Digital mind mapping tools for B2 tertiary EFL students: An exploration of impacts on writing

Planning is crucial in academic writing, as it enables students to organize their ideas and use new vocabulary logically. However, many B2-level undergraduate EFL students struggle with coherent organization and lexical diversity in their argumentative essays, which limits writing quality. This research investigates how digital mind-mapping (DMM) tools influence the academic writing of 60 B2-level Saudi EFL undergraduate students at King Faisal University. Using a quasi-experimental design, the participants were divided into an Experimental Group (EG) (n = 34) that used DMM tools (MindMeister and Coggle) during the planning phase and a Control Group (CG) (n = 26) that used traditional writing. Organization, coherence, vocabulary range, and grammatical accuracy were evaluated using pre-tests and post-tests, and a delayed post-test to assess retention. A paired-sample t-test was used to examine within-group improvements, and ANCOVA was used to examine pre-test differences and post-intervention effects. Lexical analysis was used to measure Type-Token Ratio (TTR) and Lexical Sophistication (LS). Results showed that the EG significantly outperformed the CG, with paired sample t-test post-test gains further enhanced in the delayed post-test as per these parameters: organization (68.7%-69.6%), coherence (66.5%-67.4), vocabulary range (63.8%-64.9%), grammatical accuracy (65.2%-66.1%), TTR (49.2%-50.8%), and LS (21.4%-23.1%). ANCOVA results (p<0.001) confirmed a strong instructional effect, indicating that DMM tools facilitate systematic visual planning, enhance idea organization, improve text coherence, and promote the use of high-level vocabulary. The implications are that, in higher education, integrating DMM tools into EFL writing instruction can improve both short- and long-term retention, with proven writing gains.