Application Of Memetics Theory To English Writing In Vocational Institute

Since its first emergence in Dawkins's book The Selfish Gene in 1976, meme has attracted extensive attentions from scholars. At first this newly rising concept was only adopted to explain cultural evolution. Later, with in-depth study of meme, the Memetics Theory which sets a core on memes gradually takes a shape, and finds itself a place in the research area of psychology, anthropology and sociology as an adoptive explanation for complicated phenomena. Memetics also shed new light for linguists who begin to study the mechanism of language development from a brand new perspective:the combination of language learning and language memes. The current research aims at exploring an effective way to integrate language memes with English learning, taking writing as the breakthrough point. Writing has been entitled great significance in English teaching and learning. However, EFL usually fails to achieve a satisfactory result in writing proficiency due to lack of effective teaching approach and training method. English writing places a great challenge for teachers particularly in vocational institutes for the following reasons:firstly, students in vocational institutes are more inclined to focus on knowledge and skills which can be applied to their everyday use; secondly, the English proficiency of students in vocational institutes falls behind that of undergraduates. Therefore, an effective teaching approach and training method is needed for students to construct basic knowledge and develop skills of English writing in a speedy way. Based on the situation above, the current research attempts to apply the memetics to teaching of English writing in vocational institute, and help students construct knowledge and develop skills of writing by recitation and imitation of language memes.The thesis is based on the Memetics Theory, with Krashen's Input Hypothesis and Frequency Hypothesis as theoretical foundation for this research. Recitation and imitation are employed as the specific strategies for the subjects to practice. The purpose of this thesis is to answer:(1) Could the implicit knowledge acquired by extensive exposure to the correct and well-arranged target language help learners reduce their mistakes and errors in writing? (2) Could recitation and imitation of language memes, e.g. words, chunks and idioms help students improve their writing, making them flexible in wording, phrasing and constructing sentences? (3) Could the skill of coherence, cohesion and passage construction be enhanced by imitation of language memes? (4) Could the interest of writing be built up by the training of recitation and imitation? The current research on 96 freshmen in vocational institute includes an experiment lasting 25 weeks and a questionnaire at the end of the research. Through twenty-five-week teaching and training, the author analyzes the results of experiment group (50 students) and of control group (46 students). The differences of the two groups displayed in the writing performance after the experiment are also compared to reveal their achievements with the Memetics Theory present or absent.The research reaches the following findings:(1) The course of language information processing shares some similarities with the transmission of memes. The two are consistent in nature. The transmission of language memes can be employed to help students acquire linguistic knowledge. (2) The memorized language memes enhance language input and thus lay a solid foundation for English writing. (3) Reciting and imitating of language memes enhance the language sense. (4) Memorized language memes help students master linguistic knowledge and writing skills, thus help build up learning interest and reduce learning anxiety.The results of this study have important enlightenment on foreign language teaching and learning, especially on teaching and learning of English writing. It is advised that during the teaching process teachers should consciously and purposely choose language memes for students to imitate and recite, and supervise the consolidation of language memes. Apart from that, teachers should be in charge of giving prompt and effective feedback to promote students'writing performance.