A Research On The Application Of Mind Mapping To Teaching English Writing In Junior Middle School

According to English Curriculum Standard of Compulsory Education(2011)and the requirements for Senior High School Entrance Examination in Hangzhou,students are supposed to master the skills of English writing.However,students’ writings have problems in vocabulary and logic.What’s worse,there is a lack of effective teaching methods to help improve English writing.Mind mapping pays close attention to the interrelation between words and sentences,which makes it possible for students to write logically.Therefore,the application of mind mapping to English writing has been undergoing a new age of developments.However,the method of mind mapping currently applied to English teaching in junior middle schools has mainly focused on vocabulary,grammar and reading.There are relatively rare researches related to the application of mind mapping to English writing,especially in junior middle school English classes.The aim of this research is to testify the effectiveness of applying mind mapping to the teaching of English writing in junior middle schools.There are two research hypotheses.Firstly,mind mapping will enhance students’ divergent thinking to eventually enrich the vocabulary of students’ writing.Secondly,the application of mind mapping to English writing will improve cohesion and coherence of students’ writing,thus increase their awareness of internal logic while writing.The thesis first discusses the relevant theories and research achievements of applying mind mapping to the teaching of English writing.Then it states the entire process of the research carried out between an experimental class and a control class.This research adopts the combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods,including tests,questionnaires,interviews and data analysis.The results are found asfollows: Firstly,mind mapping helps broaden the mind,and thus enrich vocabulary in English writing.Secondly,mind mapping helps construct logic in writing.Thirdly,mind mapping prompts teachers to optimize their teaching of English writing.This research attempts to apply mind mapping to English writing teaching to eventually enrich vocabulary and construct logic.A new attempt as it is,referential significance have been made to help the students who want to improve their English writing and the teachers who want to improve their teaching of English writing.