The Effect of
Pre-task Planning on Paragraph Structure:
A Case of
Mind-mapping and Outlining
NISHIJIMA Eriko
Key Words: Pre-task planning, mind-mapping, outlining,
hierarchical structure,
paragraph
structure
The purpose
of the present study was to examine how L2 learners of Japanese construct a
paragraph when they use mind-mapping and outlining in pre-task planning.
Participants (44 JFL students and 56 JSL students) were divided into 4 groups
each with their respective planning type (mind-mapping, outlining, no-planning
for 30 minutes, no-planning for 40 minutes) and asked to write an argumentative
essay according to each type.
Both the mind-mapping and outline groups have a strong tendency to put their topic sentences at the beginning of a paragraph and to construct logical paragraph structures compared with the no-planning groups. This result is attributed to the hierarchical structure of mind-mapping and outlining which enable writers to organize their ideas and to understand the logical structure of a paragraph.