| The traditional English reading classrooms are teacher-centered with low rate of participation on the part of the students,which often leads to low efficiency of teaching and learning.Therefore,a more effective pedagogical model for teaching English Reading courses is desperately needed in order to improve the effectiveness of teaching English reading in primary schools.A mind map integrates graphics with texts,which could clarify complex knowledge.As a new and effective teaching aid,it can help students to clarify their reading and thinking and improve their reading efficiency.This article attempts to apply the mind map to English reading teaching in primary schools and explore the model of application and its effectiveness.Methods such as questionnaires,focus group interviews and experiments are conducted in this study to answer the following three questions:(1)What is the current situation of the use of mind map in English reading classrooms in primary school?(2)How to apply mind map to English reading classrooms in primary schools?(3)What are the problems in the application of mind map to English reading classrooms in primary school ?The preliminary findings of the survey show that the use of mind maps in English reading classrooms in primary school is not optimistic: teachers use mind maps less frequently;the design of mind maps coherent with the textual topics is difficult;teachers lack strategies to apply mind maps.In order to avoid such problems,we have designed proper steps of using mind maps and proposed an application model which consists of stimulation before reading,communication during reading,and extension after reading.In order to examine the effectiveness of the mind map model,an experiment was carried out.The research objects are 80 students from Grade Four in Xiamen Experimental Primary School in Fujian Province.They are divided into two groups: the experimental group and the control group.We have adopted a student-centered mind mapping teaching method.for the experimental group and the traditional teacher-centered teaching method for the control group.The experiment lasts for a semester.Results show that the mind map is effective in the following aspects:(1)The performances of both groups have improved while the performance of the experimental group is significantly better than that of the control group;(2)Mind map can arouse students’ interest in English reading and learning;(3)Mind map can strengthen the communication between students and teachers;(4)Mind map can be used to enhance the quality of teachers’ blackboard design.At the same time,through the interviews,we found that there aretwo problems in the application of mind map:(1)Some students have difficulty in drawing mind maps;(2)The teacher’s feedback is not timely enough.Based on the analysis above,this study proposes the corresponding countermeasures:(1)Teachers should promote their understanding of mind maps,design diverse mind maps,guide students at different levels and respond promptly to students;(2)It is also expected that students increase the frequency of using mind maps and develop the habit of using mind maps in English reading.The innovations of the research are as follows:(1)The focus on English reading pedagogy in the primary schools expands the scope of the study on mind maps;(2)We have designed an effective model for applying mind maps to English reading in primary schools,which could work as a practical guide for other teaching practices using mind maps;(3)We have examined the effectiveness of mind maps in English reading by collecting and analyzing data from different perspectives. |
