Nouri Y. Alwattar, Eisa M.

Al-Balhan
Kuwait

The Effectiveness of the E-mind Mapping

Strategy for Sixth-Grade Students’ Achievement Level
in Learning Arabic Vocabulary
in Kuwait
DOI: 10.15804/tner.2018.53.3.10

Abstract
The purpose of the presented study was to identify the effect of using the
e-mind maps strategy at the academic achievement level in learning Arabic
vocabulary skills among six-grade primary male students in Iben Al-Atheer
School for Intermediate Education in Kuwait in the 2017/2018 school year.
The sample of the study consisted of 60 male students, equally divided into
two groups, experimental and control ones. The result of the study indicated
that there were statistically significant differences between the mean scores of
the experimental group and the control one in the post achievement level test
scale in favor of the experimental group. The effect size of using mind maps
was high. There were statistically significant differences between the mean
scores of the experimental and control group scores in the post achievement
test of the Arabic vocabulary learning in favor of the experimental group. The
study concludes with recommendations for future mind-mapping in other
contexts.

Keywords: mind mapping, strategy, vocabulary, sixth grade, Kuwait, achievement

116 Nouri Y. Alwattar, Eisa M. Al-Balhan

Introduction

Learning vocabulary is considered the most essential and significant part of

learning any language, whether it is a second language or the first one because
without sufficient vocabulary students cannot understand others or express their
own ideas (Al-Qahtani, 2015). According to Nation (2001), learning any language
starts with learning its words and vocabulary. Brown (2002) further states that
vocabulary is as a building block and a core component of any language, which
indicates how significant it is to learn vocabulary. Horst (2005) identifies a strong
relationship between one’s reading comprehension level and vocabulary knowl-
edge. In other words, acquiring more vocabulary is considered a step towards
improving one’s reading comprehension level, which enables one to have a better
understanding of the text.
A considerable amount of research on the use of mind mapping strategies
in developing learner’s vocabulary has shown that using mind mapping in the
classroom motivates and engages students throughout a lesson, improves their
academic achievement level and s the learning process more meaningful. Mind
mapping enables teachers to design and organize activities and engage students’
cognitive and innovative potentials into the learning process (Aljaser, 2017;
Hamdan & Alharbi, 2017; Bahadori & Gorjian, 2016; Al-Otaibi, 2016; Gorjian,
&Bahadori, 2016; Al-Badwoi, 2015; Leyden, 2014; Rabeka, 2014).
Al-Jarf (2011) stated that mind mapping software is considered a graphic
organizer through which the main ideas of categories diverge from a central idea
or image and lesser categories or ideas are presented through branches that diverge
from larger branches. According to Buzan (2000), such software can be used to
improve one’s memory, develop concepts, ideas, and take notes.
Multiple studies confirmed that mind maps allow students to have a better
conceptual understanding of basic principles when there is a great deal of infor-
mation, and promote active learning to improve their memory, especially when
retrieving written information (Al- Aljaser, 2017; Nodoushan & Maibodi, 2017;
Kaveh, & Rassaei,2016; Tarkashv, 2015; Carol, 2015; Toi, 2009).
At the same time, Baek (2011) reached a conclusion that mind mapping does
not have any positive impact on students’ achievement level before the ninth grade
level, because younger students do not have enough knowledge to benefit from
mind maps. Henceforth, in the presented study the researchers expect that the
result of this study will allow for yielding further information about the effects of
using mind map on learning the vocabulary of one’s native language, especially
Arabic vocabulary skills.
The Effectiveness of the E-mind Mapping Strategy 117

Research Problem

Despite the increasing availability of technology and efforts to connect each

classroom to the information superhighway, some Arabic teachers in Kuwait have
been reluctant to adopt technology and revise their pedagogy. In fact, the problem
lies in the Arabic language teaching and pedagogy, still influenced by traditional
approaches to Arabic literacy pedagogy and language teaching, which impacts on
the student’s low performance in the Arabic language and has a lasting effect on
Arabic backwardness. Hence, the aim is to have an education system that resem-
bles its counterparts in developed countries by utilizing technology and the latest
language teaching pedagogy. Therefore, the researchers of the presented study
aimed to identify the effectiveness of using mind mapping strategies in improving
the Arabic vocabulary skills of six-grade students at that state of Kuwait. With this
regard, the study was designed to address the following hypothesis.
H0: There are no statistically significant differences (at the significance level of
α=05.0) between the achievement levels of sixth-grade control and experimental
groups in learning Arabic vocabulary at Kuwaiti schools that can be attributed to
the method of learning (i.e., the traditional method or the EMM strategy).

