An Action Research On Using Mind Map To Improve English Vocabulary Learning Of Senior High School Students

As we all know,English learning is based on vocabulary learning,which means that learning vocabulary well is the prerequisite of learning English well.However,there are still a series of problems in English vocabulary teaching and learning in senior high schools,which leads to students’ loss of interest and confidence in vocabulary learning and even in English learning.Mind Map was invented by Tony Buzan,which can make understanding and analysis clearer and more concrete.Therefore,based on the characteristics and advantages of Mind Map,applying it to vocabulary teaching could achieve good results.The author selected the students from Jinan University Town Experimental Senior High School as the research object and conducted a nine-week action research on the two classes of Class 15 and Class 3 of Grade One.Besides,through the analysis of vocabulary pre-test and pre-questionnaire,the research questions are determined as follows:(1)Can Mind Map improve students’ vocabulary learning skills,such as the use of integration,induction,classification,and association?(2)Can Mind Map improve students’ vocabulary memorization,including instant memorization and prolonged memorization?This action research was divided into two rounds.The first round was from week1 to week 5.In this research,students mainly learned the words of Unit 1 and Unit 2.By analyzing Mind Maps drawn by students,the author researched the development of students’ skills of integration,induction,classification,and association.Through immediate dictation tests and delayed dictation tests,the author discussed the influence of Mind Map on students’ instant and prolonged memorization.However,the first-round research did not achieve the expected results.Through the improvement and adjustment of the first-round research,the author gained some achievements in the second-round research and obtained the following conclusions in the whole action research:(1)Mind Map can help with students’ vocabulary learning skills,such as the use of integration,induction,classification,and association,especially in the form of cooperative learning.(2)Mind Map can improve students’ memorization levels.The instant memorization level of vocabulary can be improved by making and learning Mind Maps together with teachers during class,and the prolonged memorization level of vocabulary can be improved by consolidating vocabulary Mind Maps in time before large-scale forgetting.In a word,applying Mind Map to English vocabulary teaching in senior high schools can provide a relevant reference for teaching practice.However,there are also some shortcomings of this study that need to be improved.