A Study Of The Impact Of Imitation Writing On The English Writing Ability Of High School Students From The Perspective Of Memetics

Memetics,which is based on Darwin’s evolutionary theory,is a pragmatic theory aimed at elaborating the law of cultural transmission.The core of Memetics is meme(Dawkins,1976).As a unit of cultural transmission,meme has a close relationship with language.This study try to employ imitation writing from the perspective of memetics theory and try to test the effect of integrating memetics theory into English writing.The specific research questions are : 1.what’s the effect of imitation writing from the perspective of memetics theory on students’ word use? 2.what’s the effect of imitation writing from the perspective of memetics theory on students’ sentence pattern? 3.what’s the effect of imitation writing from the perspective of memetics theory on students’ passage structure?This study uses letter writing as an example and introduces memetics theory into English writing class in senior high school.The study lasts 10 weeks.There is one writing class per week in the senior high school,and the teaching experiment is carried out in these writing classes.The experimental subjects are students of two classes in a senior high from Laiwu,Shandong province.The teaching content of the experimental class are four kinds of letter writings: apology letter,invitation letter,suggestion letter and application letter.The control class adopts the traditional teaching method.And the experimental class adopts the method of imitation writing from the perspective of memetics theory.The experimental class carries out the writing teaching process according to the spread of memes cycle: assimilation,retention,expression and transmission.They carry out assimilation and retention in the first class,and then carry out the expression and transmission in the second class.The teaching material of control class is model essay,however,in experimental classes,besides modal essay,students are also given words memes,sentence pattern memes and passage memes that were collected as teaching material.The study aims at testing the effect of imitation writing from the perspective of memetics theory on students’ writing words,sentence patterns and passage structure.In the end,there are three major findings in this study:1.Imitation writing from the perspective of memetics study has an effect on words use: The number of students’ writing words increases and students can use diversified words to express their thoughts.2.Imitation writing from the perspective of memetics study has an effect on sentence structure: students increase the use frequency of clauses,they can use senior sentence patterns to express their thoughts.3.Imitation writing from the perspective of memetics study has an effect on passage structure: students’ passage structure is more reasonable,and the content is more logical.Though the study has some limits,and still need improving.The author believes that imitation writing from the perspective of memetics study will have a positive effect on students’ writing ability.