How to Teach English Vocabulary from the Perspective of Meme Theory

【Abstract】As for the importance of English learning and teaching in Senor High School， vocabulary plays a critical role on language acquisition. Professor He Ziran has proposed that language teaching under the perspective of meme theory is effective. This thesis aims at discussing about the effect of English vocabulary learning under the perspective of semantic memetics.

【Key words】vocabulary learning and teaching； meme theory； semantic memetics

1. Introduction

As Wilkins（1972）said that without grammar， people cannot express something；without vocabulary， people can express nothing. Vocabulary plays an important role in English language. However， there are still many difficulties during English learning situation. The Senior High School English Curriculum Standard points out that， English teaching should aim at cultivating students learning ability， stimulating students language potential. To activate students learning motivation and train them effective learning skills have been the goal of this thesis.

The core of meme theory is imitation. He Ziran（2005） considered that language can be one of the carrier of memetic and memetic is good for the language development， and the memetic itself also is copied and transmitted with the help of language. According to him， language is memetics， which demonstrates on the word， phrase， sentence and passage level. This thesis tries to provide the significance of English vocabulary teaching from the perspective of memetics.

2. Meme Theory and the Application of Vocabulary Teaching

2.1 Meme Theory

The concept of Meme was first proposed by Richard Dawkins in his book The Self Gene. In 1999， Susan Blackmore published her book The Meme Machine， in her work， she considered that memetics have a close relation with language. The Oxford English Dictionary defines meme as an element of a culture which is passed on by non-genetic means， especially imitation.（Blackmore， 1999）. （Dawkins， 1976） indicates three characteristics of memetics： longevity， fecundity， fidelity. The life circle of memetics is assimilation， retention， expression and transmission， and vocabulary acquisition should follow this basic rule.

2.2 The Application of Memetics on Vocabulary Teaching

The Vocabulary teaching should be a coherent procedure for leading students to a better learning practice. Teachers should make a lesson plan to decide the teaching steps based on meme theory. Before lessons， teachers should introduce the concept of meme to students. During the teaching process， take the new word “consider” as an example how memetics is used in vocabulary teaching， step one， the input stage， display the word “consider” and a related picture on the multimedia， and then ask students listen to the tape and recite the word， and read the example sentence to have a further comprehension；step two， the teacher makes an extension of the word “consider” from the perspective of lexical memetics， such as its synonym can be think or regard. “Consider” can be regarded as a memetics or a root， when adding with suffixes， the derivations can be “Considerable”， “Consideration”， “Considering”， “Considered”. Its the comprehensible input. Step three， choose the new words to match the listed meanings to make sure that students have grasped those new words and to test their short-term memory；step four， students are required to make new sentences with each word， which is the expression stage to consolidate students knowledge；step five， choose the right word and use the proper forms to fill in the blank of a passage， this step is the transmission stage which is to train students language using ability.

3. Conclusion

The application of memetics to the vocabulary teaching can double the acquisition effects， and students can draw inferences from one instance to other cases when learning and remembering new words. However， the lower learning level students may have difficulties in using memetics in vocabulary learning at the beginning， so teachers should deal with different conditions in different methods.

References：

[1]Blackmore，S.The Meme Machine[M].New York：Oxford University Press，1999：58.

[2]Dawkins，Richard.The Self Gene[M].Oxford：Oxford University Press，1976.

[3]Wilkins，David A.Linguistics in Language Teaching.Cambridge：MA：MIT Press.1972：111.

[4]何自然.語言中的模因[J].语言科学，2005，（06）：54-64.

作者简介：廖芳兰（1991-），女，汉族，广西梧州人，研究生，在读教育硕士，研究方向：英语教育理论与实践。