USING MIND MAPPING TO IMPROVE THE STUDENTS’

VOCABULARY FOR THE FIFTH GRADE STUDENTS AT SDN

MANDARANREJO 2 PASURUAN

Wahyu Hariwiyoko
Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris STKIP PGRI Pasuruan
wahyuhariwiyoko@rocketmail.com,

Abstract: This research is intended to improve the students’ English

vocabulary for the fifth grade students by using mind mapping technique. This
research was a classroom action research with the technique of data collection
by doing test, interview with the English teacher, and observation for students’
and teacher activities. The technique of analyzing the data was the mean score
of each cycle and compares the result of mean score of first cycle and second
cycle. The data was analyzed together by the researcher and the collaborator.
The result of this research showed the improvement from the first cycle to the
second cycle. In the first cycle there were only 20 students who able to pass the
minimum criteria of completeness with the score ≥ 64, while the average score
of all the students was 69,43. In the second cycle, 27 students were able to pass
the minimum criteria of completeness with the score ≥ 64 and the average score
of the students was 79,75. It can be concluded that the students’ English
vocabulary of the fifth grade students at SDN Mandaranrejo 2 Pasuruan can be
improved by using mind mapping technique. . Although there was still found
some mistakes in students’ writing English especially in vocabulary, at least
they were able to identify and classify the vocabulary related to the topic

Keywords: Mind mapping, Improve, Vocabulary

INTRODUCTION (Djiwandono, 1996:1). To master

those language skills, the students
The teaching English in
have to capitalize themselves with a
Indonesia is introduced from
lot of vocabulary items. It is in line
elementary school up to university
with Setyowati (in Dahlia, 2009:1)
level. In elementary school, English
who stated that vocabulary is an
is taught at a basic level with simple
important key to fluency itself.
of language skill. The curriculum
Dellar and Hocking (in Thornbury,
2006 of elementary school aims to
2002:13) said, “If you spend most of
give the students simple of four
your time studying grammar, your
language skills, the four of those
English will not improve very much.
language skills are listening,
You will see most improvement if
speaking, reading, and writing
you learn more words and

