Effects of the Concept Mapping Strategy on English as a Foreign Language Students’ Reading

• Main Authors: Pang-Cheng Wen, 温邦成
• Other Authors: Pei-Lin Liu
• Format: Others
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/93318673750122848351

碩士 === 國立嘉義大學 === 外國語言學系研究所 === 102 === ABSTRACT This study investigated the effectiveness of applying the concept mapping strategy by analyzing the eye movements of English as foreign language (EFL) learners while reading. Although previous studies have shown the effectiveness of applying the concept mapping strategy in reading (Khajavi &; Ketabi, 2012; Tzeng, 2010; Gurlitt &; Renkl, 2010), the statistical evidence explaining this effectiveness was insufficient. Therefore, eye-movement technology was used to provide concrete evidence indicating the effectiveness of the concept mapping strategy. The participants were EFL students from a college in Taiwan. The participants were divided into 2 groups: the concept mapping strategy group and the control group. The first group received 2 reading materials accompanied by concept maps, whereas the control group received the same reading materials but without the concept maps. An eye tracker was used to monitor the participants’ eye movements while they read. The result showed the experimental group spent less time in reading contents. In addition, the concept map provided more reading time for readers to decode the reading comprehension tests. Keywords: concept mapping strategy; eye movements; reading comprehension