MIND- MAPPING IN TEACHING

WRITING FOR PREPARATORY

INTENSIVE PROGRAM STUDENTS AT
KOLEJ PROFESIONAL MARA BANDAR
PENAWAR

HEMMA A/P RASASOORIA
KOLEJ PROFESSIONAL MARA BANDAR PENAWAR
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Preparatory intensive program (PIP) is a 14-week course conducted at
Kolej Profesional Mara Bandar Penawar
The main objective of this program is to provide intensive studies for low
achievers in their SPM and offer them with basic knowledge in English,
Mathemathics, Islamic Studies and Informational Technology
The students, however, need to score a minimum of 50% in each subject
in order for them to pass the requirement for further study at diploma
level.
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
Difficulties in writing descriptive essay
Students are not aware of pre-writing activities
They are unable to put their ideas into words because the
students have limited vocabulary and they also face
difficulties in organizing their essay.
Body paragraphs are not evident where their ideas will be
scattered everywhere in their essay
Their essay lack of focus and the paragraphs lack of
development or connection to the topic
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Mind-
mapping
Technique
by Tony
Buzan
(2005)
Teaching
Descriptive
Writing
to organize
their
writing
paragraphing
related main ideas
appropriate
supporting details
to enhance
their
vocabulary
adjectives
WHY MIND MAP?
Mind maps engage both sides of the brain because their imagination in
combination with words, number and images.
The left brain focuses on logic and word whereas, right brain focuses
on images.
This will help the students to remember things better and also will
enhance their writing skills in vocabulary and organization of an essay.
Students find it difficult to remember the rules for writing but by using
mind map technique this could be overcome.
Mind maps are the thinking tool to unlock your brain power because
they reflect the internal mind maps of your brain (Tony Buzan,
2005).

How I spend my holiday

Holidays are always welcome. Who can deny that? After a term of school-
work, one eagerly looks forward to the holidays and yearns for them. But
when the holidays come, many find it boring. After the first flush is over,
many find it hard to spend time. It is all because they don't plan for a
holiday.
It may be quite useful to plan for a holiday. But how one is going to spend
them depends on one's facilities. As for me I cannot afford to spend money
on long trips visiting places and seeing things. Still I plan always for the
holidays. The following is one such plan.

MY HOLIDAY PLANNER
OBJECTIVES
The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of mind mapping towards writing
descriptive essays among students in Preparatory Intensive Program at Kolej Profesional
Mara Bandar Penawar.
Specifically, the study is conducted to fulfill the following objectives:
1. To discover whether mind-mapping technique helps students to:
a) Organize their writing better.
b) Enhance their vocabulary level in terms of adjectives
2. To investigate students perceptions of using mind mapping technique in:
a) Organizing descriptive essays writing
b) Enhancing vocabulary for writing descriptive essay

RESEARCH DESIGN
Pretest
The students were given two sheets of paper. One sheet was for them to scribble and another sheet was
for them to write their essay. The topic given was the place that I wish to visit. They were given 1 hour
and 30 minutes to write an essay on the given topic. They need to write not less than 250 words.
Treatment
After conducting the pretest, the researcher provided a 6-day treatment in teaching mind-mapping
technique for writing descriptive essay. On the first day, the researcher taught on writing descriptive
essay. The next day, the researcher taught mind-mapping technique in writing descriptive essay. The
following days the researcher taught on each types of descriptive essay as describing people, places
and events. Finally, on the last day of treatment, the researcher taught mind-mapping activity to ensure
the students really understand the lesson that had been taught.
Posttest
The lecturer gave the students another topic my role model and asked them to write an essay based on
the topic given. The same procedures followed as in pre-test. The word limit is not less than 250 words.
The students were provided with two sheets as one for them to scribble and another sheet for them to
write their essay and they are given 1 hour and 30 minutes to complete their writing.

FINDINGS
Students Pretest Posttest Margin of improvement
Student 1 13 14 1
Student 2 9.5 11 1.5
Student 3 11 11.5 0.5
Student 4 11 13.5 2.5
Student 5 13 14.5 1.5
Student 6 10 12 2
Student 7 10 10 0
Student 8 12 11.5 -0.5
Student 9 11 10.5 -0.5
Student 10 7.5 12 4.5
Student 11 9 9.5 0.5
Student 12 11.5 12 0.5
Student 13 11.5 10.5 1
Student 14 11 12 1
Student 15 10.5 13 2.5
Total 161.5 177.5 16
FINDINGS
RQ 1: To discover whether mind-mapping technique helps students in organization of writing and
enhance vocabulary.
ORGANIZATION

The mean difference of pretest and posttest was 10.77 - 11.83 = 1.06. Even though the mean difference was not
too high but there was an improvement.
The students showed improvement in terms of paragraphing where their paragraphs were logically organized
in terms of information and ideas; there were clear progressions throughout the essay.
Apart from that, their essay was well developed and logically organized around an appropriate and
consistent focus.
Composition included an introductory paragraph with an engaging first sentence followed by relevant
sub-topics.
Each body paragraph offered a topic sentence and provided many concrete details and a concluding
sentence.
Composition included a concluding paragraph that summarized the subtopics and provided insight into
the main idea of the composition. This finding verified that, mind-mapping technique helped students to
organize their essay effectively.

FINDINGS
VOCABULARY

The result showed that, there was a difference in number of adjectives used by the
students in the pretest and posttest.
The mean difference of the number of adjective used in this two test was 9.9 13.1 =
3.2.
There was an improvement showed by the students in posttest result.
The students used a sufficient range of vocabulary to allow some flexibility and
precision meanings.

Describe your
mother
Describe your mother
Fat
Fair
Tall
Beautiful
Responsible
Hardworking

My
mother
Personality:
Hardworking
Responsible
Loving
Honest
Strict
Physical
appearance:
Height: tall
Weight: fat
Complexion: fair
Eyes: big, round
Hair: long and
curly
Hobbies:
Cooking
Gardening
Travelling
FINDINGS
RQ 2: To investigate students perceptions of using mind mapping technique in
organization of writing and enhance vocabulary
ORGANIZATION
As for organization, the findings from the questionnaire verified that 86% of the
students agreed that mind maps helped them in organizing their essay
writing.
The students stated that, mind maps helped them in terms of paragraphing
where they were able to identify main ideas for the topic given.
Once they identified the main ideas, then they would write down the supporting
details for each main idea.
This result was further validated from the interview sessions. Both the students who
were interviewed stated that mind maps helped them in their writing process.

FINDINGS
VOCABULARY

As for vocabulary, the result from the findings verified that, 83.33% of students
agreed that mind map helped them to enhance vocabulary.
The students stated that they were able to improve their L2 vocabulary and
mind maps helped them to recall vocabulary related to a topic that they wrote
about and try to remember the words.
This result was further validated from the interview session, where both the
students agreed that mind mapping technique helped them in terms of
enhancing remembering the vocabulary.

PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATION
Firstly, it is crucial for teachers to realize that students could benefit greatly using mind
maps in teaching writing regardless of their age and gender. Since most of the research
related to the teaching of writing using mind maps was done on students in secondary
school, teachers should think of ways to how successfully implement this approach
to tertiary level.
There are varieties of mind-maps; teachers need to identify the best mind-mapping
technique that will suit the students. The approach might differ according to the
students proficiency, age, gender, and subject matter.
The syllabus and curriculum should emphasize on prewriting activities. The
syllabus should be designed by allocating enough time for implementing mind-mapping
technique in writing process
THANK YOU

Q & A