90
expressions. You can say very little
with grammar, but you can say
almost anything with word”.
From those statements above
about the important of vocabulary,
the teacher has expectation to the
students that they are able to
memorize as much as possible the
vocabulary items. Although, in
teaching English at elementary
school, the material had been
arranged and organized more
systematic for the students, but the
students still have difficulty. They
lack of vocabulary, so it has effect to
their score achievement in every
language skill such as listening,
speaking, reading, and writing that is
still below of the minimum criteria
of completeness (KKM).
In teaching vocabulary, the
teacher cannot teach directly to the
students. Rivers (in Thornbury,
2002:144) stated, “Vocabulary
cannot be taught, it can be presented,
explained, included in all manner of
associations…”. To present the
vocabulary, the teacher can use mind
mapping in class. According to
DePotter and Hernacki (2008:152),
“Mind mapping uses visual reminder
and sensory into a pattern from the
ideas which are related”. Mind
mapping allows the students to
clarify their thoughts by categorizing
and grouping into related ideas
(DeBono,
www.usingmindmaps.com). It starts
with the students’ main topic or the
theme as the central idea and allows
the main branches of mind branches
of mind mapping to represent the
main points of their thought (right
brain), then, combined by interesting
colors and images (left brain) which
will stimulate the brain. Thornbury
91
(2002:18) said that acquiring a
vocabulary required not only
labeling but also categorizing skills.
Based on the problem in
students’ mastering and teaching
vocabulary above, the researcher has
assumption that mind mapping is
suitable to solve those problems.
Mind mapping is believed as one of
the techniques or activities which can
be used in teaching vocabulary
which involve the essential idea and
encourage memorizing vocabulary
easily. Tony Buzan stated in (Moi
and Lian, 2007:3), “A mind mapping
is a special kind of brain friendly
diagram that helps you to think,
imagine, remember things and plan
and short information”. The other
source said, “Mind maps may also
aid recall of existing memories”
(Wikipedia, 2009). It is clear that
mind mapping can be applied in
teaching to improve mastering the
vocabulary.
The researcher chooses SDN
Mandaranrejo 2 which is located in
Bugul Kidul, Pasuruan. The
vocabulary that is mastered by the
students, in this school, is very low.
It can be indicated by seeing the
difficulty of the students when they
get a simple instruction from the
teacher and the low of score in
formative test. Because of the
lackness of the students in mastering
vocabulary, it causes them to be
difficult to communicate. The
students tend to be afraid to make
mistake and often open their book
when they are asked to answer
question.
Based on the teacher’s
experience teaching there, the low
ability in the students’ mastery of
vocabulary apparently happens from
the first grade up to the sixth grade.
However, especially in the fifth
grade, the students’ mastery in every
topic is the lowest one. In mastering
the vocabulary in every topic, the
teacher stated the minimal standard
of twenty five words that must be
mastered by the students. But in fact,
the students in the fifth grade still
have difficulty to memorize and
increase their vocabulary mastery.
Those problems can be caused of
many reasons, such as: the boredom
during the teaching learning process,
and the monotonous of the teaching
learning process in class. Because of
those reasons, the teacher should
make a change in teaching learning
in class.
REVIEW OF RELATED
LITERATURE
Mind mapping has some
characteristics, according to
Goldstein (in Kristina, 2010:10)
there are four key characteristics of
mind mapping as follows:
1. There is one key concept,
often expressed
graphically as an image
2. From the key concept or
image radiate out
branches each of which
represent less important
concept
3. Attached to these main
branches are other
branches which represent
less important concept
4. Together, the branches
and central image from a
nodal structure
Here is the example of mind
mapping by Tony Buzan:
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Figure 1 Example of Mind Mapping
To make mind mapping, we
must know the technique.
Hobartswan (2010) gives his idea in
making mind mapping as follows:
1. The learner starts a mind
map at the center, with a
Main Idea. All the
information you add from
this point on should relate to
this Main Idea, so it
helps you stay focused.
2. Then the learner can just
start entering ideas (Main
Topics) that come to you
when you think of the Main
Idea. You can just enter
them or jot them down in
the order they come to you.
3. Once the learner has a lot of
ideas written down, then
you can start grouping them
into a logical structure. If
you’re using pen and
paper, it’s probably easier to
create a new map,
organizing the ideas you
came up with. If you’re
using a computer, just drag
and drop the Main Topics to
where you want them
4. Now the learner can go one
step further, and break down
each idea into its component
parts (Subtopics). This
 might involve the entering
information you have found,
or ideas that have occurred
to you.
5. Unlike most writing
processes, mind mapping
supports—even encourages,
nonlinear thinking. It allows
the map maker to move
around, to follow their
interests. But it does all of
this within an organized
framework.
Mind mapping gives the
advantages for both the teacher and
students. There are some advantages
of using mind mapping. According
to Hobartswan (2010) Mind maps are
used all around the world, in
education and in business. In
education, they serve three powerful
functions:
1. As a students’ presentation tools
(a welcome alternative to
PowerPoint)
2. As a pre-writing tool
3. As a teaching tool (by chunking
language, mind mapping makes
