思维导图在初中英语词汇教学中的应用—以翼教版初中英语八年级下册Unit1 lesson1为例

论文总字数：33923字

摘 要

在初中英语教学中，单词是最基本的元素。然而，记忆单词却往往成为学生学习英语中的主要障碍。将思维导图应用于英语词汇教学，不仅能扩大学生的词汇量，提升学生的词汇记忆效率，还能提高其学习兴趣、思维品质和自学能力。本文以 How is the weather 为例, 采用思维导图的方式进行词汇教学，并以问卷的形式，与传统的词汇教学方法进行比较，从而探寻出思维导图应用于初中英语词汇课堂的教学效果 。

关键词：思维导图；初中英语；词汇教学；应用

Contents

1. Introduction .6

1.1 Background of the study 6

1.2 Contents and methods of the study 6

1.3 Significance of the study 6

2. Literature Review 7

2.1 The definition of mind mapping 7

2.2 Types of mind mapping 8

2.3 Theoretical basis of Mind Mapping 8

2.4 Status of Mind Mapping abroad and at home 9

3. Design of case ‘How is the weather’ 10

3.1 Concept of Junior English Vocabulary Teaching 11

3.2 Research questions 11

3.3 Research objects 11

3.4 Research steps 12

4. Results and discussions 16

4.1 The influence of Mind Mapping Model on students’ attitudes toward English vocabulary teaching 17

4.2 The influence of Mind Mapping Model on students’ memory abilities 19

4.3 The influence of Mind Mapping Model from teachers’ perspectives 21

4.4 Implications for future English vocabulary teaching 21

4.5 Limitations of the research and suggestion for future studies 22

5. Conclusion 22

Works Cited 24

Appendix 1 25

Appendix 3 27

1. Introduction

1.1 Background of the study

Vocabulary is the basic elementary component of language, which is closely linked with pronunciation and grammar. To learn a foreign language, one shall learn vocabulary at the very start. "Provided that structure is the skeleton of language, vocabulary is the organ and flesh." Vocabulary learning is the foundation of language learning. D.A.Wilkins (1972) once described the importance of vocabulary in communication in his Linguistics in Language Teaching“without grammar, very little can be conveyed; without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed”. It can be seen that only when you master applicable amount of words can you keep on learning the language smoothly and make better use of the language for communication and expression. Words in English have abundant meaning and flexible collocation, so learning words is not an easy matter for students. Thus, how to lecture on and learn English vocabulary with advantage has become a hot issue in the language field in recent years.

1.2 Contents and methods of the study

This research mainly adopts the following two research methods to carry out research work. Using questionnaire survey method and case analysis method, this research analyzes two classes of teachers and students in Grade 8 of Jinhu experimental middle school in Huai "an. The author conducted a study to apply the mind map of vocabulary to the teaching of "How"s the weather ", and explored the application of the mind map of vocabulary in the middle school. In order to fetch up the shortage of information in the questionnaire and to understand the inadequacy of the defects, the author has designed some interviews to reflect on and summarize the inadequacies of the design of the event and the implementation of the case.

1.3 Significance of the study

In the preparatory work for the research of this paper, the author collected a large amount of documents and materials related to mind mapping, junior high school English, and analyzed and collated the data, which confirmed the feasibility of research, as well as provided theoretical basis and reference for future teaching practice. Through the previous literacy research, the author finds that it is worthwhile to carry out the empirical research of mind mapping model.This study is of significance in the following aspects:

1. In theory, through the research of this subject, it is not only conducive to the overall improvement of teaching quality, but also conducive to the professional growth of teachers.
2. In practice, it provides a reference for the application of mind mapping in the teaching of English vocabulary in similar schools.

