الفهرس 
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Abstract
Summary In spite of the significance of reading comprehension at preparatory stage, first year preparatory school students greatly suffer from difficulties while reading a comprehension passage. In order to explore these difficulties and to give evidence to the study problem, the researcher followed certain steps: conducting a pilot study, analyzing the content of first year preparatory school students’ book, interviewing some EFL teachers and students, and reviewing the literature. As a result, the researcher attempted to use Digital Mind Mapping as a learning tool that might help develop students’ reading comprehension skills. The main objective of this study was to investigate the potential effect of Digital Mind Mapping on developing Preparatory school students’ reading comprehension skills. Therefore, the researcher applied the digital mind mapping instruction to investigate its effect on enhancing students’ reading comprehension skills (literal, inferential, and critical). The current study addressed the following questions: 1- What is the effect of Digital Mind Mapping treatment on developing EFL reading comprehension skills among preparatory school students? This main question can be divided into the following subquestions: (1-1) What is the effect of Digital Mind Mapping treatment on developing EFL literal comprehension skills among preparatory school students? (1-2) What is the effect of Digital Mind Mapping treatment on developing EFL inferential comprehension skills among preparatory school students? (1-3) What is the effect of Digital Mind Mapping treatment on developing EFL critical comprehension skills among preparatory school students? The study was conducted on first year preparatory school students. Two intact classes were chosen at random, participants were assigned to experimental and control groups, 52 students of the experimental group and 51 students in the control one. The two groups were exposed to pre- and post tests of reading comprehension skills. The treatment lasted for 24 sessions, two hours a session, for twelve weeks. To fulfill the purpose of the study, the researcher designed two equivalent forms of pre- and post- reading comprehension tests to measure first year preparatory students’ reading comprehension skills. Each test consisted of 30 questions; one test form was administered as a pretest, and the other as a posttest for both the control and experimental groups. Then, the SPSS statistics was used for analyzing the data obtained and identifying the differences between the pre and post tests. Finally, the results were analyzed and discussed. In the light of the statistical analysis of this study, the following results were reached: 1- There is a statistically significant difference at the 0.05 level between the literal comprehension skills mean scores of the experimental and control group students in the post reading comprehension test in favor of the experimental group. 2- There is a statistically significant difference at the 0.05 level between the inferential comprehension skills mean scores of the experimental and control group students in the post reading comprehension test in favor of the experimental group. 3- There is a statistically significant difference at the 0.05 level between the critical comprehension skills mean scores of the experimental and control group students in the post reading comprehension test in favor of the experimental group. 4- There is a statistically significant difference at the 0.05 level between the overall reading comprehension skills mean scores of the experimental and control group students in the post reading comprehension test in favor of the experimental group. 5.2 Conclusion The present study provided evidence for the effectiveness of using digital mind mapping in developing first year preparatory students’ reading comprehension skills. The improvement in reading comprehension skills included literal, inferential, and critical reading comprehension skills. Besides, varying reading materials and the visual modes of presentation (video, images, mind mapping) might have made students more attentive and responsive to the tasks which helped developing their comprehension skills. Also, giving feedback individually and with the whole class helped students to be aware of their mistakes, monitor their performance, and correct those mistakes themselves. Through this feedback, students’ strengths in reading were fostered and possible suggestions for improvement were offered in a way that helped students develop their reading comprehension skills. Furthermore, the change in the teacher’s role from an authoritarian to a facilitator, a monitor and a motivator allowed students to share more responsibilities for their learning, express themselves freely and become the center of the learning process. In addition, the increasing potentials that digital mind mapping instruction offered enriched and fostered collaboration among students. To illustrate, it can be linked to many applications, presentations and documents that made them flexible in offering and sharing information among students. Accordingly, English became easier and students’ motivation increased to learn while having positive attitudes towards it. More importantly, the simplicity of inserting images, icons, symbols, and using colors easily and flexibly in a creative and collaborative computerized environment while designing the mind maps, created a competitive atmosphere among students who showed their skills in creating mind maps. Moreover, digital mind maps helped students feel relaxed, stimulated their interest, increased engagement, and created a fruitful environment for learning to take place. Students felt more comfortable because they were not afraid of making mistakes in front of their colleagues. Accordingly, it helped students build confidence with their learning, and encouraged them to be active and autonomous learners. 5.3 Recommendations and Implications The current study provided evidence that Digital Mind Mapping instruction is effective in developing preparatory school students’ reading comprehension skills. Thus, it is recommended that EFL teachers consider implementing the proposed digital mind mapping procedures and activities, in addition to making use of the numerous potentials that digital mind maps offer. More importantly, EFL teachers should be encouraged and trained on incorporating web based learning applications; e.g. (mind maps, wikis, blogs and Google apps) in their teaching contexts. Similarly, EFL students ought to be directed and given adequate training on using digital and online tools. In addition, students should be given fair opportunities to practice their reading comprehension skills in a collaborative manner. Furthermore, it is recommended to conduct effective training workshops to introduce teachers to new methods of teaching including digital mind mapping and train them on how to prepare and apply it in teaching English language skills at different levels. It is also suggested for teachers to adopt new roles as facilitators, organizers, and monitors and not to intervene too much when students make mind mapping. Such intervention will make students lose their confidence and they may not enjoy the reading process anymore. Accordingly, it is suggested that before having mind mapping instruction, the teachers better divide students to groups to brainstorm and discuss the text in order to make the students be well organized in making mind maps. This will help students know what they have to do with the text and what kind of information they need to find. Further, teachers can discuss students’ digital mind maps and give rewards for the most interesting one. Also, it can be rewarding if teachers give students a chance to explain their digital mind maps in front of the class, create a competitive atmosphere for them to discuss the best digital mind maps and relate it to their own experiences. Moreover, Teachers should vary their questions on the reading texts and include questions which show the relations among ideas and sub ideas. In the same vein, teachers should extend feedback beyond mere immediate correction as this will provide better chances for students to compare, contrast, and then make their own evaluations and judgments. Also, giving feedback individually and with the whole class helped students be aware of their mistakes and become monitors of their performance by correcting their own mistakes which will improve their English learning. Lastly, curriculum designers are recommended to consider orienting objectives, activities, and procedures of digital mind mapping instruction to cope up with the recent developments in Web Based applications. Besides, educators are requested to provide different types of technologies in learning environments, facilitate teachers’ research implementation related to the educational system, and evoke new educational trends and techniques for which research has confirmed. 5.4 Suggestions for Further Research Based on the findings of the present study, the following areas should be addressed: 1- More research is needed to replicate this study on different stages (primary, secondary, higher education) and on major fields of study. 2- The effect of Digital Mind Mapping should be explored on other language skills e.g., speaking, listening and writing. 3- Further research may explore the perceptions of the students towards the use of Digital Mind Maps. 4- More research is needed to study the effect of using Digital Mind Mapping on developing EFL students’ motivation and attitudes towards language use. 5- Investigating the effect of using digital mind mapping software via mobile phones, and electronic tablets on the development of students’ English language skills.