1.2 The significance and purpose of the study

Mind map was first brought up with by Tony Buzan, who was recognized as Mr. Brain. As a matter of fact, mind map was first used by him to teach those who have learning disabilities, and then these students got the highest marks by using this method. It turns out to be a good way of helping us think and organize our thoughts and is a very helpful tool for thinking and learning. Also, it is an approach of helping us understand and master the information by segmenting knowledge. Meanwhile, mind map is a very effective teaching aid, which can display knowledge in the form of image, color and code, and can achieve the balance between logic and imagination. It has been widely used in business, education and people's daily life. Based on the characteristics of young people to accept the knowledge, and the brain thinking law, people can use mind mapping, from the word meaning, affix and etyma, antonyms, collocation, usage, construction logical connections between words to form a network of thinking. At the same time, according to the existing knowledge, experience, this network will also be unique. In fact, language learning is a process of integration of new and old knowledge, and establishing a new schema and meaning construction through adaptation and assimilation (Zeng Yanyan, 2008).

The purpose of the research is to test if the mind mapping can improve the correct rate of words’ spelling and if mind mapping can increase the number of the word’s acquiring and recalling.

1.3 Organization of the thesis

The first chapter introduces the research background, objectives and significance of the research.

The second chapter is the related research and theoretical basis of mind map. In this paper, the related terms and theories and practice in domestic and abroad are expounded.

The third chapter is the research design, which includes the research questions, the introduction of the research objects, research tools and the procedure.

The fourth chapter presents the research results and discussion, through the collection and analysis of experimental data to find the problem and get the results of the study.

The fifth chapter summarizes the research findings, and finds out the limitations of the study itself, and puts forward some ideas for the follow-up study.

2. Literature Review

2.1 Mind map and learning

2.1.1 The concept of mind map

Mind map was created by Tony Buzan, a famous British education expert who has a reputation for “Mr. Brain”. Mind map is an external expression of brain radioactivity, and it is a very useful tool for thinking (Buzan, 1996). It is a kind of technique to image thinking, and it is also a process of transforming knowledge structure into image. Mind mapping uses the form of graphics, color, etc to improve the memory effect, which let people focus on the center of the figure. Mind maps can take the advantage of the law of memory, reading, and thinking to achieve the balance between logic and imagination, and between science and art, and to stimulate the brain's unlimited potential. Mind mapping allows students to produce unlimited associations, which makes the thinking process more active and more creative at the same time.

Mind map has been applied in many fields abroad, for example, science, business, education, personnel training, and so on. The paper will mainly introduce the application of mind map in foreign language education. As a tool of pergent thinking, mind map has been the focus of many research projects of education reform, and has been the compulsory course of middle and primary schools in England and Singapore. Furthermore, in South Korea, Germany, America, Thailand, etc many education organizations have also started studying and exploring mind map (Buzan, 2005). Nowadays, in Singapore, mind map has been brought in middle and primary education and the book Children’s mind map has been the must-read book of young parents.