IMPROVING STUDENTS' ENGLISH VOCABULARY MASTERY THROUGH THE USE OF THE XMIND APPLICATION AS A DIGITALMIND MAPPING TOOL

This study aims to improve students' English vocabulary mastery through the XMind application as a digital mind mapping tool. The problems faced by second-grade students of Saengprathip Wittaya Junior High School are their low ability to remember new vocabulary and difficulty applying it in meaningful sentence contexts due to conventional memorization-based learning methods and the lack of innovative learning media. The study used the Classroom Action Research (CAR) method using the Kemmis and McTaggart model with two cycles, involving 25 students. Data were collected through learning outcome tests and observation sheets. The results showed a significant improvement: the average student score increased from 48.52 (pre-cycle) to 54.90 (Cycle I) and 85.00 (Cycle II), with an increase of 30.1%. Student observations increased from 73.64 to 86.15 (12.51%), while teacher observations increased from 74 to 95 (21%). The study proves that XMind is effective in improving vocabulary mastery because it facilitates visualization of relationships between concepts, involves both hemispheres of the brain, increases learning motivation, and creates student-centered learning. XMind provides practical solutions that schools with limited resources can adopt.