f. A mind map made will be special for the maker as an aid recall. What make it special is because it will look and be different one to another. So, a mind map
which is made by other people may not effectively be used by other people. g. The open-ended nature of the map will enable the brain to make new
connections far more easily in the more creative note making, such as essay preparations.
5. The Disadvantages of Mind Mapping Technique
In a mind map, the connections constructed are limited to simple association.
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Aside from the advantages mentioned by Buzan, other researcher finds that there are also some disadvantages of mind mapping technique. As
Hofland Said, here are the disadvantages:
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a. It can be a bit awkward to make a mind mapping when students first start using the technique. This is because the students are not really understand
about the mind map and what it is for. It is possible for the students to think that the teacher is just trying to entertain them by drawing funny structure on
the whiteboard. b. Mind mapping is time-consuming in the beginning, because the students need
time to fully understand about constructing a mind map. So, to make a mind map may takes time at first until they master how to make it.
c. Mind mapping is very personal because it uses association. The mind map made by someone is the best mind map and it will not work at all for
someone else, because the creative making of it that makes it works so well. d. Mind mapping technique is not yet used a lot in school although the
technique is not new. So, to get some students using it is kind of difficult as they do not familiar with the technique.
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Davies, op. cit., p. 4.
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Hofland, op. cit., p. 31.
6. Example of Mind Map
Here is one of the examples of mind map taken from the Mind Map for Kids by Tony Buzan.
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Figure 2.2 Mind Map of “The Lost Jug” Story
D. Previous Study
Before the writer conducted the research, there has been some relevant research to this study. The first relevant study is a research conducted by Panatda
Siriphanich, entitled “Using Mind Mapping Technique to Improve Reading
Comprehension Ability of Thai EFL University Student ”.
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Siriphanich used one class of 1
st
year student —35 students in total— at Songkhla Rajabhat University
as sample. Before conducted the treatment, Siriphanich asked the students to do pretest in order to check their reading ability. After the explanation of writing
mind mapping, the students were taught mind mapping technique for 4 lesson plans and were asked to do posttest to assess their reading progress. The
questionnaires were launched after the posttest and followed by oral interview.
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Buzan, op. cit., pp. 30 —31
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Siriphanich, op. cit., pp. 6 —11.
The result of the study reveals that after teaching by mind mapping technique the majority of the students improved their reading ability and their posttest mean
score compared to the pre-test mean score was increased. The posttest mean score was higher than pre-test mean score. The results of this study showed that mind
mapping technique can enhance the students’ reading ability. In other words, mind mapping technique is effective.
The second study entitled “The Use of Mind Mapping Strategy in the Teaching of Writing at SMAN 3 Bengkulu, Indonesia” by Pebri Prandika Putra
and Riswanto.
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This study was aimed to identify whether the use of mind mapping strategy was effective in improvi
ng students’ writing achievement. This study used non-equivalent groups pretest-posttest design. The population was the
first year students of SMAN 3 Bengkulu in academic year of 20112012 with a total number of 234 students. 66 students were taken as sample and divided into
two groups. The data were collected by using writing test and then analyzed by using t-test formula. The average of the two group showed that they came from
the same grade. Sixteen meetings of treatment were given to the two groups and after that the posttest was given. The mean score of experiment group was higer
than the control group. After testing the significant difference between these two groups, the researchers found that there was a significant difference on students
writing achievement which was taught through mind mapping strategy. Therefore, it can be concluded that mind mapping strategy improved students’ reading
achievement. The third study is a research conducted by Issam Abi-El-Mona and Fouad
Adb-El-Khalick , entitled “The Influence of Mind Mapping on Eighth Graders’
Science Achievement ”.
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This study assessed the influence of using mind maps as a learning tool on eighth graders’ science achievement, whether such influence
was mediated by students’ prior scholastic achievement, and the relationship
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Pebri Prandika Putra and Riswanto, The Use of Mind Mapping Strategy in the Teaching of Writing at SMAN 3 Bengkulu, Indonesia, International Journal of Humanities and Social Science,
Vol. 2 No. 21, 2012, pp. 60 —68.
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Issam Abi-El-Mona and Fouad Adb-El-Khalick, The Influence of Mind Mapping on Eighth Graders’ Science Achievement, School Science and Mathematics, Vol. 1087, pp. 298—312.