English more accessible to non-
native English speakers. More
about that later)
In addition, based on Jf (in
Kristina, 2010:13) mind maps are
extremely useful for 3 main purposes
in language:
1. Learning Vocabulary
2. Building a clear context
before, during, and after
study session, classes or
conversation with a tutor
3. Organizing one’s thought
before writing
Mind map is very useful in
teaching and effective in learning.
Mind maps have many applications
in personal, family, educational,
93
and business situations,
including note-taking, brainstorming
(Wikipedia, 2009). Mind map can be
used for:
1. Problem solving
2. Outline/framework design
3. Structure/relationship
representations
4. Anonymous collaboration
5. Marriage of words and
visuals
6. Individual expression of
creativity
7. Condensing material into a
concise and memorable
format
8. Team building or synergy
creating activity
9. Enhancing work morale
METHOD
The design that was applied
is a classroom action research which
is presented on each of students in a
certain classroom. By doing the
action research, the researcher try to
enhance the success in students’
learning English. As stated by Latief
(2009:3), “classroom action research
for English instruction is aimed at
developing innovative instructional
strategy that can help enhance the
success in students’ learning
English”.
In applying this research, the
researcher chose the English teacher
as a collaborator to observe the
implementation of the strategy.
Latief (2009:5) stated that the
researcher was recommended to
collaborate with one or two other
teacher of the same subject. The
collaborator observed the
implementation of the plan to see
how much the strategy could solve
the classroom’s problems. The
classroom action research would be
done by cycle. The cycles of
classroom action research contain of
four steps: planning, acting,
observing, and reflecting.
Subject of the Study
The subject of this classroom
action research was the fifth grade
students on the second semester of
2011/2012 academic year at SDN
Mandaranrejo 2 Pasuruan which is
located on Jl. LetjenSutoyo I / 5
Pasuruan. The numbers of the fifth
grade students were 27 students
which were 19 boys and 8 girls.
Research Instrument
The instrument for data
collection was the interview
guidance, observation sheet both for
the students and the teacher activity,
and test. All of the data would be
analyzed to know the result of the
research. The first was analyzing the
data from the interview with the
English teacher that would be used
as reference for the researcher to
design the lesson plan that would be
applied in the class. The next is
collecting and analyzing the data
from the observation to know how
far the implementation of mind
mapping technique for the students
and make the decision for the next
meeting about the teaching learning
process in class. And the last was
analyzing the test’s result in each
cycle. In analyzing the test, the
researcher used a form to recapitulate
the students’ score.
The maximum score for each
question was 10, so the total
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maximum score was 150. Because of
that, the researcher formulated the
score of the test by using the
following formula:
=
100 ; The
maximum score is 150
To get the score for each
number of the questions, the
researcher uses the following criteria:
Table 2 Criteria for Scoring
No Criteria Score
1
The diction, spelling, and
10
grammar are correct
The diction and spelling are
2 8
correct, grammar is wrong
The diction and grammar are
3
correct, spelling is wrong
6
The diction is correct, spelling
4 4
and grammar is wrong
5 The diction is wrong 2
6 No answer 0
The students’ score of test
would be accumulated and then, it
divided with the amount of the
students to know the average score.
This research will success if the
average score of the test of all the
students reach score 70. If the
average score was less than 70, the
researcher continued the research to
the next cycle. The researcher would
make a changing in teaching method,
but still used mind mapping
technique.
FINDING
This research was inspired by
the fact that the students had
difficulty in mastering vocabulary in
the fifth grade students that was
below the standard. It was identified
by seeing the result of middle test
semester that was shown by the
English teacher to the researcher.
Most of the students got the score
which was below the standard. The
average of the students score was
below 60, whereas the expected
score was at least 64. They could not
do the middle test semester well
because of the lack of vocabulary.
Cycle 1
Planning
There were some procedures
to be followed in conducting this
cycle. First, a well-prepared lesson
plan should be made before the
researcher started this activity.
Secondly, the concept of mind
mapping should be introduced well
to the students before asking them to
do the series activity planned by the
researcher to avoid misunderstanding
among the students. The teaching
learning process was carried out in
one cycle, which consisted of two
meetings. There were three kinds of
activity in every meeting: pre-
activity, main activity, and post
the new topic. Then the students
were divided into five groups. Each
group was given a worksheet that in
the first part, the students had to
arrange the jumbled words into the
correct words based on the picture
given and then on the second part
they had to arrange the jumbled
words into the correct sentences. At
the second meeting, the students
were still in a group and they were
required to fill the mind map
diagram about hobby by their own
creativity. And then, they had to
make simple sentences based on their
own mind mapping that they had
done before. The test was given in
the end of the second meeting to
know their mastery in writing
English vocabulary.
Table 3 Score of the Test in Cycle 1
NO NAME SCORE
1 AH 72
2 AR 71
3 ARF 88
4 ARN 80
5 ASW 81

