The data from reading posttest scores was to examine whether concept mapping
affects the students’ reading performance, questionnaires to get the students’
background information and explore their reflections on the learning process, and
observations to discover the students’ attitudes toward concept maps in reading
activities and the potential impacts of concept mapping on reading comprehension.
The findings show that although there was no significant difference in learners’
performance on reading test between the two groups after the experimental teaching,
concept mapping achieved some merit outcomes such as enhancing motivation and
engagement, stimulating and facilitating reading process and recall, and increasing

support and understanding among participants. Results substantiate that concept
mapping worked well in reading class. Therefore, the research suggests applying
concept mapping to teaching reading. Some implications and recommendations,
moreover, are made for both practice and research.


1

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
This study is conducted in an attempt to investigate the impact of concept maps
on EFL learners’ reading comprehension and the students’ attitudes toward reading
lessons using concept maps at HCMUTE. This section provides an introduction of the
study by presenting its background, purposes, research questions, significance, and
organization of the study.
1.6 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
In order to become successful language learners, the learners should equip
themselves with effective learning strategies. The role of learning strategies is defined
by Park (1995) as the ‘‘mental activities that people use when they study to help
themselves acquire, organize, or remember incoming knowledge more efficiently’’ (p.
435). Various learning strategies have been proposed to help students to become more
sophisticated learners, to facilitate their learning and thus to achieve their desired
objectives in the life long learning. These strategies include meaningful learning,
organizing, note taking, identifying important information, and summarizing
(Pressley, 1982; Weinstein, 1988).
The first notion, meaningful learning, takes place when the students integrate
new concepts and propositions into his or her existing conceptual frameworks in order
to remember and receive meaning for new knowledge (Ausubel, Novak, & Hanesian,
1986). In this process, the students should think in more complex and critical manner,
which involves categorizing, inferring, summarizing, comparing and contrasting,

evaluating, etc., rather than in a simple linear manner. Novak and his research group
(Novak, 1981; Novak, Gowin, & Johansen, 1983; Novak & Gowin, 1984) were
interested in differences between rote and meaningful learning, and in the role of prior


2

knowledge in learning. Their research led to the development of concept mapping,
which is considered as significant innovation in education in recent years.
Concept mapping, according to Novak and Cañas (2006), is a graphical tool for
organizing and representing knowledge in propositional statements that illustrates the
relationships among the concepts. As a result, learners can understand, retain and
recall the subject better when they employ concept maps to represent and organize
information (Chularut & DeBacker, 2004). In fact, numerous studies in many
educational settings (in Western and Asian cultures, in public and private schools, in
different language skills, at different phases of teaching, with learners of different age
ranges and levels) have clearly demonstrated the positive impact of concept mapping
in diverse contexts (Dyer, 1985; Chiang & Guo, 1997; Chang, Sung, and Chen, 2002;
Chularut & DeBacker, 2004; Ojima, 2006; Fadhilah, 2009; Liu, Chen, and Chang,
2010). This indicates the potential of this strategy in the realm of language teaching
and learning.
In Asian countries in general and in Vietnam in particular, rote learning has
dominant in the language teaching and learning for many years because of the
influence of Confucian philosophy, which emphasized imitation and memorization
(Scollon, 1999). With this mode of learning, there is little or no attempt to make the
information meaningful or to understand it in association with related pieces of
information one already possesses. As a result, the information stored in this
unconnected and isolated fashion becomes difficult to retrieve (Okebukola, 1990).
Moreover, little research has been done that is relevant to concept mapping as a
meaningful strategy in Vietnam although the interest in this strategy is growing in

many parts of the world. This strategy, hence, captures the researcher’s attention for
conducting the study in the Vietnamese context.
In order to meet the ever-increasing needs of society about English
competence, HCMUTE has called for a change in teaching method, which can make


