Improving Senior Elementary School Students’ Writing Skills by Using Mind Maps

何潔聰

一、 Introduction

（一） Background of the study

Writing is “the composing of texts intended to be read by people not present，” （Bereiter & Scardamalia， 1987： 4）.It is traditionally believed to be difficult to acquire.Writing is the important in the educational system.It seems to be a complex and difficult task for many students.There is often a dissatisfaction with the quality of the written work done by students.

Elementary school students in China also have difficulty in the English writing.First， the students dont know what sentence patterns to use， and they dont know what to write.Students always write short articles.Second， when they start writing， they write something that lacks coherence， because they cant organize or classify subtopics according to the topic and theme of an article in English.This is because they dont understand English language well especially in the planning to draft the article.

Teachers have few ways to teach students how to write.Some of them only ask the students to write by copying the sample， and even ask the students to memorize the sample articles.This might lead to a serious problem in students writing and thinking developing.Teachers have few studies regarding the investigation into the pre-writing strategies.

In America， teachers use Nova Mind， which is also called Mind Maps， for teaching writing.They teach students to create similar Mind Maps with the main points of the story lines.They organize the topic sentences which are related to the theme.The whole blue print is all mind mapped out.In this way， students can also think about the order of the information.So the previous information is presented in a logical progression.

Can teachers improve students writing skills also by using mind mapping？ Looking into this research area can help us gain better understanding of students writing.

（二）Hypotheses of the study

It is evident that effective strategies in writing should be developed so as to facilitate and improve writing.Buzan （2000） indicated the use of Mind Mapping in various daily activities， including writing， as it can develop students creative writing skills and help remove writers block.With the hope of improving the researchers teaching practice and enhancing students writing skills， this study is going to be conducted to investigate if Mind Mapping can be used as a pre-writing planning strategy to help students explore and develop ideas.

The research questions formulated would be as follows：

1.Does Mind Mapping help students with their writing skills？

2.If Mind Mapping can help students with their writing skills， in what ways will it be helpful？

（三）Organization of the essay

This essay will be divided into four chapters.Chapter one provides the background and the purpose of the study.Chapter two would do the literature review to describe and synthesize the major research studies related to the current study.In chapter three， it would recommend some effective ways of using mind map and describe applications of the effectiveness of Mind Mapping in writing.Chapter four is the conclusion of the study.It will start by providing a summary of the major findings.The limitations of the study will then be mentioned.

二、Literature review

（一）Definition of writing

“Writing is a method of representing language in visual or tactile form.Writing systems use sets of symbols to represent the sounds of speech， and may also have symbols for such things as punctuation and numerals.” （Omniglot， 2013）

（二）Writing is a process

Writing is a process.This is a fact acceptable for education systems.This concept of writing as a process has been evolving since the 1950s.

Creating an authentic environment helps students to write， said by the current thought by scholar.They indicate that teachers should provide and create an encouraging environment to the writers to engage in class discussion.Researchers agree that it is beneficial to provide an environment to induce writing and maintains that writing instruction can be taught to facilitate students writing.Context and audience are therefore important factors in writing.

Murray （1978） states that this act of discovery is the main feature of the writing process.Teachers can set up three stages in the writing process， such as “rehearsing，” ?“drafting” and “revising”， to discover the meaning.

Writing is treated as a cognitive process.North （1987： 245） has provided a clear explanation of this process： “… the operation of the mind conceived as a system working to gather information from outside of itself， sift， store and retrieve it in some way， sort and arrange it to meet various criteria， and eventually transform it into words on a page that accomplish some sets of goals.”

（三）Research on the pre-writing strategies

Zamel （1982） stressed that pre-writing is “…the period before the actual writing begins” （ibid： 199）.

Stallards （1974） study indecates that good writers spend more time both on pre-writing activities and on actual writing than poor writers .The weaker writers spend far less time in planning than good writers.The weaker writers also pay less attention to content and organization.Perl （1979） reveals that one of the planning strategies writers use during the pre-writing period is “…initiating a string of associations to a word in the topic and then developing one or more of the associations during the writing” （ibid： 328）.This planning strategy seems to possess similar features of the Mind Mapping technique proposed by Buzan （2000）.