2. Literature Review

2.1 The definition of mind mapping

“The so-called mind mapping is also called mind map. It is a graphic thinking tool used for representing radioactive thinking. Mind mapping has simple and effective characteristics. As a thinking tool with revolutionary nature, it uses the way of excellent picture and its accompanying essay to connect principal parts at all levels and shows words and expressions and vocabularies with membership function through hierarchical relationship and finding new tree-shaped relationship. Mind mapping follows ways of thinking such as divergent thinking and centralized thinking on framework and carries out divergent representation for words and expressions and vocabularies of peripheral themes related to central word. Looking from physiological angle, this representation can fully mobilize joint collaboration of left brain thinking and right brain thinking to understand and remember a certain kind of knowledge. This method of memory that centers on the central point can reframe, reclassify and recreate knowledge in learners’ mind, make new knowledge integrate with old knowledge in learners’ mind to achieve the goal of improving learning efficiency. With continuous development of relevant theories, application of mind mapping in language teaching begins to be acknowledged by educational circles. In terms of nature of fragmentation of language teaching, using mind mapping to systematically sort fragmented language and words can help to improve students’ learning efficiency and enhance students’ language competence. Meanwhile, mind mapping can exercise students’ mind in the application process, which helps students to achieve the purpose of jointly developing the left and right brain, improving thinking ability of students’ mind as well as enhancing their learning efficiency.” (Farrand, 2012).

2.2 Types of mind mapping

There are quite a few kinds of structure frames of mind map, which can flexibly reflect the part of speech and its collocations. At the same time, the mind map is combined with some graphics to present the vocabulary more directly, which is convenient for visual absorption. To some extent, it can help students improve their vocabulary learning ability and solve the difficulties of memorizing vocabulary mechanically, or by the provider of certain services, to differentiate the source of goods or services.

2.3 Theoretical basis of Mind Mapping

2.3.1 Knowledge Visualization

Knowledge Visualization refers to the graphical means that can be used to construct, convey and express complex knowledge, in addition to conveying facts, and helps others to correctly reconstruct, memorize and apply knowledge. The goal of knowledge visualization is also to transfer human knowledge. The structural characteristics of knowledge visualization fully conform to the physiological mechanism of human brain. Knowledge is expressed graphically, which provides a good supplement for language-based understanding, greatly reduces the cognitive load of language channels and accelerates the occurrence of thinking. It is not only visual, but also in line with the working principle of the brain. It can give full play to the function of the right brain and become a powerful supplement to other forms such as words.

2.3.2 Constructivism

Constructivist learning refers to the process in which learners actively construct knowledge through interpersonal cooperation with the use of relevant study materials under a certain social and cultural background. Learners" absorption of knowledge reflects the process of meaning construction of language and culture. Constructivism enables the educate to have a deeper understanding of the nature and regularity of the things reflected in the learning contents, as well as the internal relationship between the things and other things.

2.3.3 Information processing theory

Information processing theory proposed by Craik and Lockhart holds that only when the information is retold in a deep and meaningful way can the memory effect be improved. Learning is a process in which information is transmitted, processed and stored in the brain. The human brain is an information processing system, in which input information is selected and processed in a hierarchical structure. Human beings process the information they receive rather than just passively reacting to the stimulus. Relevant scholars claim that the more detailed information is processed, the better the memory effect of information will be. As learners move from surface activities such as pronunciation and spelling of words to large-scale activities such as the word meaning and related linguistic knowledge, memory becomes more durable. The application of mind mapping in English teaching is essentially a process of reserving knowledge in depth, through which better memory can be achieved.

2.4 Status of Mind Mapping abroad and at home

In foreign countries, applied research of mind mapping in the areas of education have reached great maturity. Educational institutions in countries, to name only a few, Britain, the United States, Singapore have begun to study and explore this subject in depth. Professors who take office in prestigious universities such as Harvard and Yale are keen on using mind maps for teaching.

In China, it is not very early to start the research and study of mind mapping. The publication of the book, "the life of learning," by John Kovos, appeared in 1978, when the mind mapping floated across the sea into China, where researchers and educators began to probe and drill. From that, many scholars have began to take a great interest in Mind Mapping. From 2009 till 2019, there has been a growing body of research on Mind Mapping. When searching for mind maps of keywords in CNKI, more than 6,000 articles can be found, as shown in the table below (Table 2-1).

Table2-1 The distribution of related articles in recent years

From the above table, it can be seen that literature on mind mapping is soaring year by year, especially in the last few years since 2006, which indicates that people begin to pay more attention to the research and application of mind map.

