A Practical Research on the Application of the Mind Map as Scaffolding in High School English Reading Teaching

袁英

According to the research of the famous psychologist Vygotsky， to evaluate childrens intelligence development， two developing levels should be considered， namely present level and potential level， and there is an area between these two levels， which is called “The Zone of Proximal Development”. To help students get a higher level， teachers are supposed to provide students with some scaffolding. As for teaching English reading in senior high school， teachers can assist students in reading by using a mind map as scaffolding. Therefore， this article mainly focuses on the function of the mind map used as scaffolding to develop senior high school students reading skill.

1. The Analysis of the Present situation of High School English learning

According to the key competency of English course for senior high school students， the main focus of English teaching should be placed on improving students language ability， thinking quality and cultural awareness. When it comes to thinking quality， it mainly includes agility， smartness， creativity， criticalness and profundity.

In terms of language ability， reading is of great importance. However， it is also a big headache for many senior school students. While reading， the students may meet two obvious obstacles， namely the length of the passage and some difficult words， phrases and sentences. Whenever they are faced with a long passage， they are more likely to give up reading halfway. To help students better understand the text and have a deep impression of what they have learned， some scaffolding can be set up.

2. The Definition of a Mind Map

“Mind map”， first created by Tony Buzan， is a new thinking mode. It builds the relationship between the vivid pictures and every concept. Although it is simply a visible picture （map）， it is regarded as an entire thinking tool， which can be used in all walks of life， especially memorizing， creating， learning and all kinds of thinking. To be specific， a mind map can be used in learning by helping students keep notes， review the lessons， and understand some reading materials and so on.

3. The Benefits of Using a Mind Map

3.1 The Research Method

3.1.1 Case Study Method

To demonstrate the benefits of using a mind map， one typical lesson is chosen. （Reading， Unit 2 Robots， New Senior English for China， Students Book 7， Peoples Educational Press， 2014） This lesson is quite long， and it not easy for the students to find out the main clue of the text. Therefore， a mind map is necessary.

3.1.2 Comparative Experiment Method

Let students understand the above lesson by using their own way at first， and then create a mind map to help students understand and remember the text easily. At last， compare the levels the students have reached， and try to find out whether the mind map can work as the scaffolding or not.

3.1.3 Questionnaire Method

To better understand the students reading level and their knowledge of a mind map， a questionnaire is made. The survey mainly focuses on the following   aspects， namely the students interest in English learning/ reading， the difficulties they meet in their daily learning， their understanding and practice of using a mind map， the expected aims and their present mastery of the mind map and so on. The questionnaire is attached at the end of the thesis.

3.2 The Benefits of a Mind Map

Take the above lesson as the example once again， the benefits of using the mind map can be witnessed obviously.

3.2.1 Less time is used

Its obvious that the text is very long and it may take the students a lot of time to understand the text. However， once the mind map is used， more time will be saved.

3.2.2 Easier understanding of the clue

Compared with the text， there are fewer words used in the mind map， and the main clue is presented clearly in the mind map. Therefore， the students may find it easier to understand the text.

3.2.3 Correct and deep impression of the text

According to the structure of human brains， its easy to remember some pictures and images. Perhaps the students may forget the text after a long time， but the mind map may be kept in the students mind deeply.

3.2.4 Positive attendance in classroom activities

After the students have mastered the framework of the text， the mind map （scaffolding） will be eliminated immediately. They are required to draw their own mind maps to retell the text， which is also a recreating process. To finish this task， the students should use their minds to join in the classroom activities positively， or they may get nothing during this period.

4. The Steps of using a Mind Map to Actualize Scaffolding Instruction

4.1 Raise some questions

In this period， some questions ought to be raised to help students better understand the main plot of the text. Therefore， in this lesson， the following questions are raised. The questions can be raised following the order from easy to difficult.

4.1.1 Fast reading （skimming）

1. What is the main idea of the story？

2. What are the main characters in the story？

4.1.2 Careful reading

1. Whose feelings changed as the story developed？

2. Find the occasions when the character had such feelings？

（Try to find some adjectives/verbs/verb phrases to describe the feelings）

3. Try to find out sentences using the passive infinitives， and then use them to explain what happened on the relevant occasions.

4.1.3 Comprehending

Try to divide the text into several periods according to the occasions mentioned above， and give a summary to the feelings the character had during each period

4.2 Learn cooperatively

Some answers to the above questions cannot be found directly， so its necessary for the students to work in groups to discuss the questions. Then they can get the final answers together.

4.3 Put up the scaffolding—a mind map

Its better to make the mind map step by step with the help of the answers to the above questions. To be exact， the story of this lesson contains three parts， the problems， the solution to the problems and the actions. So the mind map is mainly composed of three parts. After the students have got the answers to all the above questions， the mind map can be made gradually. The mind map can help students retell the whole story easily.

4.4 Explore individually—remove the previous scaffolding

After the students have mastered the main clue of the text with the help of the mind map， the mind map should be removed. If the students could retell the whole story fluently and correctly， they have obtained the expected aims.

4.5 Evaluate the effects of using the scaffolding

Since the final aim of the teaching is not only to guide students master the text， the students are required to make their own stories with the help of a mind map. Once they can describe their experiences naturally， they have realized the final aim of learning English.

5. Conclusion

According to the above research， its easy to find that a mind map can be used as the scaffolding in teaching English reading， and it has plenty of benefits.  However， it does have its limitations. For example， when the students pay a lot of attention to the framework of the text or reading material， they are more likely to have no time to enjoy the beauty of the English language. Besides， some students may have difficulty in using the correct conjunctions to make up a whole passage. Therefore， more research is needed to eliminate the limitations of using a mind map.

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（作者单位：陕西省咸阳市渭城中学）