Research Focus

In Kuwait, there has been no systematic research into the use of mind mapping
as a tool with sixth-grade Arabic students’ vocabulary learning skills, or analysis
of the lack of use of mind mapping in teaching and learning the Arabic language,
which has hindered the memorization of Arabic vocabulary taught in the class-
room. Therefore, our research efforts focus on identifying the effects of using
the e-mind maps strategy on the academic achievement level in learning Arabic
vocabulary skills among six-grade primary male students in Kuwait. Although
this research has many components and involves many studies, there are three
primary thrusts.
One thrust is to illustrate the utilization of mind-mapping-based instruction
by Arabic teachers in the state of Kuwait, to improve the classroom-learning envi-
ronment, and to increases students’ technological fluency and digital literacy. The
second thrust involves field studies investigating the effects of using the e-mind
maps strategy on the academic achievement level in learning Arabic vocabulary
skills, and the third thrust is to develop new tools to improve the Arabic language
proficiency of the Arab students.
118 Nouri Y. Alwattar, Eisa M. Al-Balhan

There is hope that the finding of this study will contribute to a further
understanding of the role of digital mind maps in improving Arabic vocabulary
achievement, and fill the gap in the relevant literature due to the scarcity of studies
addressing the effectiveness of EMM for learning vocabulary.

Methodology

Design and Procedures

This study adopts a quasi-experimental approach with a two-group design. The
sample was drawn from among male sixth-grade students at the Iben Al-Atheer
School for Intermediate Education for Boys in Kuwait in the 2017/2018 school
year. The students were divided into two groups: an experimental group, which
was exposed to digital mind mapping software, and a control group, which had
traditional English vocabulary lessons.
Both groups were given pre-test and post-test that focused on the students’
achievement in three major vocabulary skills (spelling, word recognition, and
vocabulary use). The Arabic vocabulary was selected from 8 units in the sixth-
grade Arabic language curriculum, and e-mind maps were designed to teach them.
To assess the effectiveness of the technique, a multiple-choice achievement test
was designed by the researchers. The test consisted of twenty-five items with one
score per item. The validity and reliability of the test were checked. The achieve-
ment test forms were distributed to both groups before applying any teaching
method (i.e., the pre-test) to ensure that the groups have equivalent achievement
and knowledge levels. Next, the experimental group was given two lessons about
selected Arabic vocabulary using e-mind maps. Meanwhile, the control group was
given two lessons using the traditional method. Then, the achievement test forms
were distributed to both groups (i.e., the post-test).
Finally, the selected vocabulary words were illustrated to the experimental
group using the designed computerized e-mind maps in two lessons. The same
vocabulary words were illustrated to the control group using the traditional teach-
ing method in two lessons. Then, both groups completed the same achievement
test (i.e., the post-test).

Participants
The research population included all sixth-grade students enrolled in public
schools at the Iben Al-Atheer School for Intermediate Education in Kuwait during
the first semester of the 2017/2018 school year. The study sample was selected
The Effectiveness of the E-mind Mapping Strategy 119

purposively, and consisted of sixty sixth-grade male students selected from sec-
tions A and B. Section A included 30 students, who represented the control group,
whereas section B included 30 students, who represented the experimental group.

Data Analysis
A quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest control group design using a sample of
intact groups was utilized in this study. The main purpose of this study was to iden-
tify the effect of using e-mind maps strategy on the academic achievement level
of the six-grade primary male students in learning Arabic vocabulary compared
to the traditional teaching method. The independent variable was the method
of instruction which has two levels, the dependent variable of the study was the
e-mind mapping posttest scores for each dimension total score, and the pretest
was the variance. ANOVA on the post-test total scores with pre-test total scores as
a variance was used to determine whether there are differences in improving the
Arabic vocabulary skills between the experimental and control groups before and
after the intervention. Data analysis was conducted by using Statistical Package for
Social Science (SPSS 21.0) and a significance level of .05 was adopted.

Instruments and measures

Two written tests were developed to assess the students’ composition before and
after the treatment, including the vocabulary test used as a pre-test to determine
the learners’ level of vocabulary knowledge on the selected texts at the beginning
of the research period and a post-test to determine the effect of the mind mapping
strategy on developing the students’ vocabulary of selected texts. And a four -week
interval was allegedly thought to be enough to wash the effect of the pretest on the
posttest. The test was applied to the two groups.

