英语教学论文The Application of Thinking Maps in English Reading Teaching for Elementary Students

TheApplicationofThinkingMapsinEnglishReadingTeachingforElementary StudentsAbstract：Theriseofthinkingmapsisaproductoftheresearchandunscramblingofthelearningabilitiesofourhumanbrainsfromthescientists.Thefactsandpracticehavetoldustheapplicationofthiskindofvisualtoolscanhelpstudentsunderstandandmasterthewordsandtextsbetterwhilelearninglanguages.Andinthiswaytheycanalsooutputwhattheyhavelearnedmoreeasily.ThedestinationofEnglishlearningisnottogettheknowledgeitselfbutwalkintothelanguageanditsrelativeculture.Thewaysofmemorizingarevarious,andourChinesestudentspreferthemechanicalmemory.Thepopularityofthinkingmapscanmakeboththeteachingprocessandthelearningprocessmoreefficient.Keywords:thinkingmaps,visualtool,efficient.摘要：思维地图的兴起是科学家对人类大脑学习能力研究整理的产物。大量事实已经说明此类可视化工具的使用有益于学生在学习语言时对词汇的掌握以及对文本的理解。学生们也更易于输出自己所学内容。英语学习的最终目标并非知识的本身，而是要走进这门语言走进这种文化。人类记忆的方式室多种多样的，而我们中国学生更倾向于机械记忆。思维地图的普及将既有益于教学过程亦有益于学习效率的提高。关键词：思维地图，可视化工具，效率。1Introduction 1.1ABriefIntroduction

“ThinkingMap”wasfirstputforwardbyDoctorDavidHyerle.InhisbookThinkingMap,heintroducedthepurposeofusing“ThinkingMap”istouseThinkingMapsasacommonvisuallanguageinyourlearningcommunityfortransferringthinkingprocesses,integratinglearning.(DavidHyerle,2011)Withthehelpoftheteachers,studentscanmakeavisualcombinationbetweenwhattheyseenowandwhattheyhavestoredthroughthinkingmaps.Thentheycanformtheirownideasandpresentthematurethinkingprocessesoutvisually.Thusthefinalaimofreadingcanbeachieved,whichistoputwhatwe’velearnedintopractice. Thinkingmapsincludeeightcommonforms:CircleMap,BubbleMap,DoubleBubbleMap,FlowMap,Multi-FlowMap,BraceMap,TreeMap,andBridgeMap. 1.2TheExistingCircumstancesoftheEnglishReadingTeaching