activity. 6 Ant 64

The researcher needed some 7 AS 71

research instruments to know the 8 ADC 63

improvement of the students’ 9 CF 56

mastering of vocabulary. It included 10 DP 56

11 FF 69
the observation form for the students
12 IS 65
and the teacher’s activity and also the
13 MH 65
test in the end of the first cycle.
14 MSR 44
Acting
15 MF 61
There were 27 students who 16 MRG 53
participated in the learning activity in 17 Mae 63
the classroom action research. In the 18 MA 73
first meeting, they were divided into 19 MT 77
five groups. In the first meeting of 20 NSu 81
the cycle 1, the researcher used mind 21 NSa 72
mapping technique in the pre activity 22 PW 61
as a brainstorming and introducing 23 RNE 69

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 24 SIS 84
25 SF 83
26 WG 80
27 WK 71
Total
1875
Mean
69.43
Observing
From the data obtained by
using observation format of the
students’ activities, it was found that
many of students were active in the
learning activity. Only a few students
were not serious and not active. It
was caused by their ability in English
that was low. They always depended
on the other students in group.
However, most of the students could
work in group to work together and
shared with their friends in group
well.
The data showed that 62% of
the students were active on the
learning activity. While the data that
was obtained from the result post test
at the end of the first cycle showed
that there were only 20 students who
could reach the minimum criteria of
completeness with the score ≥ 64.
While, the average score of the
students was 69,43.
Reflecting
Based on the observation, the
researcher concluded that the
students were interested in the
learning vocabulary by using mind
mapping. It was proved by the
evidence that most of the students
were active in participating and
working in group well.
According to the learning
objectives that were expected the
students be able to arrange the
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jumbled letters into the correct
words, spelling and constructing
English words, arranging the
jumbled words into the correct
sentences, and writing simple
sentences, the researcher found that
some of them had improvement. It
was proved by the score of the post
test at the end of first cycle that
showed there were only 20 students
who got score ≥ 64 as the minimal
criteria of completeness. The average
score gained by all students was
69,43, it was not successful because
it was still below the criteria of
success that was required on
minimum average score of all the
students was 70.
However, the researcher
found that some students were
depended on the other students in
group. They did not participate well
in group because of their low ability
in absorbing the material and they
did not pay attention to the teacher’s
explanation.
Consequently, the researcher
decided to continue this action
research to the second cycle. The
researcher thought that the students
had to be more active in a group and
they should not depend on the other
students in a group. To avoid that,
the researcher would divide the
students into nine groups in the
second cycle.
Cycle 2
Planning
Based on the reflecting on the
first cycle, the researcher decided to
continue the action research to the
second cycle to achieve the criteria
of success, which required the
average score of the test of all the
students got minimum 70 as criteria
of success. In the second cycle, the
researcher planned to use media, and then they had to make simple
using picture, with different theme, sentences based on their mind
but the technique was still using mapping that they had done. In the
mind mapping. In the second cycle, end of the second meeting of the
the researcher divided the students second cycle,
into nine groups and each groups NO NAME
SCORE

consisted of three students. It was 1 AH 81

planned to avoid the dependent 2 AR 81
students. 3 ARF 92
The researcher also needed 4 ARN 97
some research instruments to know 5 ASW 88
the improvement of the students’ 6 Ant 72
mastery of vocabulary. It included 7 AS 89
the observation format for the 8 ADC 84
students and the teacher’s activity 9 CF 75
and also the test in the end of the
10 DP 87
second cycle.
11 FF 79
In conducting the planning of
12 IS 79
the cycle, the researcher prepared:
13 MH 71
(1) lesson plan; (2) students’
14 MSR 73
worksheet; (3) pictures; (4)
15 MF 69
instrument of collecting data
16 MRG 76
consisted of observation and test.
17 Mae 81
18 MA 88
Acting 19 MT 71
The cycle two consisted of 20 NSu 77
two meetings. In the first meeting, 21 NSa 65
the students were divided into nine 22 PW 81
groups. In the first meeting of the 23 RNE 85
second cycle, the researcher used 24 SIS 69
mind mapping as a brainstorming 25 SF 89
and introducing the topic again. All 26 WG 64
of the students in each group were 27 WK 88
given a worksheet that was the same Total 2153
as in the first cycle. In the first part, Mean
79.75
the students had to arrange the
Observing
jumbled words into the correct words
based on the picture given and then
Based on the data obtained
on the second part they had to
from the observation format of the
arrange the jumbled words into the
students’ activities, most of the
correct sentences. At the second
students were active and interested in
meeting, the students were still in a
the learning activity. The students’
group and they were required to fill
vocabulary mastery, especially in
the mind map diagram about
writing English vocabulary, was also
transportation by their own creativity
improved.

