Recitation-imitation Model For Teaching CET4 Writing In A Memetic Perspective

Memetics is the application of Darwin’s evolution theory in the social science and culture field, which is the new theory of explaining the law of cultural transmission. Like the gene, meme is copied, transmitted and finally survives by the imitation among vectors. A successful meme has to pass four stages: assimilation,retention, expression and transmission, which have a strong relationship with memetic second language acquisition stages: input, memorization, output and interaction.Currently, teaching method is one of the factors that contribute to the success of English writing. This thesis integrated related existing second language acquisition theories under the mememtics perspective to employ recitation-imitation as a teaching model for English CET4 writing teaching. This quasi-experiment study investigated the effects of recitation-imitation teaching method on EFL students’ English writing achievement. The present study aimed to investigate 1) the effects of recitation-imitation teaching had any on the English writing achievement; 2) the relationship between this recitation-imitation teaching method and the students’ English writing achievement; 3) the attitude of the students towards the recitation-imitation teaching method. Seventy-three freshmen non English major students taking a 12-week course at Guizhou University were selected to participate in the present study. Data for quantitative analyses were collected from English writing questionnaires, writing test. Data for qualitative analyses were obtained from questionnaires.The findings showed that there were significant main effects of recitation-imitation teaching method on the students’ writing achievement. After training, the reason of improving the students’ writing were found and analyzed. The results also showed the significant correlation between recitation-imitation teaching method and writing test scores, it confirmed that recitation-imitation teaching method plays a significant role in CET4 writing teaching. Furthermore, the data from questionnaire were analyzed to find the students’ attitudes towards the recitation-imitation teaching method. It was found that the majority of the studentshad a positive tendency, while neutral and negative attitudes also exist in a small number.This research contributes to the exploration of the effects of recitation-imitation, based on memmetics and relative second language acquisition theory, teaching method on English CET4 writing. The findings of this study could be great help in the teaching and learning of English writing.