EFL LEARNERS' ATTITUDES TOWARDS USING MIND MAPPING TECHNIQUE IN THEIR READING COMPREHENSION

Reading is purposeful and requires active involvement on behalf of the readers, as during reading a text, they have different aims to achieve (Koda, 2005). As Gambrell, Block, and Pressley (2002) names comprehension as the most important part of reading, helping students to cope with complicated texts they face is one of the crucial parts of teaching English to EFL learners. Among different strategies that are applied to improve reading comprehension, mnemonics, and its more recent type, mind maps are prominent. Mind maps that are graphic and visual presentation of materials, was first introduced by Buzan in the late 19th century. The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitudes of EFL learners towards using mind mapping technique in reading comprehension. The participants of this study were 31 male and female students of business management at Hakiman Institute of Higher Education, Bojnourd, Iran. It was their first semester and they participated in a pre-English course as a compulsory one. After eight sessions of treatment, when they were familiar with mind mapping strategy and applied it for the reading passages of their textbook, their attitudes toward using mind maps for reading comprehension was investigated through Likert-type questionnaire and oral interview. The findings revealed the positive attitudes of the participants towards the use of mind maps in reading classes.