An Empirical Study On The Application Of Memetics To English Writing Teaching In Junior High School

Writing is an important language skill,and writing ability is an important aspect of English ability.Effectively learning junior high school English writing can not only lay a good foundation for students to enter high school in the future,but also improve students’ English communicative ability and thinking ability.However,there are still many problems in junior high school English writing teaching at present.Students generally believe that writing is difficult,and their writing ability is difficult to meet the expressive skills requirements put forward in the English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education(2022 Edition)for junior high school students.Therefore,it is extremely important to find an effective teaching method to improve students’ writing ability and help them build confidence in writing.Memetics is a new theory put forward by Dawkins to explain the law of cultural evolution.A meme is a kind of cultural information transmission unit with the characteristics of replication and transmission,and language itself is a kind of meme.Therefore,a new research idea can be provided by memetics for language teaching.This study applies memetics to junior high school English writing teaching,aiming to provide new ideas for English teachers in writing teaching.There are two main research questions in this thesis:(1)What influence does the application of memetics in junior middle school English writing teaching have on students’ writing ability?(2)What influence does the application of memetics in junior middle school English writing teaching have on students’ writing attitudes?Based on the above problems,a three-month teaching experiment on two parallel classes of students is conducted in a junior high school in Zhoushan,Zhejiang Province by means of questionnaire,writing tests and interview.There are 48 students in each class.The teaching method based on memetics is used in the experimental class,while the traditional teaching method is used in the control class.The experimental results are as follows:(1)The application of memetics in junior high school English writing teaching is conducive to improving students’ writing ability,which is mainly reflected in three aspects: language application ability,the ability to use grammar and spell words correctly,and discourse construction ability.(2)The application of memetics in junior high school English writing teaching is conducive to improving students’ negative writing attitude,improving their interest in writing and self-confidence,and helping them develop good habits of active learning.