An Empirical Study On The Effects Of Mind Maps On Reading Self-Efficacy Of Junior High School Students

As a significant way for learners to acquire language,reading has always been the focus in the field of education.And English Curriculum Standard for Compulsory Education(2011 edition)puts forward the corresponding reading skills that junior high school students should achieve when they complete the compulsory education.However,there is still room for improvement in the effectiveness of today’s English reading teaching.English reading self-efficacy is one of the emotional factors affecting students’ English reading.Numerous studies have shown that the level of English reading self-efficacy has a significant impact on learners’ reading achievements.Mind maps,as a visualization tool,have attracted the attention of many scholars and teachers since it was introduced into the field of education.Supported by schema theory and social cognitive theory,the current study tried to explore what,if any,relationship existed between mind maps instruction used as a teaching strategy and English reading self-efficacy of junior high school students.As an empirical study,students in two parallel classes in eighth grade were used as research subjects and went through a three-month experiment.Collected from questionnaires,reading tests and interviews,research data analysis helps to explore the answers to the following questions:(1)What is the effect of the use of mind maps as a teaching strategy on junior high school students’ English reading self-efficacy?(2)What is the effect of the use of mind maps as a teaching strategy on English reading self-efficacy of junior high school students with different reading proficiency?(3)What is the effect of using mind mapping teaching on reading achievements of junior high school students with different reading proficiency?Research findings are that:(1)The application of mind maps as a teaching strategy can effectively improve the reading self-efficacy of junior high school students.(2)English reading self-efficacy of students in the middle-achiever and low-achiever groups had been significantly improved.Meanwhile,the improvement in reading self-efficacy of students in high-achiever group did not reach a significant level.(3)The reading achievements of students in middle-achiever and low-achiever groups had been significantly increased,but the significant improvement did not appear in the high-achiever group students’ reading achievements.The interview results indicated that the development of reading self-efficacy was related to students’ attitude towards mind maps,personal academic achievements and feedback from others.Based on the above findings and existing problems of the study,some suggestions were proposed with the aim of further improving junior high school students’ English reading self-efficacy and academic performance.