USING ELECTRONIC MIND MAPPING TO ENHANCEEFL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS' CRITICAL READING SKILLS

Abstract

The objectives of this study are as follows: (1) to examine the effects of electronic mind mapping on critical reading skills of students majoring in Japanese; (2) to examine the effects of electronic mind mapping on the critical reading skills of students majoring in Mathematics; (3) compare the effects of electronic mind mapping on the critical reading skills of students majoring in Japanese to those of students majoring in Mathematics; and (4) to investigate the opinions of EFL high school students about learning critical reading skills through electronic mind mapping. The participants in this study were 83 eleventh-grade students. They were selected by purposive sampling and divided into two groups: 44 students majoring in Japanese and 39 students majoring in Mathematics. Both groups were taught using electronic mind mapping. The instruments employed in this study consisted of four lesson plans, a critical reading test, a questionnaire, a semi-structure interview, and video recording. The mean score, standard deviation, and a t-test analysis, and analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) were used to analyze the quantitative data, whereas content analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data from the open-ended part of the questionnaire, a semi-structured interview, and a video recording. The results showed the effectiveness of electronic mind mapping. That is, both groups of students significantly improved critical reading skills after learning through electronic mind mapping. When compared the effects of electronic mind mapping on critical reading skills of students majoring in Japanese to those of students majoring in Mathematics, there were statistically differences in the critical reading skills gain of these two groups of students. This means that electronic mind mapping effects on both groups differently. Additionally, the students had positive opinions about learning critical reading skills through electronic mind mapping.

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