An Examination of Conceptual Changes through Concept-mapping

he present study intends to document student teachers’ conceptions about L2 writing and teaching L2 writing to children and to investigate changes in their knowledge before and after an English writing methodology course through concept-mapping. For these, the participants were asked to build a concept map with reference to the focus questions on the first and last day of the course. The participants’ pre- and post-concept maps were examined both quantitatively and qualitatively to measure their conceptual changes as a result of taking the course. The major findings of this study were as follows: 1) The participants’ knowledge of L2 writing and teaching L2 writing to children became more differentiated and organized after the course, but the extension and the hierarchical organization of their knowledge were found not to be necessarily positively related; 2) They integrated different concepts and thoughts into their knowledge base, attempting to connect concepts in different domains and to integrate knowledge gained during the course, as shown in the extent of cross-links on the post-concept maps; 3) Along with new organizing concepts and more details, the content of post-maps was different from that of pre-maps in that it was more inclusive and more emphasis was placed on strategies, processes, and procedures of L2 writing and teaching it to children. Based on these findings, implications for teacher education were suggested.