An Empirical Study On The Teaching Of English Imitation Writing In Senior High Schools Based On Meme Theory

English writing,as one of the four basic skills,not only can reflect learner's comprehensive language level,but also as a part of language output,can effectively promote the internalization of English knowledge and the development of other basic language skills.Therefore,in senior English teaching,writing teaching is particularly important.With the implementation of the new curriculum reform,the requirements for senior high school students' English writing ability have been stated clearly.However,due to the mechanical teaching method and the single form of feedback,the current situation of English writing teaching in senior high schools is not optimistic.It can not be denied that English writing teaching in senior high schools is still not paid enough attention to and the teachers' teaching techniques need to be improved.In addition,the methods of English writing teaching are still quite mechanical.In many senior high schools,most teachers mainly apply the mode of “teacher assigning topic-student writing-teacher correction”.Moreover,the writing feedback is not thought-stimulating and there is no effective communication between teachers and students.Thus,in the long run,students' basic knowledge of English is not solid and the lack of effective writing skills becomes evident,so it is difficult for the students to develop good writing habits.Consequently,students have no interest and confidence in English writing.In view of the present situation,this research attempts to study high school English writing teaching from the perspective of Memetics,aiming to explore an effective teaching model of English imitation wiring based on Memetics.Memetics is a new theory in pragmatics,as well as a new theory to explain the law of cultural evolution based on Darwins' theory of evolution.According to the theory,the process of language communication is the process of continuous transmission and duplication of language memes,which are mainly embodied in the duplication of language memes,such as vocabulary,grammar,sentence structure and text layout.The theory insists on the principle of “imitation the first”.Thus,meme is the product of imitation.It should be emphasized that the “imitation” here is different from what it meant in the traditional passive learning process.English imitation writing based on Memetics is the process by which learners take the initiative to choose,use and master language.Besides,Memetics proposes that a successful meme goes through four stages,that is the assimilation,the retention,the expressionand the transmission,which emphasizes both the language input and the creative output of the language,thus the approach provides a new perspective for the teaching of English writing.Based on the input-output hypotheses and Memetics,the present study mainly adopts the research methods of literature review,experiment,questionnaires and interview.The teaching experiment was carried out from September 26 th,2016 to the December 9th,2016.Two parallel classes of grade 2 from a senior high school in Jinan,Shandong Province were respectively selected as control class and experiment class.First,the research data are collected through test,questionnaire and interview.Then the data was analyzed both by quantitative approach and qualitative approach.After analyzing the paired-samples T test and independent sample T test through SPSS22.0,the author finds that the test results of the experiment class were significantly higher than the control class.Through the comparative analysis of two students' pre-test compositions and post-test compositions,the author finds that after 2 months' training of English imitation writing,the post-test composition has been significantly improved from many aspects,such as the text structure,language expression,sentence pattern and vocabulary choice.Thus,it is evident that the teaching method of English imitation writing based on Memetics can better improve students' English writing ability.Through the quantitative analysis of the data collected by the questionnaire survey and the qualitative analysis of the interview records,this research argues that after 2 months' training of English imitation writing,students' fear of English writing gradually disappeared and their enthusiasm and initiative of English writing has been improved.Thus,the research has proved that the teaching method of English imitation writing based on Memetics has a positive impact on students' writing attitude.This research explores the teaching model of English imitation writing in senior high schools from the perspective of Memetics.Through investigation,interview,experiment and in-depth analysis and discussion,it has been proved that English imitation writing teaching based on Memetics can better improve students' English writing ability and has a positive impact on students' writing attitude.It is sincerely hoped that the results of this research can contribute to the improvement of English writing teaching in senior high schools and can provide certain reference for senior school English teachers.