（四）Definition of mind map

Buzan （2000） defines Mind Mapping as： “an expression of Radiant Thinking and…therefore a natural function of the human mind.It is a powerful graphic technique which provides a universal key to unlocking the potential of the brain” （ibid： 55）.A mind mapping is a diagram used to visually outline information.A mind mapping is often created around a single word or text， placed in the center， to which associated ideas， words and concepts are added.Major categories radiate from a central node， and lesser categories are sub-branches of larger branches， （Budd， 2004： 35）.Categories can represent words， ideas， tasks， or other items related to a central key word or idea.Mind maps can be drawn by hand， either as “rough notes” during a lecture or meeting， for example， or as higher quality pictures when more time is available.

A mind map， or spidergram， is also a strategy for making notes on a topic， prior to writing.It is a structured strategy， which shows the （hierarchical） relationship of ideas， as opposed to an unstructured strategy， such as brainstorming， in which students produce notes at random on paper， （Buzan 2000）.

Having an organized display of information from the outset of the writing process may help some students， as it is more easily converted into a draft， whereas in brainstorming， the random recording of ideas might lead to problems with the structure of students texts.

（五）Using Mind Mapping as a pre-writing strategy

Mind Mapping works on the principle of association.Buzan （2000： 177） states that ?in writing， the Mind Map should be begun with a central concept.The writers then select appropriate ordering ideas as major branches and add items of information of points which are relevant to the subject as sub-branches that can radiate outwards from the central concept.Key images or key words are used in Mind Mapping.The branches then form a connected nodal structure.Buzan （2000： 178） suggests using the Mind Map as a framework for writing as it “provides you with all the main sub-divisions of your essay， the key points to be mentioned in each， and the way those points relate to each other.”

Wycoff （1986： 59） has his standpoint of Mind Mapping： “Mind Mapping is an excellent way to generate and organize ideas before beginning to write.It is an almost guaranteed way to break writers block.” Lunsford and Bridges （2002） reiterate the advantages of using Mind Mapping in writing： “…seeing how things relate can help you discover the significance that is characteristic of good writing” （ibid： 22）.

Therefore， Mind Map is a useful strategy.Its high operability can easily be seen.Mind Mapping helps writers to present their ideas visually by building individual clusters of ideas that relate to each other and to the main subject.

三、Current situations in using mind maps while teaching

（一）Thinking Map in the writing classes in the U.S.

The researcher participated in an ESL-teacher training program at UCI during summer 2013.By observing classes， making a survey of the elementary school teachers， and learning about theories of pedagogy， the researcher got to know that there is a kind of strategy similar to Mind Map which is called Thinking Map that American teachers usually use in the writing class.Thinking Map is more concrete and detailed to instruct the pre-writing in planning writing.Thinking Map could be an elongation of Mind Map.

1. Situations of the class observation

Thinking maps can be seen in each classroom and are integrated in all kinds of subjects taught in the American schools.Thinking map is widely used there.Students are familiar with using thinking maps to solve problems.Teachers trained the students to think before they initiate to act through K-12.

Students works under thinking map are performed on each small inch on the wall.Students are satisfied by having their work on show.Furthermore， students learn to explore their own thinking from these samples .Under the peer learning activity， new ideas appear and enrich their mind mapping.

2. Statement of teachers in using mind map

“I love mind maps （concept maps）， not only for my own use in preparing presentations or mapping out a problem， but I love having students create their own， either as a before， during， or after learning activity， ” said Terie， a high-school science teacher.

“They （mind maps） help you associate ideas and make connections that you might not otherwise make which might have to be drawn by hand.There are several software programs available， including Inspiration and Smart Ideas.Both are available at many theaters schools，” said Chris Arthur， a teacher we met on YouTube.

“There are training programs of teaching using thinking map here in the U.S.These programs are also for parents too.We use thinking maps to train students while they are writing.Students can easily get their topic sentences to support the theme.It is good for training their thinking ability and for forming a good habit to prewriting.” said an elementary school teacher.

And hundreds of teachers on the internet mentioned the feeling of using mind map while teaching writing.They discussed the pros and cons in using it and provide many methods of using it.Mind mapping is a verified technique in teaching.

3. The eight thinking map types

“Thinking Maps are a set of graphic organizer techniques used in primary and secondary education ‘K-12 in the U.S.Thinking Maps are visual tools for learning， and include eight visual patterns， each linked to a specific cognitive process.Teachers may apply Thinking Maps in all content areas and all grade levels.

