An Application Of Sentence Memes To Junior English Writing Teaching

Memetics is a concept based on Darwin’s theory of evolution,it provides a quick and an effective way to enrich human languages and a new perspective on language study. As cultural genes, memes depend on replication and transmission for existence, one of their carriers is language. A strong meme experiences four stages:assimilation, retention, expression and transmission which have a close relationship with the process of sentence pattern imitation writing. Therefore, the present study introduces memetics into junior English writing based on English writing research results at home and abroad, aiming to testify the effectiveness of sentence pattern imitation writing guided by memetics in junior English writing. It is hoped that the present research would help to improve the junior students’ English writing.This study aims to answer the following questions:1) Can sentence pattern imitation teaching guided by memetics improve junior students’ English writing ability?2) Can sentence pattern imitation teaching guided by memetics improve their attitudes towards English writing?In order to answer the two questions, quantitative approach and qualitative approach are adopted in this study. Three writing tests, two questionnaires, sample compositions and interviews are used in this experiment. 94 students from two classes of Grade 9 in a junior middle school of Kunming participate in the experiment. A pre-test of English writing is to see if the students of both the EC(47) and the CC(47)are of the same writing proficiency. Pre-questionnaire is distributed to the students from EC and CC to find out their attitudes towards English writing. Then, there are 8weeks of sentence pattern imitation writing training for the EC and a mid-test is held to testify whether the students from EC have made progress in writing. Then again there are 8 weeks of sentence pattern imitation writing training for the EC and a post-test is held to the students from EC and CC. Through an analysis of the post-test and sample compositions, it is proved that sentence pattern imitation writing is aneffective way to improve students’ writing ability. The test data are analyzed with the SPSS 20.0 Software. Post-questionnaire is distributed to the students from EC and CC at the end of the experiment to find out their attitudes towards the English writing and sentence pattern imitation training. In order to have a further analysis about students’ attitudes towards English writing, the researcher interviews ten students from EC and CC and analyzes the results of the two questionnaires.The research findings indicate: 1) Sentence pattern imitation teaching guided by memetics is an effective way to improve junior students’ writing ability. The sentence pattern imitation writing approach not only has improved students’ writing competence in content and language accuracy but also has enhanced their comprehensive language proficiency. 2) Sentence pattern imitation writing guided by memetics can stimulate junior school students’ interest in English writing, thus improving positive attitudes towards English writing. As for the junior school English teachers, sentence pattern imitation writing is a kind of new teaching method which can effectively help improve students’ writing abilities.