ThetraditionalteachingmethodsofEnglishreadingalwaysfocusontheknowledgetaughtfromtheteachers.Andtheemphasesoftheteachingdesignsarealsorelatedtowhattheteachersshoulddo.Thestepsarealwaysasfollowing:first,theteacherintroducesthebackground,analysesthetextandexplainsthelanguagepoints.Andthenheorsheneedstoleadthestudentstodotheexercisesandcheckthestudyeffects.Inthisway,studentscanonlymasterfragmentaryknowledgepoints.TheirreadingsskillsandlevelscannotbeimprovedandtheirinterestofEnglishreadingcannotbearousedefficientlyeither.Theseareexactlytheproblemsweneedtosolve.2TeachingModesofEnglishReadingBasedonThinking MapsEnglishreadingteachingisavitalaspectinEnglishteaching,anditisanimportantwaytocultivatestudents'corecompetences.Scientificmethodsandteachingstrategiesareneededtobeexplored.Thereadingteachingactivitiesshouldbedesignedlogicallyandputforwardstepbystep,frominputtooutput,smallunitstoawholeandsimplicitytocomplication.Thereadingteachingmodecangoasfollowing:lead-in,discussion,reading,drawingmindmaps,rereading,drawingmindmapsandoutput.Themainideas,structures,contents,languagepointsandsooncanallbepresentedthroughthinkingmaps,whichareconducivetoimprovingteachingeffectandlearningefficiencyandpromotingstudents'capabilityofself-learning.3AnalysisoftheSpecificTeachingcaseTakeUnit1What’shelike?(PEP)asanexample.2.1Beforereading-BrainstormOneoftheteachingaimsofthisunitistodescribesomeone’sappearanceandpersonality.Sobeforereading,teachersshouldactivatestudents’existingknowledgetohelpthembuildabridgebetweenwhattheyhavelearnedandwhattheywilllearn.Putstudentsintogroupstodrawmindmapstostimulatetheirinterestforthelaterreading.BubbleMapcanbeusedhere.(SeeFigure1，2)Figure1Figure2BubbleMapismainlyusedtodescribeitemswithadjectivesoradjectivephrases.UnlikeCircleMap,BubbleMapmainlyenhancesstudents'abilitytouseadjectivestodescribecharacteristics.Insidethecentralcircle,liesthedescribedobject,andthedescriptiveadjectivesorphrasescanbewritteninthecirclesaround.Intheprocessofleadingstudentstodrawthinkingmaps，theyareeasytomakemistakes.(SeeFigure3）TheyalwaysconfuseCircleMapwithBubbleMap.Weshouldemphasizetheadjectives.Figure3 2.2WhileReading－AbstractingInformationandStructuringtheFrameworkInthispart,themaincontentandframeworkcanbepresentedthroughthinkingmaps.Studentsshouldpreviewthetextinadvanceandtheywillalsobegivenlimitedtimetoreadtogetthemainideaandthekeyinformation.Teacherscanleadthemtounderstandthemainideaandmasterthelanguagepointsthroughquestioning.Basedonthese,thinkingmapscanbefinished.Withthehelpofthinkingmaps,studentscanrereadthetexttofurtherunderstandthetext. Accordingtothesetwoquestions-“What’sRobinlike?”“Why?”,figure4canbedrawntoconcludethemaincontent.Multi-Flowmapcanbepresentedhere. Figure4

Multi-FlowmapisalsoknownasCauseandEffect.Themiddlerectangleistheeventthatoccurred.Theleftrectanglesarethecausesoftheevent,andtherightrectanglesaretheresultsoftheevent.Thelong-termusingofMulti-Flowmapcandevelopstudents’logicalthinkingability. Forthedetailsofthetext,BraceMapcanbeusedherefortheexpansionofthekeywords.(Seefigure5)Figure52.3AfterReading-DrawingThinkingMapandOutputTheapplicationofthinkingmapshelpsstudentsparticipateintheclassfully.Itcanleadthemtounderstandthetextitselfandhelpthemtomemorizethekeylanguagepoints.Andafterreadingthetext,theycansummarizethetextthroughdrawingthinkingmapsandevenretellthetextaccordingtoit.Intheprocesstheteachercangivehelpifneededandalsomakesomecomments.TheBracemapcanalsobeusedheretoconstructtheframeworkandshowthekeywords.(Seefigure6)BraceMapismainlyusedtoanalyzeandunderstandtherelationshipbetweenthewholeandthepartsofthings.Theleftoftheparenthesesisthenameorimageofthethings.Theparentheseswilldescribethemaincomponentsoftheobjects,helpinglearnerstounderstandtherelationshipbetweenanobjectasawholeanditsvariousparts. Figure6

Afterretellingthetext,thetaskofdesigningtheirownrobotswithCircleMapcanpromotetheircreativethinking.(Seefigure7)CircleMapistheeasiestandthemostcommontosee.Itiscomposedofasmallcircleandalargecircle.Thecentralwordiswritteninthesmallcirclediagram,andtheassociatedwordsarewrittenbetweenthetwocircles.Thekeywordscanbewordsorsimplepictures.CircleMapcanhelpusdoalotofthings:generatingcreativeideas,expandingourthinkingperspectives,recallingourlearnedknowledge,definingconceptsandsoon.Figure74ConclusionTheapplicationofthinkingmapsinEnglishreadingteachingisgoodforthecultivationofstudents’self-learningcapabilityandcorecompetences.Withthehelpofthinkingmapsstudentscanmasterthestudystrategiesandlearntostudymoreeasily.Thinkingmapscombinepi