Through the analysis of these articles, it can be concluded that the current research on mind mapping is mainly divided into three categories: the study of mind mapping theory, the application of mind mapping in teaching practice and the study of mind mapping software. Up to now, numerous experts have dedicated themselves to probing the application of mind mapping in vocabulary teaching practice. Cui Beibei (2012) adopts a case study, proving that the effectiveness of Mind Mapping in promoting English Word Recognition of primary school students by designing an English Word Map that conforms to the cognitive habits of primary school students.. Liu zhibin (2014) explored the effect of making use of mind mapping to storage English words for college students. Liu Yan"s master"s thesis "An Empirical Study on English Vocabulary Teaching Based on Mind Mapping in Junior Middle School"(2018)，explores whether the application of mind mapping in junior high school English vocabulary teaching can improve students" learning attitude, vocabulary learning strategies and vocabulary learning.

Nevertheless, the author finds that the research on English word learning based on mind mapping is mainly attached importance to teaching strategies, but little is involved in the design of English word learning activities in junior middle school. Meanwhile, the discussion of weather runs through the whole process of classroom teaching. Therefore, the author attempts to take how is the weather as the topic to conduct an in-depth study, with a view to bringing inspiration and help to junior high school English vocabulary teaching and learning.

3. Design of case ‘How is the weather’

3.1 Concept of Junior English Vocabulary Teaching

The vocabulary presented by the primary school teachers is relatively basic and simple, which is mainly combined with colorful images to meet the visual needs of students in a vivid way, reduce their emotional anxiety, and facilitate them to accept and absorb knowledge. The mind map of junior high school is more diverse. It can not only reflect the word-formation of vocabulary, the pronunciation of letter combinations, ample phrase collocation, but also show the changes in the pronunciation of words. In the meantime, the teaching of vocabulary is presented in an intuitive and large-capacity way by combining some graphics such as element diagrams and stick figures, which is in line with the psychological characteristics of junior middle school students in the transformation of image thinking. Vocabulary mind map used in high school teaching has been strengthened and deepened in terms of difficulty, capacity and application, which is helpful to sort out the knowledge with large capacity but less combined with basic element map, serving the abstract thinking suitable for high school students.

3.2 Research questions

This research is meant for verifying the effectiveness of Mind Mapping Model in improving abilities of memorializing English words for senior high school students. As a consequence, for the sake of carrying out this research more pertinently, it is conducted primarily on the basis of these two specific questions, as indicated below.

1. Is mind mapping helpful to the teaching and learning of ‘ How"s the weather ’ in Junior High School?
2. What do these students think of the method of memorizing words by mind map?

3.3 Research objects

92 students from two classes of Grade eight in Jinhu experimental middle school were selected in this study. The subjects in this study are in two classes, class 7 and class 8. In the light of the final examination of senior 2, the English proficiency of the two classes is roughly at the same level. Therefore, class 7 is selected as the experimental group randomly, which includes 41 students. Class 8 is the control class in which there are also 41 students. Additionally, in each class, approximately three fifths of the students are boys. The average age of the experimental group is 15.5, and that of the control one is 15.4. All of them know a little about mind mapping and have accumulated a certain amount of vocabulary. In order to ensure the effectiveness of the teaching experiment and to reduce the experimental errors, it is indispensable to cogitate upon every element that may affect the experiment. All of the 92 students are from the two classes and they have been instructed by the same English teacher. In addition, the gender distribution of the selected classes is generally consistent.

3.4 Research steps

3.4.1 Determine the theme and guide students" thinking

Once using the mind map, teachers should present keywords in the center of the blackboard at the outset, highlight the theme, make the teaching process closely revolve around the theme, guide students to carry out divergent thinking around the theme, so as to promote the achievement of classroom teaching objectives.

When teaching ‘ How is the weather ’, the teacher firstly shows a video of weather to spur interests for the text, afterwards asks the students about the weather today. Introducing the teaching content through the students" statement, the teacher then shows the topic "Weather" of this unit as the backbone. (Figure 1)

weather

Figure 1

3.4.2 Build a knowledge framework and diverge the backbone knowledge

When the theme is determined, the teacher can combine the relevant content, with the students around the central theme of divergent thinking, gradually leads out the main knowledge of the text, and subsequently erect a knowledge framework.

Take ‘ How is the weather ’ as an example, after determining the central theme, the teacher can guide students to sort out the knowledge framework of this unit. For example, What"s the weather like today? What"s the weather like in summer? The knowledge framework of this unit is constructed by spreading the main knowledge in the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter, so that students can accumulate knowledge in the exploration of mind mapping. (Figure 2)

weather

spring

autumn

winter

summer

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