An Empirical Research on Application of Mind Mapping to Business Comprehensive English Course

Abstract

 This research is to explore the effectiveness of applying Mind Mapping to the course of business comprehensive English for students at Sichuan University of Arts and Science. In addition, this research collects students’ feedback on the administration and further application of mind mapping. A total of seven assignments of mind maps were submitted to Xuexitong (an online app) in the teaching practice of the course named Business Comprehensive English by students from two classes of business English major in one academic year. Then, a questionnaire was distributed online, and 72 students responded to the questionnaire. Analyses Findings were based on the 72 respondents’ feedback. The findings show that the vast majority of students hold a positive attitude towards the application of the mind mapping, for it has proved to be an effective way to facilitate their understanding of the structure and main idea of articles. Meanwhile, what needs to be improved is the guidance the teacher gave them about how to apply mind mapping in their studies. Recommendations on the application of mind mapping to other courses of English major and future research are put forward in the end.