Use of mind mapping technique to improve the writing skills of ESL learners in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Writing skills is one of the productive skills, which has been a significant skill in written communication. However, it has been a challenge for several ESL/EFL learners in grasping the writing skills. Hence, this action research was conducted with the aim of improving the G.C.E (O/L) students’ writing skill using mind mapping technique. In this study, 30 G.C.E (O/L) students were randomly selected as sample population. The research instruments of this study were a test and a post-questionnaire. The test consisted of pre-test and post-test, which were designed to identify the learners’ difficulties in writing and to see the improvement in participants’ writing after implementing teaching. Moreover, the postquestionnaire was designed to collect participants’ opinions regarding the use of mind mapping technique. The findings of the data analysis show that the participants obtained lower scores in the pre-test whereas they obtained higher scores in the post-test. When both tests are compared, the participants’ writing was creative, meaningful, systematic, contentbased and well-organized in the post-test than the pre-test. Further, according to participants’ opinions, mind mapping technique helped them improve their writing ability. Writing skills of the students can be improved when the use of mind mapping technique is taught in classroom; students are aware of mind mapping technique, they are guided for preparing mind map before writing a paragraph or essay and ESL curriculum designers in Sri Lanka introduce mind mapping technique as one of the lessons in English textbooks.