This article discusses about the use of mind mapping to improve students' writing skills. English is one of the languages which is used by people to communicate with one another. Although English is not the language with the largest number of native language speakers, it becomes a lingua franca. Harmer (2001:16) defines a lingua franca as a language widely adopted for communication between two speakers whose native languages are different from each other's and where one or both speakers are using it as a second language. English is used in many aspects such as economics, entertainment, law, medicine, education, and so on. However English has become the most studied foreign language today.
Introduction
Four basic skills are taught in the teaching and learning process of English. They are speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Writing is one of the basic skills which has to be learned by students. Harmer (1998:79) says, "By far the most important reason for teaching writing, of course, is that it is a basic language skill, just as important as speaking, listening, and reading". It means that writing is one of the basic language skills which is important to be learned by students.
Writing is a difficult skill for second language learners to master. Â Based on Richards & Renandya (2002:313), "the difficulty lies not only in generating and organizing ideas but also in translating these ideas into readable text." So, the writers should pay attention to higher-level skills of planning and organizing as well as lower-level skills of spelling, punctuation, word choice, and so on.
Mind Mapping for Writing
Mind mapping is a map of people's mind which interpret their interpretation of something. It shows people's idea which is generated from the center then it has branches that support the central idea.
There is some definition of mind mapping strategy according to some experts. According to Buzan (in Riswanto and Putra, 2012:62), mind mapping is a graphic representation of ideas ( usually generated via a brainstorming session). It shows the ideas which are generated around a central theme and how they are interlinked. It is a tool primarily used for stimulating thought. He realized that the education system primarily focused on the left and brain strength, which include the use of language, logic, numbers, sequence, looks at detail, linear, symbolic representation and judgemental characteristics.
It means that mind mapping strategy is a graphic which represented the ideas which can be developed into a writing. The students will use their prior knowledge to make graphics in mind mapping based on the topic and they will interpret it into written form.
There are some steps to make mind mapping. According to Buzan in Purnomo (2014:16), some steps to make mind mapping are as follow:
- Start in the center of a blank page turned sideways.
The idea of beginning in the center is designed to give the brain freedom to branch and spread out in all directions to express the idea.
- Use an image or picture of your central idea.
Using an image can help to imagine and keep attention focused.
- Use color throughout
