A Study On English Writing Teaching In Senior High School Based On Memetics

Memetics was first proposed by Richard and was introduced into China by linguist He Ziran who combined memetics with language study to do research.As a pragmatics theory, memetics aims at explaining regular pattern of culture spreading. It was developed from Darwin’s evolution theory and based on imitation. A successful meme spreading must include four stages: assimilation, retention,expression and transmission, meanwhile, these four stages correspond to language spreading process. So the study applied memetics to English writing teaching to improve students’ English writing activity and writing ability.In order to carry out the study, an experimental comparative study was made between two parallel classes within one term. Some related experimental tools included: test, questionnaire and interview(for teachers), and the statistics was analyzed by software SPSS 20.0. The purpose of this experiment is to verify two hypotheses:1. Applying memetics to writing teaching can improve senior high school students’ writing abilities.2. Using language meme effectively can alleviate students’ writing anxiety and improve students’ writing confidence.Results of the data analysis indicate that students’ writing confidence has improved and writing ability has reduced, and students writing score and even English total score improved a lot. What’s more, the study connected with writing error frequency, writing difficulty and students’ writing interests to give some suggestions.This new attempt on English writing teaching will make great contribution to senior high school students’ English learning, particular in English writing.