3

the learners involve themselves actively in the learning process. In response to this
demand, the teachers at HCMUTE try to make their teaching more meaningful and
increase students’ independence and engagement in their learning. As an English
language teacher of HCMUTE, the researcher found it essential to carry out an
investigation into the feasibility of concept mapping as a strategy in language teaching
at HCMUTE.
Another source of inspiration of this study is the concern over EFL learners’
reading ability in Vietnam. Although reading comprehension in English has played an
important role in students’ academic success and further in their life long learning
because it gives them the possibility of accessing written materials on practically any
subjects (Salinger, 2003; Dolehanty, 2008; Liu et al., 2010), many students at
HCMUTE do not understand English texts well (Nguyen Thi Toan Ngoc, 2007). It is
crucial for EFL learners to acquire reading skills and the communicative approach has
been formally required for teaching reading class at HCMUTE. However, teaching
students how to read involves focusing on increasing the learners’ vocabulary size and
requiring them to answer a series of comprehension questions. Seldom do the teachers
teach the students how to use reading strategies effectively to improve their reading
comprehension;

consequently,

learners

encounter

a

lot

of

difficulties

in

comprehending English texts which lead to low performance in their English reading
comprehension tests (Tsao, 2004; Ta Tu Quynh, 2004, p.2; Le Thai Hung, 2008, p.5).
This teaching way usually brings boredom to the students because there is a regular
absence of visual teaching tools and discussion in teaching reading. In fact, the
teachers prefer traditional text-based teaching styles to innovative teaching styles
because the traditional one is easy and not time-consuming for designing lesson plans
and finding unavailable teaching tools. In addition, the students find it difficult to
understand the text because of their limited knowledge of the world and their lack of
effective and systematic tools in organizing ideas of a reading text. Therefore, the
teachers need a more effective way of teaching reading lessons which deepens the


4

students’ understanding of content using visual literacy skills, involves discussion and
covers three sets of activities: namely pre-reading, while-reading, and post-reading. A
large number of studies have found that concept mapping strategy can enhance

learners’ reading comprehension (Dyer, 1985; Carrel, Pharis & Liberto, 1989; Chiang
& Guo, 1997; Huang, 2000; Chang et al., 2002; Le Thai Hung, 2008; Fadhilah, 2009;
Liu et al., 2010). By showing the relationships among concepts, this strategy offers
the learners a more systematic and organized way to clarify the important concepts of
a reading text (Eppler, 2006, pp. 202 – 204; Liu et al., 2010, p. 436). These findings
also indicate that concept mapping can be taught to learners, and when taught, the
students can improve their performance on reading comprehension tests. This led to
the implementation of the study on concept mapping in reading classes.
All in all, this section has presented the inspirations for the study on concept
maps in reading classes at HCMUTE. The main purpose of this research is to
investigate the possible effects of concept mapping on EFL learners’ reading
comprehension. This paper attempts to help students not only achieve competence and
autonomy in reading English by providing them with efficient reading strategy but
also motivate them to involve themselves actively in classroom activities.
1.7 PURPOSES OF THE THESIS
Because mastering reading is important for students not only at university but
also in their life after graduation, teachers should constantly search for innovative
teaching tools to enhance teaching and learning by getting the learners actively
involved. The aims of this study are to investigate the feasibility of concept mapping
as a strategy into teaching reading in Vietnam in general and at HCMUTE in
particular, to find out the impacts of concept maps on the learners’ reading
comprehension competence, to examine students’ attitudes towards the concept
mapping implementation in reading lessons, and to offer recommendations


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concerning the use of concept maps in reading classes and future research in the
related field.

1.8 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
In order to achieve the purposes of the study, the research is going to find out
the answers to these questions:
1) To what extent does the application of concept maps impact EFL learners’
reading comprehension?
2) What are EFL learners’ attitudes toward lessons using concept maps?
1.9 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Although the interest in concept mapping is growing in many parts of the
world, little research concerning the practicality of this strategy in language teaching
in Vietnam. Therefore, the research is intended to make a contribution to English
reading teaching by showing the learners concept mapping as a helpful tool in
learning reading as well as stimulating their love for reading and enhancing learners’
autonomy to continue reading outside the classroom and after their course. Also, the
implications and suggestions of this research on concept maps will encourage the
teachers to conduct the concept mapping strategy in classroom. The study is necessary
for the English learners and teachers of the HCMUTE and can serve as a reference for
the English learners and teachers of other universities.
1.10 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY
The thesis is organized in five chapters.
Chapter 1 introduces the background of the study, purposes, research
questions, significance, and the structure of the thesis.