The eight map types are： Circle Map used for defining in context， Bubble Map used for describing with adjectives， Flow Map used for sequencing and ordering events， Brace Map used for identifying part/whole relationships， Tree Map used for classifying or grouping， Double Bubble Map used for comparing and contrasting， Multi-flow Map used for analyzing causes and effects， Bridge Map used for illustrating analogies.”

In this theory， learns can be set free from the confusing of poor brainstorming organizing by having a rich language of visual maps based on thinking processes.

（二） My experience in using mind maps in teaching

The author of this paper has been teaching writing classes in elementary school for about three years.Many ways of using mind maps in teaching writing had been tried and adjusted constantly.It might be somewhat a case of twists and turns; otherwise the author attained a lot of success and started to get some ways which are suitable for the students she is teaching in China.

1. A suggested plan of using mind map in teaching writing

Step 1 Choose the topic by students themselves

In the traditional way， teachers always give a topic to the students to start the writing class.Students are passive with the topic chosen by teachers.However， they show their preferences of nominating the topic themselves.Therefore they may show greater interest in writing and get more information for the topic under study.

Step 2 organize or classify subtopics according to the topic

Once the topic has been introduced， students need to decide the best way to present their points.Discussing the topic and organizing the subtopics help students make a blue print in their mind and it is good for the students to form a good habit in pre-writing stage.Before the students start writing， students can begin with using five “W” questions to formulate the main points they are going to write according to the topic.While organizing the subtopics to support the main topic， students may develop their logical thinking in the same time.If they do not know a word in English， they can write something to describe the word they want to express.

Step 3 Brain storm and use the mind maps for discussion

When Students use a mind map， they are required to fill some empty space with key words as much as possible.Images， links， symbols， and even sound files can be inserted into a mind map while they are discussing.Put more details and examples in order to make the passage wonderful.In this way， students can do brain storming， review the knowledge they have learnt， communicate with each other and use authentic English.This stage also provides the opportunity for peer teaching.Students learn from each other.Weak students get help from others while strong students ? are benefit from practicing mind mapping.

Step 4 Make relationships between the keywords and the sentence patterns

Elementary school students are the beginners of ESL learning.Writing sentences is the most difficult part in learning English.Coming up with the subtopic， organizing it， filling the details with key words may be much easier for them.They can not choose the right sentence patterns to make sentence with the key word， or they may not come up with the right sentence patterns because they are not familiar with them.In this part， sentence patterns will be listed for the students to use for reference.It gives the students steps to climb up the mountain of writing which decomposed step by step with clear instructions.

Step 5 Start to write

Students should then begin to write their compositions.When they finish writing， they are suggested to exchange their compositions， which makes them become readers of each other's work.It may be some grammar checking here and help them getting better to know about the patterns and the grammar.

Once students are familiar with the usage of mind mapping， they can be active writer to use this skill for further writing activities.It is a useful technique and often improves student writing skills in clarity and organization .

四、Implication

The goal of this essay was to probe the feasibility of using Mind Mapping skills in planning to enhance students quality of writing.The major findings will be summarized under the two research questions so that future plans can be considered for further study.

（一）Does ?Mind ?Mapping ?help ?students ?with ?their writing skills？

Writing needs planning by mind maps; writing is a process.It is important to plan well in pre-writing stage.It helps writers write more effectively.It is interesting and worthwhile to train the students to get the planning strategies .Also， a pre-writing planning strategy by mind mapping does help students writing.

（二）If Mind ?Mapping ?can ?help ?students ?with their writing skills， in what ways will it be helpful？

Teachers might teach writing following this mode： First choose the topic by students themselves， asking them to nominate the topic themselves.Then do pair work to organize or classify subtopics according to the topic with the guidance of the Mind Maps by discussion.After that， brain storming with the guidance of the Mind Maps by students discussion also makes the passage wonderful.Fourth， students are required to make relationships of the keywords and the sentence patterns and write the correct sentences.Finally， start to write and check each others work.students can be active writers who are encouraged to use this skill for further writing activities.This ?useful technique often improves the clarity and organization of student writing skills.

（三）Summary

This essay reflects the authors experiences in teaching these years.She tried her best to investigate most effective ways to enhance students writing.The main focus for this research is to form a mode that could be used by the other teachers in China.Though there is still some limitations， the author has gained insights and reflections on teaching writing.It is hoped that both the students and the author， as well as the teacher colleagues and associates， would benefit from this study to improve the learning and the teaching of writing.

Worksheets that author used for helping students mind mapping

Short passages written by the student guided by the mind map

References

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