Mind-Mapping Technique Implementation into English for Specific Purposes Training

The conducted research reveals the efficacy of a mind-mapping training technique within the English for Specific Purposes university course. The study aims at assessing the influence of mind maps on the students' motivation and language academic performance. To achieve the objective, it became relevant to study the step-by-step educational development of a university entrant, junior student and, then, a graduate as the result of practicing mind-mapping activities in classes. To accomplish the research tasks successfully it was necessary to apply the following methods: observation research, questioning, testing, output data calculating, modelling, foreseen data checking. The methods of statistical analysis, namely: data correlation, factor analysis, consequent implication, and content analysis were chosen. The three-stage experiment was fulfilled within the 2016–2018 academic years at the Faculty of Computer Sciences and Cybernetics (Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Ukraine) and encompassed three groups of participants namely, the university entrants, the students of the first and fourth years of study. The research results show foreign language academic proficiency enhancement. The data prove that the respondents from the experimental research groups (in contrast to the control groups' outcomes) considered mind-mapping activities interesting and engaging. Such a learning motivation boost is due to the participants' associative, spatial and geometric thinking ability activation. Further investigation correlating students' motivation and mind maps' content is needed to facilitate the English for Specific Purposes university training.