The Steps of Making Mind Map Teaching Writing Using Mind Mapping

drawing and coloring. Some students may find it burdensome when making mind maps.

c. The Steps of Making Mind Map

Buzan 2003: 10 explains the stepsof creating a mind map as follows: 1 Use a blank sheet of unlined paper and some colored pens. Make sure the paper is placed sideways. 2 Draw a picture in the middle of the page that sums up your main subject. The picture represents your main topic. 3 Draw some thick curved, connected lines coming away from the picture in the middle of the page, one for each of main ideas you have about your subject. The central branches represent your main sub topic. 4 Name each of these and if you want draw a little picture of each. Words are underlined throughout a mind map. The words represent key words and the underlining indicates their importance. 5 From each of these ideas, you can draw other connected lines, spreading like the branches of a tree. Add your thoughts on each of these ideas. These additional branches represent details.

d. Teaching Writing Using Mind Mapping

The major problem that the students find in writing is difficulty in developing their ideas. They usually come up with ideas but confused how to expand them in a good arrangement. Buzan 1993 states that mind mapping can be an effective way to help students in developing and organizing their ideas before they began to write something. According to Hofland 2007 a mind-map can activate the students’ thinking ability and creativity. The special features in mind maps can be a great way to get the imagination of the students. She also says that mind mapping can save time because it helps the students to plan about what they are going to write. Moreover, McGriff in Al-Naqbi 2011 sees mind map as a powerful tool to help students overcome problems with the organization of their ideas and thoughts. He also adds that it is an excellent way to help learners organize knowledge, to empower themselves to better comprehend the key concepts, and principles in lectures, readings, or other instructional materials. Buzan 1993 explains four danger areas that may be faced by any mind mapper and how to solve those problems as follows: 1. Mind maps that arent really mind maps Some mind maps can have random and monotonous structures although they may look like the right mind maps. We can see it as the ideas of them are reduced and each idea becomes disassociated from the others. Those kinds of mind maps can be confusing for the students themselves. It is usually caused by the students who do not fully understand the rules of mind map. Here, the teachers should explain the rules and also the steps of making mind map clearly. They have to make sure that their students understand their explanation so that they can make the right mind maps. 2. The idea that phrases are more meaningful Using phrases in mind maps makes the students difficult to revise the interpretation of the main idea. The phrases express a fixed concept which is not open to any other possibility. The teachers have to remind their students to use words instead of phrases because the use of single words in mind maps enables the students to see internal and external environment more clearly and clearly. It is especially helpful for problem-solving and creative thinking because it opens their minds to all the options. 3. The idea that a messy mind map is no good Sometimes, students create a messy-looking mind maps because of certain situations. Although their mind maps may lack clarity and beauty, it does not mean that their mind maps are bad or meaningless. Buzan 2006 states that the students can fix it by adding arrows, symbols, highlighting and images to modify their mind maps into more constructive forms. He also adds that the students also can re-draw their mind maps according the basic rules to make the information easier to be recalled in the future. 4. A negative emotional reaction to any mind map The students may feel disappointed or depressed by the standard of their mind maps. The teachers should remind them that it is only a first draft which can be revised before it becomes a final mind map.

B. Relevant Studies

There are some studies related to the use of mind mapping to improve writing skills. The first is the study conducted by Shamma Al-Naqbi. Al-Naqbi 2011 conducted the research in a government high school located in the United Arab Emirates UAE. The target population was the female students of Grade XI, English as a Foreign Language EFL learners aged between sixteen and seventeen years. The finding of the study was improvement in the students’ final writing outcomes. The result showed that the students were able to plan their ideas effectively using the mind mapping technique so that they produced well organized reports. The students were able to create between the ideas on their maps and their writing. The mind mapping technique can help in developing students’ cognition skills and aid in information recovery in an assessment situation. The other research was conducted by Lismawati. The subject of the study was eight grade students at SMP N 2 Depok in Yogyakarta. This study aimed at improving the students’ writing ability. Lismawati 2013 states that mind mapping was effective to improve the students’ writing ability. By mind mapping, the students made considerable improvement in their writings. They also showed positive response toward the teaching and learning process. The students were more active in joining the lesson and also in doing the tasks. Mind maps gave them chances to use their imagination and also to be creative. Besides, mind mapping was also useful to encourage and motivate the students in learning writing.