Reliability of the study instruments (i.e., the achievement test)

The reliability of the test was checked through the test-retest method. For
instance, the study achievement test was distributed to an exploratory sample at
the beginning of the second semester of 2017/2018. The latter sample consisted
of 27 sixth-grade students chosen from section C of the same school. The test
was distributed to these students again after two weeks. The Pearson correlation
coefficient was 0.92, which is an acceptable value.
To ensure that the test items are consistent and appropriate for the study par-
ticipants, the difficulty levels and discriminant coefficients were calculated for
each item. The difficulty levels were within the acceptable range (0.32 – 0.75). The
discriminant coefficient values were within the acceptable range (0.36 – 0.64). Such
120 Nouri Y. Alwattar, Eisa M. Al-Balhan

values are considered acceptable and suitable for fulfilling the study objectives. The
difficulty and discriminant coefficients values are presented in Table 1.

Table 1. The difficulty and discriminant coefficients

Item no. Difficulty coefficient Discriminant coefficient
1 0.54 0.36
2 0.43 0.36
3 0.54 0.36
4 0.36 0.43
5 0.43 0.36
6 0.32 0.50
7 0.46 0.36
8 0.54 0.50
9 0.43 0.43
10 0.54 0.36
11 0.54 0.50
12 0.61 0.43
13 0.64 0.43
14 0.50 0.36
15 0.57 0.57
16 0.32 0.57
17 0.61 0.50
18 0.43 0.43
19 0.43 0.43
20 0.57 0.50
21 0.61 0.36
22 0.50 0.36
23 0.32 0.43
24 0.75 0.50
25 0.36 0.43

Discussion of Study Results

The pre-test results regarding the equivalence of both groups in Arabic vocab-
ulary knowledge. To ensure that the two groups had similar levels of Arabic
vocabulary knowledge, a t-test was conducted on the pre-test scores. Table 2 shows
the t-test results.
The Effectiveness of the E-mind Mapping Strategy 121

Table 2. The t-test results of the pre-test regarding the equivalence

of both groups’ Arabic vocabulary knowledge
Arith-
Standard Degrees of
Group metic T value Sig.
deviation freedom
mean
The control group 8.97 1.40 -0.398 58 0.692
The experimental group 9.10 1.18

Notably, the statistical significance value is 0.692, which is greater than the
statistical significance level a=0.05. Hence, both groups have equivalent levels of
Arabic vocabulary knowledge.

Results of testing the study’s null hypothesis

The study null hypothesis is as follows:

H0: There are no statistically significant differences (at the significance level of
α=05.0) between the achievement levels of sixth-grade control and experimental
groups in learning Arabic vocabulary at Kuwaiti schools that can be attributed to
the method of learning (i.e., the traditional method or the EMM strategy). To test
the study null hypothesis, arithmetic means and standard deviations were calculated
for both groups in the pre-test and post-test. The values are presented in Table 3.

Table 3. The arithmetic means and standard deviations

of both groups’ Arabic vocabulary achievement levels in the pre-test and post-test,
according to the teaching method
The pre-test The post-test
The teaching method arithmetic standard devi- arithmetic standard devi-
means ations means ations
Traditional method 8.97 1.40 15.83 1.26
EMM strategy 9.10 1.18 20.27 1.55
Total 9.03 1.29 18.05 2.64

Table 3 reveals a statistically significant difference between the arithmetic means

of the two groups in the post-test, in favor of the EMM strategy. To verify this
result, one-way ANOVA was conducted, and the results are presented in Table 4.
122 Nouri Y. Alwattar, Eisa M. Al-Balhan

Table 4. Results of the one-way ANOVA

Sources of Sum of Degrees of Mean
F value Sig. Effect size
variance squares freedom squares
The pre-test 3.330 1 3.330 1.684 .200 .029
Teaching 290.758 1 290.758 147.051* .000 .721
method
Error 112.704 57 1.977
Total 410.850 59

*It is significant at the level of a=0.05

Notably, the significance of the teaching method variable is 0.000, which is less
than the significance level a=0.05. Thus, the null hypothesis is rejected; there are
statistically significant differences (at the significance level of α=05.0) between the
achievement levels of the sixth-grade control and experimental groups in learn-
ing Arabic vocabulary at Kuwaiti schools that can be attributed to the method
of learning, in favor of the EMM strategy. Accordingly, it can be concluded that
using e-mind mapping in learning Arabic vocabulary had a significant effect on
the increase in the level of performance. This result had a significant effect on
the increase in the level of performance related to using mind mapping by the
students in the experimental group and can be proven through the difference
between the post-test means for the two groups, as such means were higher for
the experimental group.
The Bonferroni test for post hoc comparisons was conducted to identify which
group performed better in the post-test; the objective was to rule out the impact of
performance on the test. The results of the Bonferroni test are presented in Table 5.

