| English writing ability is an important part of students’ language competence,and also an important means of language output for English learners.However,according to previous classroom observations on English writing,it finds that most non-English majors lack interest and confidence in English writing.Meanwhile,it also finds that many English teachers do not attach much importance to the teaching of English writing,and the teaching are outdated and inefficient.So this study adopts a new writing teaching method based on Mind Mapping which is guided by hemisphere specialization theory,knowledge visualization theory and schema theory.Mind Mapping as a visual thinking tool is applied into this method to design English argumentative writing teaching activities in order to improve college students’ English writing attitude and strategies and improve their English writing performance.In this study,82 non-English majors from two natural classes in a key university in Jiangxi Province are selected as research subjects,and they hold the similar language level.A natural class is randomly chosen as the experimental group and the other as the control group.The students in the experimental group are taught by Mind Mapping writing teaching method,while the students in the control group are taught by traditional teaching method.This study attempts to use three research instruments,that is,questionnaire,interview and writing test to solve the following problems:1)Does the application of Mind Mapping enhance students’ English argumentative writing performance effectively? If so,which aspects of writing can be improved?2)Has the attitude of college students towards English writing changed after the training of Mind Mapping writing teaching?3)What changes have taken place in students’ English writing strategy after the training of Mind Mapping writing teaching?All data collected in this study is analyzed by SPSS22.0.The results from pre-test and post-test present that the experimental group’s argumentative writing performance has been improved after the training of Mind Mapping teaching method.And the students in the experimental group do better than those in the control group,especially in the aspects of organization and vocabulary.The results from interviewsand questionnaires show that the students’ writing attitude and strategies have been improved,and Mind Mapping raises their interest and confidence in English writing.Mind Mapping has a positive significance to college English writing teaching. |
PDF Full Text Request