62 The observation showed that before using mind mapping, students tended
to feel confused on how to start their description. However after the third times, they were familiar with the use of mind mapping.
2. The students’ improvements after using mind mapping technique.
The second theme generated by the researcher was to answer the second research questions about students‟ improvements after using or implementing
mind mapping technique to write descriptive text. The finding is presented as follows.
Theme 2: The use of mind mapping helps most of the students to improve their ability especially in writing skill.
The researcher had already observed the students for four times starting from the first time when the students did not know about mind mapping until
when they had experienced in using mind mapping. The researcher tried to know the differences between the first times when they did not know about mind
mapping and after they knew about mind mapping. The teacher said that there were some differences in the students. The teacher said,
“The students enjoyed the lesson you gave. After the teacher introduced mind mapping as a new technique
for them, their confidence was improved”. The observation showed that the
students became more confident in answering the teacher‟s questions. The peer- observer said,
“The students became more active than before. They liked to answer teacher’s questions which were related to the mind mapping”. A student
said that after implementing mind mapping technique, they became more confident in writing a text. The student said,
“I feel that I can do the task well
63 because I write all of my ideas in the mind map. By writing the ideas in the
branches, I can organize my ideas easily. I am confident that I can have a better score”.
The English teacher explained that mind mapping helped the students to organize their ideas well. He said,
“I have seen the students’ tasks and I think their ability in organizing their ideas was improved. It can be seen from their
descriptive text although there were still some grammatically mistakes. But overal
l, their ability was improved”. The teacher also explained that mind mapping successfully helped the students to organize their ideas. It can be seen
from the improvement of their score. Some students also stated the same thing in the questionnaire even in the interview. A student wrote,
“Mind mapping improved my writing skill especially in writing a descriptive text and it helped me
to org anize my idea from the general into the specific one”. The other student
added, “My score was improved because of mind mapping. It helped me thought
about the ideas that I was going to write”. Based on the observation result, the
students became more familiar with mind mapping and it can be shown by their behavior in the class. When the teacher made a group discussion, the students
tended to do the tasks faster than before. They did not make any excuses again as they always did. The peer-observer said,
“The students became more serious when doing the tasks. They have a good concentration now”.
The researcher also conducted an informal interview regarding the advantages of mind mapping in organizing
students‟ ideas when writing a description text.
64 Researcher
: “Menurut kamu, mind mapping bantu kamu tidak
untuk membuat teks deskripsi?” Own translation: In your opinion, did mind mapping help you to organize your ideas?
Student A : “Awal-awal itu masih bingung, tapi akhirnya aku
sudah bisa mengerjakannya dan menurut aku mind mapping berhasil bantu aku mengatur ide-ideku. Aku bisa nulis idenya secara
urut lewat cabang-cabangnya, dari nomer satu sampai ke cabang
yang terakhir”.Own translation: I was confused in the beginning but finally I can do the tasks. In my opinion mind mapping helped
me to organize my ideas. I can write all of my ideas with a good organization based on the first branch until the last branches
Student B
: “Bisa lah, Mbak. Mind mapping juga bantu aku belajar bahasa Inggris menjadi lebih mudah apalagi pada waktu
menulis deskripsi tentang orang, hewan atau benda”. Own translation: Of course, Miss. Mind mapping also helped me to
learn English easily moreover when making the description text about people, animal or a thing
The full informal interview was provided upon request.
The researcher, teacher and peer-observer found that mind mapping not only helped the students to organize their ideas but also gave many advantages for
their writing skill. The teacher said, “The students can learn many things from
this technique. I am sure that mind mapping gives the students many advantages”. This statement was supported by the
students‟ answer from the questionnaire and interview. Based on their answer, some students realized that mind mapping gave
them many advantages. A student wrote, “I have a better understanding about how to write a descriptive text
creatively because of mind mapping. By looking at the branches which was full of the ideas, I can write the sentence systematically”.
Own translation
Another student added, “I was very happy because my writing result was better than before.
The ideas were suitable and well-organized and it made the
descriptive text better than my text before”. Own translation
65 Some students said that their vocabulary was improved. This statement
was supported by the result of the observation. The researcher and peer-observer found that the students improved their vocabulary while learning or using mind
mapping. They improved their vocabularies in the process of making the mind mapping before making the descriptive text. On the branches, the students only
needed to put the keyword. Moreover the students should find the most appropriate words to be used in the branches. The students were busy to find some
new vocabulary in their dictionary. Sometimes, the students asked their friends even their teacher to find the new vocabulary. The teacher said about the
advantages of this activity. The teacher said, “If the students try to find the
vocabulary that they do not know in the dictionary, their vocabulary will be improved. Indirectly they have already gained many new vocabularies that they
do not know before”. A student said,
“I found so many new vocabularies that I have never known before. The teacher asked me to find it in my dictionary so that I can
improve my vocabulary.” Own translation
Then another student added, ”Mind mapping forced me to find the ideas in the form of word
before making the sentence and for me. It was difficult because I did not have many vocabularies in English. My teacher asked to find it
in the dictionary and finally I knew the new vocabularies”. Own translation
Some of the students confessed that mind mapping helped them to be more concentrate when doing the tasks. A student said,
66 “I think mind mapping is the best way to make me understand how to
write a description text. It also helps me to have a good
concentration when doing the task”. Own translation
The other student told that the use of mind mapping forced them to have a good concentration in making the mind mapping. She said,
“I need to concentrate when doing the mind mapping especially choosing the word and putting it in the branches. I should think of
the arrangement of the ideas, so that it will not
be inverted”. Own translation
When the researcher asked the English teacher of 7J class about the students‟ concentration when making the description text in the class, the teacher
explained the same thing. The English teacher saw that the students became more active in doing the tasks. The teacher said,
“All of the students realized that mind mapping needed lots of concentration and they did it. The students were not as
noisy as previous time when they had not already known about mind mapping yet”. It was linear with the data which was gathered by the researcher and peer-
observer. The condition of the class was not as noisy as before. Students sat and did the tasks very well. Based on the observation, there were no students who
walked and talked to each other like the first time they did not know about mind mapping. Students became quieter and they tried to do the tasks even though
sometimes they asked their friends about the vocabulary they did not know. A student who felt that mind mapping did not help her at all in organizing
ideas also gave her explanation about the advantages of mind mapping for herself. In the interview session and also the questionnaire, she explained that although
she could not understand how to do the task well with mind mapping, it still gave
67 her some advantages especially in increasing the vocabulary. She realized that her
vocabulary mastery was also improved. She said, “Although I cannot do the mind
mapping well, especially transferring my ideas into the sentences, I still get the advantages of mind mapping. I realize that I can also improve my vocabulary by
always looking for the vocabulary in the dictionary”. From the explanation, it can be concluded that all of students still got the advantages from the use of mind
mapping although there were some difficulties that the students faced before.
3. The students’ suggestion on the implementation of mind mapping.