6

Chapter 2 reviews relevant literature of concept maps and the linkages between
concept maps and language learning as well as an overview of the related researches
in the world and in Vietnamese context.
Chapter 3 presents the methodology employed to conduct the study with a
presentation of research question, and research design, including the study setting,

participants, experimental teaching, instruments, materials, data collection procedures,
and data analysis procedures.
Chapter 4 deals with the analysis of the collected data, the findings, and
discussion of research findings.
Chapter 5 consists of conclusion, implications and recommendations regarding
the application of concept maps in reading classes at HCMUTE. Limitation of the
thesis and suggestions for further research are also included in this final chapter.


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CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
In order to know how to apply effectively concept mapping into practice to
solve the problem of reading comprehension teaching, it is noteworthy to work out its
theory. This chapter reviews the literature to investigate the construct of concept maps
as well as the relationship between concept maps and language learning.
2.1 CONCEPT MAPS
2.1.1 Overview of the emergence of concept mapping
Concept mapping has been widely used in science, mathematics, educational
psychology, management and language pedagogy. The purpose of this section is to
present an overview of the main trends of thought that have led to the interest in
concept mapping as an instructional and learning tool to facilitate the development of
learners’ critical thinking, understanding, and remembering the facts.
It would be fascinating to see some historical examples of early graphical
organizers. Since the term “concept mapping” was not around at that time, they were
referred to as tree diagrams. The earliest known graphic knowledge representation of
concepts and their relationships is the tree of Porphyry, emerging in 280 A.D
(Ahlberg, 2008). Ramon Llull (1232-1315), whose writings developed Romance
Catalan language and influenced Neoplatonic mysticism throughout 17 th – century

Europe, also used these structures of tree diagram to arrange knowledge (Horton,


8

Lovitt, & Bergerud, 1990). In one of his diagrams called the “Tree of Knowledge”
(approximately 1270 A.D), the core concept is the central theme and this theme is
surrounded by subordinate concepts (Nast, 2006). It is surprising to know that the
graphical display of knowledge or concept of knowledge visualization using color,
lines, and association to assist human thinking was well known by medieval times and
already 1000 years old by this time.
The notion of concept maps dates back to research team at Cornell University
in 1972 when they studied science concept learning in children (Afamasaga-Fuata’i,
2009). In 1979, Stewart, Van Kirk, and Rowell (1979, p. 171) claimed in their book
“The American Biology Teacher” that they developed concept maps. However, the
links in their concept maps were not named and therefore no propositions were
formed from concepts. This means these concept maps can be understood only when
the authors explain. Later, in 1984, Novak and Gowin referred to Stewart et al. (1979)
and emphasized the importance of identifying relationships through labeled links and
concept maps were subsequently developed. In Novak’s concept maps, the links were
named and meaningful propositions were created out of concepts. This is the form of
Novakian concept maps that has been spread over the world (Ahlberg, 2004) and is
considered as significant innovation in education.
2.1.2 Defining concept maps and concept mapping
Many researchers tried to give out the definition of concept maps and concept
mapping. Novak (1992) shortly described a concept map as an organizational tool to
represent knowledge. Lanzing (1996) described concept mapping as a technique that
can demonstrate how people visualize relationships between various concepts. Liu et
al. (2010) proposed that concept mapping is “a strategy (1) that helps learners organize

(1)

Strategy / strategies are “deliberate actions that students take in order to facilitate the learning,

recall of both linguistic and content area information.” (Chamot cited in Ellis 1999, p.531)


