Abstract

Writing has always been a vital yet difficult part of English learning for EFL learners. Computerized concept mapping, applied as a pre-writing strategy, has the possibility to alleviate the existent writing problems of EFL learners. Therefore, this study is carried out with the aim to investigate the effects of computerized concept mapping as a pre-writing strategy on EFL learners’ writing performance. The research questions are : (1) What are the impacts of different computerized concept mapping treatments (no-mapping, individual-mapping, and collaborative mapping) on writing performance for learners of different writing proficiency (high-level, middle-level, and low-level)? (2) Does the quality of the computerized concept maps constructed cooperatively exceed the quality of those maps constructed individually? (3) Does the map quality correlate to learners’ writing performance? Eighteen non-English major students ,divided into three levels, compromised the participants and the experiment lasted for 6 weeks , when three mapping treatment is conducted with three writing assignments respectively. The writing scores as well as the map scores were collected and analyzed. It turned out that computerized concept mapping as a pre-writing strategy is effective for learners of all levels, yet they prefer different mapping treatments. There exists correlation between the map quality and learners’ writing performance.

Keywords: Concept mapping; English as foreign language; writing proficiency level; writing performance

Contents

Abstract

摘  要

1. Introduction-1

2. Literature review-3

2.1 Concept-3

2.1.1 Definition of concept map-3

2.1.2 Definition of mind map-3

2.1.3 Difference between concept map and mind map-3

2.1.4 Theoretical basis for concept mapping-3

2.1.5 Individual concept maps-5

2.1.6 Cooperative concept maps-5

2.2 English writing-6

2.2.1 Requirements for non-English major students in college-6

2.2.2 EFL writing problems-6

2.2.3 Writing process-7

2.2.4 Concept mapping as a pre-writing strategy-7

2.3 Computerized concept mapping and writing-7

3. Method-8

3.1 Participants and procedure-8

3.2 Materials and instruments-9

3.2.1 Writing instruction-10

3.2.2 Writing assignments-10

3.2.3 Concept mapping writing instruction-10

3.2.4 Concept mapping scoring system-10

3.2.5 Concept mapping software program-10

3.2.6 Writing rubric-10

4. Results-11

4.1 Impacts of mapping treatments and writing proficiency on writing scores-11

4.2 Impacts of mapping treatments on writing scores-13

4.3 Impacts of writing proficiency levels on writing scores-14

4.4 Better quality of collaboratively constructed concept maps-15

4.5 High correlation between individual map scores and writing performance-16

5. Discussion and conclusion-17

5.1 Main findings of the study-17

5.1.1 Effectiveness of computerized concept map as pre-writing strategy-17

5.1.2 Application of proper mapping treatments for different learners-18

5.1.3 Relationship between map quality and writing performance-18

5.2 The implications of the study-19

6. Limitations and assumptions-19

References-20