2.1.3 The previous studies of mind map 4

2.2 Word map and vocabulary retention 6

2.2.1 The concept of word map 6

2.2.2 Word map and vocabulary retention 7

2.2.3 Elements of word map 7

2.2.4 Types of word map 8

3. Research Design 10

3.1 Research questions 10

3.2 Participants 10

3.3 Research tools 10

3.4 Procedure 11

3.5  A teaching case 12

4. Results and Discussion 14

4.1 Data analysis of the tests 14

4.2 The analysis of the questionnaires 16

5. Conclusion 19

5.1 Major Findings 19

5.2 Limitations and future expectations 19

Reference 21

Appendix I 23

1. Introduction

1.1 Background of the research

With the development of economy and society, the world is becoming a global village, and we are required to communicate with people from different countries. Therefore, English, the most widely used language around the world, is necessary to learn it well. In China’s educational system, English is an important subject which has been paid much attention by plenty of Chinese students among universities, middle schools and even primary schools. 论文网

During the English learning, vocabulary is the foundation of the language, and is the most important part. British linguist D.A.Wilkins (1972) once said, "Without grammar, one can not expresses many things, without words, one can not expresses anything". However, vocabulary has been the biggest obstacle for many English learners with inappropriate memorizing method, low learning efficiency and high forgetting rate. How to promote students’ vocabulary learning has become teachers’ headache and has aroused wide attention and research from English educators.

The junior middle school stage is a watershed of English learning. When in primary school, English teaching content is much easier with small amount of vocabulary and low difficulty. Furthermore, classroom interactive activities are full of variety and teaching materials are various that students can get fun from learning. Unfortunately, when in middle school stage, many students find it difficult to learn English well for increasing learning content and difficulty and changing teaching method, especially in memorizing words. Nowadays, word-spelling mistakes and forgetting is really common among students. Because of the difficulty in memorizing words, some students become negative, even weariness which leads to a vicious spiral. As for the reasons on the on hand, students do not have proper vocabulary learning strategy that they spend much time in mechanical memorizing costs but get low efficiency. On the other hand, many teachers’ teaching method is relatively sterile. Also, the glossary in our textbook is basically arranged in alphabetical order or the order of units that words are isolated from each other and there is no certain logical connection. This kind of set type may fix students’ thinking, not only is not conducive to vocabulary teaching, but will also reduce students’ study enthusiasm. Therefore, it is pointed out that the biggest challenge faced by the students at present is how to understand, memorize and use English vocabulary effectively (Tan Jicui, 2011). And teachers should teach students appropriate learning approaches and strategies.