9

information through visual aids” (p. 436). The definition for concept maps is given in
the latest introduction and instructions of the Novakian types of concept maps by
Novak and Cañas (2006):
Concept maps are graphical tools for organizing and representing knowledge. They
include concepts, usually enclosed in or boxes of some type, and relationships
between concepts indicated by a connecting line linking two concepts. Words on the
line, referred to as linking words or linking phrases, specify the relationship between
the two concepts. The result of linking two concepts is a proposition […]
Propositions are statements about some object or event […] Propositions contain two
or more concepts connected using linking words or phrases to form a meaningful
statement.

(p. 1)
In other words, concept maps represent meaningful relationships between
concepts in the form of propositions. Also for Novak (1992), concept is defined as a
“perceived regularity in events or objects” and represented by words or symbols while
propositions, a unique feature of concept maps, are considered as “statements about
an object or event, natural or constructed” and they consist of two or more concepts
connected by a linking relationship that form unit of meaning (Novak, 1992, p.1).
Cross-link, which shows interrelationships between ideas in different map segments,
is a variation of proposition. It helps us “see how a concept in one domain of

knowledge is related to a concept in another domain represented on the map” and
“represents creative leaps” of the map creator in his or her new knowledge
development process (Novak & Cañas, 2006). Linking words may be general or

- Reading strategy “indicates how readers conceive a task, how they make sense of what they read,
and what they do when they do not understand. In short, such strategies are processes used by the
learner to enhance reading comprehension and overcome comprehension failures” (Singhal, 2001,
p.1).


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specific to the content area mapped. Examples of general linking words include
“contains”, “occurs in”, “is”, “uses”, “produces”, "involved in", "have", “such as”, etc.
(Noyd, 1998, para. 4).
Traditional concept maps include labeled concepts, directional arrows, linking
words, lines suggesting hierarchical relationships, graphic representation of concepts
and propositions conveying relationship among different concepts (Wheeldon &
Faubert, 2009). For Novak and Cañas (2006), concept maps have the hierarchical
structure in which the most general and inclusive concepts are put at the top and the
more concrete and specific ones are at the bottom of the map. Figure 2.1 illustrates the
concept map about “concept maps”. The figure shows that the domain is concept map;
key

concepts

are

“organized

knowledge”,

“focus

questions”,

“concepts”,

“propositions”, etc.; linking words are “show”, “is”, “begin with”, etc.; propositions
are “concepts are hierarchy structured”, “concepts are labeled”, etc.; and cross-link is
“linking words are used to form propositions.”


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Figure 2.1: Concept Map about Concept Maps by Novak
[Source: the IHMC Internal Cmap server, part of the CmapTools network
(Cañas, Hill, Pérez, Granados, & Pérez, 2003)]
As seen above, these definitions about concept maps have something in
common: concept maps are diagrams that represent relationships among concepts and
concept mapping is a strategy that visually displays the knowledge structure of given
topics and the connections between this structure.


12

As mentioned above, the ideal concept map has hierarchy. Nevertheless, many
researchers raised question about the basic assumption concerning this hierarchical
structure of knowledge in concept maps (Ruiz-Primo & Shavelson, 1996; Hibberd,
Jones & Morris, 2002; Ahlberg, 2004). For example, Ruiz-Primo and Shavelson

(1996, p. 578) showed their concern about this issue and proposed that it is not
necessary to assign the hierarchical structure to concept maps because “if the content
structure is hierarchical, a hierarchical map should be observed”. In a similar vein,
Hibberd et al. (2002) argued that concept maps allow hierarchical and network
structures. Likewise, in his “Varieties of concept mapping”, Ahlberg (2004) gave
strong support to the view that there is no need to follow some unnecessarily complex
rules in Novak’s standards and proposed some elements of an improved method of
concept mapping. For instance, he suggested that many words can be included in a
concept label instead of short verbal labels, that it is not only when links are
horizontal or are read upwards that arrows are used but all links between concepts
have arrowheads to show in which direction the connection from one concept to
another is to be read, that multimedia resources can be inserted to concept maps, and
numbers may be included to clarify the order in which the propositions should be
read, etc. (For the full list and further explanation, see Ahlberg, 2004)


