The Effectiveness of Using Mind Mapping Method to Teach Writing

By Yuliarsih

There are four language skills of English. They are writing, reading, speaking, and listening. Writing is one of four basic skills that are important to be improved. Writing skills are complex and sometime difficult to teach, requiring mastery not only of grammatical and rhetorical device but also of conceptual and judgment elements (Heaton, 1998). As Harmer (2002) stated writing as a skill, of course, it is a basic language skill, just as important as speaking, listening and reading. Students need to know organizing their ideas in a paragraph unity, how to start writing; focus on not only making errors, spelling, grammar and punctuation but also strengthening their ideas to be vivid. Fegerson and Mickerson (1992) state that writing is a skill that is acquired through study. Writing is one of English skills that should be taught integrated, but it is regarded as the most difficult language skill to learn for learners. It is often perceived as the most difficult language skill since it requires a higher level of productive language control than the other skills. In fact, the students are not capable to make a good writing. The reason that they cannot make a good writing is caused by poor vocabulary, difficulty in generating their idea, poor grammar, and so on. Most of students have difficulties in writing, English, especially for students of junior high school. They cannot express their ideas; they just became passive students in the classroom. Many students complain that writing English is too difficult and it makes them bored. That is way the appropriate strategy or teaching method is needed in teaching English to attract the students interested in learning English. Practicing new model for teaching makes the students interested in learning English in the classroom. The students will not be bored with the material given by the teacher. The Mind Mapping strategy is one of the teachers' strategies in teaching. Not only Mind Maps show facts, but also show the overall structure of a subject and the relative importance of individual parts of it. It helps students to associate ideas, think creatively, and make connections that might not otherwise make ( Buzan, 2010).            In this research the researcher wants to give an interesting way to teach using Mind Mapping for learning will make the students easy to understand and will guide the students to write. Mind Mapping is usually taught and used by college students, but it is an easy and interesting method. So Mind Mapping will easily gain the interest from the student in junior high school and also can motivate students and improve their writing ability. By studying this case, the researcher wants to find the right strategy and method to teach as the way to improves students writing ability. The researcher tries to use an interesting method to teach writing especially descriptive text. This method uses diagram as the way to teach. It is often created around a single word or picture, placed in the center, to which associated ideas, words and concepts are added. Major categories radiate from a central node, and lesser categories are sub-branches of larger branches. This method is Mind Mapping. By using Mind Mapping, students are expected to make easier in improving their writing skill.                                                                                                                  However the researcher decides to concern at further information about teaching writing especially descriptive writing by using Mind Mapping. Descriptive writing here used to teach writing more specific than the complex writing to be taught. Because as general strategy describing is used in many form of writing. Reader employs their imagination as they are reading and descriptive details help to make the subject matter become real for them. For example, film can appeal to both our eyes and ears, but three more senses remain (touch, taste and smell). Good descriptive writing can stimulate the reader’s imagination. Description is powerful strategy one that allows the writer to exercise a great deal by control over the reader’s perception. Description is used to add details about something physical: a person, place or thing. This method uses sensory language that is words that appeal to the five senses. Description is a development method used to depict physical items or object that have concrete, touchable feature. Based on the explanation above, the researcher thinks that effectiveness the student’s writing skill especially at junior high school level is so important since English taught from junior high school. Assumed that the most important issue which needs to be improved is how writing is taught using appropriate method. This issue due to what explained before that writing should be taught or learnt in easy way so that the students can follow the lesson eagerly. To fulfill these tasks, this study is intended to design a method for writing program that might help the students to learn writing in an easy way and efffective. Alamsyah (2009) states that Mind Maps work well as their visual design enables students to see the relationship between ideas, and encourages them to group certain ideas together as they proceed. From this meaning is may be said that a method shows ways that learner make use of it in learning to achieve the goal. Since this study focuses on writing as one of the important skill which should be mastered by the students and is based on the result of the pilot study, this study is intended to design a method of writing, “The Effectiveness Mind Mapping Method to Teach Writing “. Mind Mapping is one of teacher’s strategies that helps students to associate ideas, think creatively, and make connections that might not otherwise make.