97
Reflecting
In this cycle, the learning
activity by using mind mapping ran
well. Most of the students were able
to make mind map well. Gradually,
the students were able to understood
and master about writing English
vocabulary.
The improvement of the
students’ mastery of writing English
vocabulary was shown by the score
obtained on the post test at the first
and the second cycle. In the second
cycle, 27 students got score ≥ 64.
The average score gained by all
students were 79,75 and it could be
conclude that the criteria of success
had been reached, which required at
least minimum 70 of the average
score of all the students.
DISCUSSION
During the first cycle, many
students were still confused how to
make mind map, especially in
improving their vocabulary. To solve
that problem, the researcher gave
explanation about mind mapping
technique to improve the students’
vocabulary mastery and to help the
students in memorizing the
vocabulary.
Based on the reflecting of the
first cycle, the researcher found the
problem that some students were
depended on the other students in a
group. They did not participate well
in a group because of their low
ability in absorbing the material and
they did not pay attention to the
teacher’s explanation
While the result of the post
test at the end of the first cycle
showed that there were only 20
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students who got the score ≥ 64 as
the minimum criteria of
completeness. The average score
gained by all the students was 69,43.
It was not successful because it was
still below the criteria of success
which required minimum average
score 70 of all the students.
From the reflection of first
cycle, the researcher minimized the
members in each group and gave
worksheet to all of the students
although they worked in group.
During the second cycle, most of the
students were able to understand and
master about writing English
vocabulary well. They also became
independent students because the
researcher divided them into nine
groups and gave individual
worksheet in the second cycle.
Based on the reflecting of the
second cycle, the improvement of the
students’ mastery in writing English
vocabulary was shown by the score
obtained on the post test at the first
and the second cycle. In the second
cycle, there were 27 students or all of
the students could reach the
minimum criteria of completeness
with the score of each student ≥ 64.
The average score gained by all the
students were 79.75. It can be
conclude that the criteria of success
had been reached, which required at
least minimum 70 of the average
score of all the students.
The Effect of the Implemented Plan
The learning activity by using
mind mapping technique to improve
the students’ vocabulary gave
positive effect to the students. They
could imagine and they were free to
choose the related words or
vocabulary to the main idea of mind
map. Of course, it could help the
students in improving their writing
English vocabulary and made easier
for the students to memorizing the
vocabulary.
During the first cycle, many
students were still confused on
memorizing and writing English
vocabulary. They always forgot the
spelling of the English vocabulary.
The researcher also found that some
students were depended on the other
students in a group. They did not
participate well in a group because of
their low ability in absorbing
material and they did not pay
attention to the teacher’s explanation.
The fact above was caused by the
number of students in a group that
were 4 up to 5 students. Those could
make some problems that there were
some students who depended on the
other students in a group. Those
could also make the students did not
pay attention to the researcher
because some of them were talking
to each other.
On the second cycle, the
researcher decreased the number of
the number of students in a group of
three students. Besides that, the
researcher also gave individual
worksheet in order to make them
more responsible with their task in
group. It could bring a good effect to
the students became more
independent and they did not talk to
each other. They also capable in
making mind map. It was proved by
their improvement in identifying and
classifying vocabulary in their mind
map.
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CONCLUSION
Based on the finding and
discussion in chapter 4, the
researcher concluded that the
students’ English vocabulary of the
fifth grade students at SDN
Mandaranejo 2 Pasuruan could be
improved by using mind mapping
technique. It was proved by the
improvement result of the test on the
first cycle and the second cycle.
In the first cycle the result of
the test still below the standard. It
because of there was some students
did not paid attention to the teacher’s
explanation and they were dependent
to their friend in a group. The result
become increased in cycle two
because the researcher decreased the
groups’ member so that the students
more responsible and did not
dependent to their friend in doing the
task.
The result of the post test at
the end of the first cycle showed that
there were 19 students who got ≥64
that was below the minimum criteria
of completeness. The average score
gained by all the students was 69,43.
In the second cycle, 27 students got
≥64. The average score gained by all
the students were 79,75 that it had
reached the criteria of success, which
required at least minimum 70 of the
average score of all the students.
The improvement of the
students’ vocabulary mastery was
achieved by applying mind mapping
technique in cycle two. Although
there was still found some mistakes
in students’ writing English
especially in vocabulary, at least they
were able to identify and classify the
vocabulary related to the topic
 It is suggested that the learning-and-teaching-with-
English teacher has innovation in both-sides-of-the-brain-by-
teaching by using different kind of hobie-swan/. Accessed on
media or technique especially using April 13rd, 2012
the mind mapping technique to Kristina, Bayu Henik. 2010.
improve the students’ vocabulary Improving the students’
mastery. By using mind mapping Vocabulary by Using Mind
technique, the teacher can help the Mapping in the Fourth Grade
students to memorize, identify, and of SDN Kawisrejo Kabupaten
classify the vocabulary items well. Pasuruan. Unpublished Thesis.
It is suggested that the Pasuruan: STKIP PGRI
students of English department use Pasuruan
mind mapping technique in teaching Latief, Mohammad Adnan. 2009.
English vocabulary to their students Classroom Action Research in
when they become a teacher in the Language Learning. Malang:
next. State University of Malang
Furthermore, it is suggested Moi, Wong-Ang Gek and Ong Lee
to the further researchers can conduct Lian. 2007. Introducing Mind
similar research in other level of the Map in Comprehension.
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for improving the students mastery Thornbury, Scott. 2002. How to
of vocabulary. Teach Vocabulary. England:
Longman.
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