13

Figure 2.2 Improved concept map of Johanna concerns her municipality ‘Parikkala’
(Source: Ahlberg & Ahoranta, 2002)
Ahlberg’s view is that although hierarchies are natural ways of presenting
human knowledge, we should consider how concepts are linked to each other in our
thinking. Because the world is a system and everything in the universe is connected in
some way, network or conceptual system can be the best conceptual representation of
concept maps. In order to give sound support for this, he added “any learning theory


14

is compatible with improved concept mapping, because it is as general as language

itself” (Ahlberg, 2008, para. 12).
2.1.3 The theoretical underpinning of concept maps
It can be said that the idea of concept map is based on two cognitive theories of
memory: Assimilation Theory of Ausubel (1968) and Associationist Theory of Deese
(1965) (Croasdell, Freeman, & Urbaczewski, 2003, p. 397).
According to Fraser (1993), the fundamental idea in assimilation theory is that
“memory is hierarchical and new information is processed and stored as either a more
general or more specific concept to other, related and added, i.e., assimilated into the
existing structure” (as quoted in Croasdell et al., 2003, p. 397). As can be noticed,
Ausubel’s learning theory stressed the assimilation of new information into the
students’ prior knowledge structure. In that light, meaningful learning

(2)

takes place

when the students integrate new concepts and propositions into his or her existing
conceptual frameworks in order to remember and receive meaning for new
knowledge.
For example, if you have known the concepts “dog”, “bird”, “cat”, “human”,
when you learn the concept “animal”, your brain will naturally place it into the
hierarchy “above” the other already learned concepts. Likewise, if the concepts
“eagle” and “canary” were studied later, they would be put “under” the concept “bird”
(ibid., p. 397).
In contrast, associationist theory states that memory consists of a conceptual
network that is not organized in a top-down fashion, although it is supported by

(2)

Meaningful learning: learning with understanding which is not manifested in behaviour, but which

can be described as ‘a clearly articulated and precisely differentiated conscious experience that
emerges when potentially meaningful signs, symbols, concepts, or propositions are related to and
incorporated within a given individual’s cognitive structure’(Ausubel, 1967, p. 10).


15

hierarchies. In this manner, memory structure in Deese’s theory is much more flexible
and natural. When two concepts, which have nonhierarchical connections, overlap on
some dimensions, relationships between them are formed naturally. In this learning
process, the learner’s network of concepts and relationships becomes more
complicated and sophisticated. The memory structure in Associationist Theory, in the
end, seems to be more or less the same as Assimilation Theory, except the rigid
hierarchical framework.
In sum, although two theories above are different in their explanation of
memory structure, they both “eventually arrived at the same place” – a concept map
(Shavelson, Lang, & Lewin, 1994, p. 16). Whatever theories support it, concept map
is used to display explicitly an individual’s cognitive structure.
2.1.4 Concept map creation
In his doctoral dissertation “Theory Based Use of Concept Mapping in
Organization Development: Creating Shared Understanding as a Basis for the
Cooperative Design of Work Changes and Changes in Working Relationships”, Fraser
(1993) based on the work of Novak and Gowin (1984), and Ausubel’s (1968)
Assimilation Theory, has proposed the rules for the construction of concept maps:
1. Concepts are located in rectangles or other geometric forms. Concepts can be
represented by single key words or phrases or simple drawings. Arcs are lines used to
connect the concepts. Linking words are sometimes written on the arcs to describe the
relationship between the two concepts.
2. The linking words should specifically explicate the relationship between the two
concepts. Together with the two concepts, the linking words form a proposition –

such as “the grass is green” from the concepts “grass”, “green”, and the linking word
“is”. It should be noted that the literature views these linking words as optional in
terms of concept map construction.