Table 5. The results of the Bonferroni test for post hoc comparisons
for the respondents’ achievement level on the Arabic vocabulary post-test, aiming to
eliminate the performance impact on the test
The difference between the two
The arithme-
The teaching method Std error arithmetic means (degree of im-
tic mean
provement in achievement)
The traditional method 15.85 0.26
4.41*
EMM strategy 20.25 0.26

*It is significant at the (α ≤ 0.05) level

The Effectiveness of the E-mind Mapping Strategy 123

The results indicate that there is a statistically significant difference between the
Arabic vocabulary achievement levels of those who studied using the traditional
method and those who used the EMM strategy. This difference favors those who
studied using the EMM strategy (i.e., the experimental group). In addition, the
difference between the arithmetic means of the two groups (i.e., the degree of
improvement in achievement) is 4.41.
To identify the effect size of the teaching method, the impact on the respondents’
Arabic vocabulary achievement levels, the eta square was calculated, with a value
of 0.71. Therefore, the EMM strategy improved the students’ Arabic vocabulary
achievement level at the level of 72.1 %. This finding is not in line with the results
obtained by Baek (2011), which demonstrated that mind mapping does not have
any impact on students’ achievement level before ninth grade because younger
students do not have enough knowledge to benefit from mind maps. Unlike the
results of this study, many researchers believe that the concept of using the e-mind
mapping strategy on students’ achievement level in learning vocabulary skills was
highly effective, including this study.

Conclusion and Implications

The presented study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of the e-mind
mapping strategy in sixth-grade students’ achievement level in Arabic vocabulary.
The results of this study confirmed that there was a significant increase in the stu-
dents’ achievement level in Arabic vocabulary after the experiment. The statistical
analysis of the pre-test scores indicated that the study control and experimental
groups showed equivalent levels of knowledge and achievement in Arabic vocabu-
lary. In addition, the study null hypothesis was rejected. Thus, there is a statistically
significant difference (at the significance level of α=05.0) between the achievement
levels of the sixth-grade control and experimental groups in learning Arabic
vocabulary at Kuwaiti schools that can be attributed to the method of learning,
in favor of the EMM strategy. This conclusion was reached after statistically ana-
lyzing the post-test scores. Therefore, the EMM strategy can be considered more
effective than the traditional method when teaching Arabic language vocabulary
to sixth graders. This finding could indicate that the use of mind mapping software
supported students in arranging information in expandable and collapsible topic
trees, which enabled them to store much more information without overwhelming
them. Moreover, the students had an opportunity to store the contents of the texts
in the form of both verbal information and visual images, which may explain the
124 Nouri Y. Alwattar, Eisa M. Al-Balhan

higher scores in the post-tests given after the students had been involved in mind
mapping software activities.
Finally, the results of the presented study indicate the necessity of using e-mind
mapping in in teaching Arabic vocabulary. In addition, the results emphasize the
significant positive increase in vocabulary skills at the students’ achievement level.
The present study draws attention to the importance of vocabulary learning and
acquisition as a fundamental area for the Arabic language skills.
The finding supports what the literature indicates about the effectiveness of
using mind mapping software in developing vocabulary. The findings of this
study indicate that using mind mapping software increases students’ achievement
level, and it can motivate them to continue using the new mind mapping strategy
method for learning vocabulary, It developed the students’ vocabulary skills, as
they expressed their own ideas and transformed them into mind maps of their
own creation, thus supporting them in arranging information in expandable
and collapsible topic trees. Teachers should employ this strategy to teach Arabic
vocabulary because it is more effective than traditional teaching methods. Based
on the ed study findings, we as researchers have identified three important recom-
mendations for further research into this area.
1. The Kuwaiti Ministry of Education is encouraged to provide Kuwaiti public
schools with computers and special software that can facilitate the applica-
tion of the EMM to teach Arabic and foreign language vocabulary at those
schools.
2. Kuwaiti schools are encouraged to hold more workshops and training
sessions about the best methods of applying the e-mind mapping strategy
to teach vocabulary efficiently.
3. Future studies should be conducted to identify the effectiveness of e-mind
mapping in teaching other aspects of language, such as syntax and reading
comprehension.

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