Memetics and English Writing Teaching

TangYiming

Abstract： Memetics reveals the laws of language development and dissemination， and provides some effective methods for English writing. This paper first expounds the definition of memetics， the characteristics of memes， the types of memes and the stages of memetic replication. Then the significance of the memetic replication and propagation provides a great enlightenment of the way to English writing teaching.

Key words： memetics; genotype; phenotype; English writing

About the author： Tang Yiming （1995-）， female， Manchu， Fushun， Liaoning， current Master of English Curriculum and Pedagogy in Shenyang Normal University in 2018， research direction： Linguistics and Applied Linguistics， English Pedagogy.

Ⅰ Introduction

Memetics is a new linguistic theory in recent years. The law of replication and disseminating memes provides a new way of thinking for foreign language teaching. Writing is one of the language skills that must be mastered. Through writing， foreign language knowledge can be continuously consolidated and internalized， and the internalized foreign language ability is the common foundation of listening， speaking， reading and writing skills. In the English writing teaching， the use of the characteristics of replication and propagation of memes can be used to improve students English writing ability， thereby improving English learning.

Ⅱ Memetics

2.1 Definition of memetics

Memetics is a new theory that explains the laws of cultural evolution based on Darwins Theory of Evolution. The core of memetics is meme， which uses a gene-like sound. Dawkins （1976） coined meme in his book The Selfish Gene， and defined the meme simply as “a unit of intellectual or cultural information that survives long enough to be recognized and which can pass from mind to mind”[3]. Susan Blackmore （1999） described meme in Meme Machine as “instruction for carrying out behavior， stored in brains （or other objects） and passed by imitation”[2] .

2.2 Characteristics of successful memes

Dawkins agreed with Darwins view of “survival of the fittest”. Therefore， Dawkins believes that the successful memes mainly depend on the way of replication， that is， the ability to win in the competition of self-replication[3]. There are three main characteristics as follows：

1）Longevity. That is， memes remain in the memetic library for a long time， such as religious laws may continue to spread for thousands of years.

2）Fecundity. That is， memes can ensure themselves can continue to be copied. The more popular memes， the more copies will be made.

3）Copying fidelity. The more faithful the meme copy， the more the original will be retained. The so-called “loyalty” or “fidelity” is not equivalent to “original， no distortion”， faithfulness is only a matter of degree.

The three characteristics of successful memes often cross and restrict each other.

2.3 Types of memes

Baikin （1998） divided meme into genotype and phenotype[1].

1）Genotype memes

The memes of copying and spreading have the genotypes of “the same content and different forms” which refer to the information coded in memes [7]. To be brief， the meme itself， that is genotype， is the pure information it contains， like a musical score or a recipe.

2）Phenotype memes

Phenotype memes is the memes of “the same content and different content” which refer to the cognitive and behavior effects that the meme produces in a person. A memes phenotype， on the other hand， is its physical expression- the actual music， the cake baked from the recipe， etc.

2.4 Stages of memetic replication

There are four stages of memetic replication[5].

1）Assimilation： Heylighen （1998） believes that a successful meme is able to enter the “host” and infect him.

2）Retention： The retention time of memes in memory. In other words， if a meme cannot be kept in memory for a period of time， it cannot be called a meme. The longer the meme stays in memory， the more chances the meme will spread.

3）Expression： The meme is digested by the “host” and presented by the physical form perceived by the “host”.

4）Transmission： that is， using actual media or carrier transmission， memes should have a certain stability to ensure the faithfulness of the transmission.

Ⅲ English writing teaching based on memetics

Writing is the output of information， that is， the expression and dissemination of language memes. Memetics emphasizes that the process of language transmission is the process of memetic replication. Blackmore （1999） proposed that “the life of a person is the life of imitation”， but imitation is not copied as it is， but the reorganization of memetic groups which is the basis of innovation[2]. There are some enlightenment from memetics in English writing teaching.

3.1 Strengthen traditional recitation

By analyzing the English writing competition test papers， it is found that the students writing problems are mainly expressed in Chinglish， grammatical errors， structural confusion， etc. The fundamental reason for these problems is the lack of target language memes corpus. As is known， input is the basis of output. Without memetic input， students brains are empty during writing， and there is no meme that can be extracted from memory. However， traditional recitation is the best way to reproduce memes in language， prompting memes to reside in the individuals memory， and these memes are spread in different ways. So teachers should first find memes that are easy for students to perceive in writing teaching， that is， suitable and expressive recitation materials， for example， idioms， proverbs， famous sayings， and common sentence patterns involved in English textbooks， including excellent fragments， etc. Then teachers should strengthen traditional recitation in order to keep these brilliant memes in students mind.

3.2 Combine imitation and innovation

Blackmore （1999） also pointed out that “Human creativity is a process of variation and reorganization of ideas. Every invention is from the previous invention is derived from the gradual process of imitation and mutation.” Therefore， any creative language use stems from imitation. Imitation itself is innovation. Xu fang （2012） has pointed out that imitating writing and actively using new words just learned are important strategies for English writing teaching[8]. So teachers should encourage students to create from the imitation， such as article-rewrite， stories-makeup.

3.3 Summarize memes for English writing

The quality of the article is closely related to the diversity of vocabulary， sentence patterns，and the article structure. In writing teaching， teachers should cultivate students ability to use vocabulary flexibly， and encourage students to accumulate vocabulary through upper and lower meanings， antonyms， etc. For example， when ask students how to express “think” in English in class， students usually solely answered “think”. So teachers should consciously activate the students association field to make them associate with other synonyms， such as “believe， hold， deem， etc”. The above statement expresses the same information in different words， which fits the category of genotype memes. In addition， pay attention to the transformation of sentences. The use of simple sentences throughout the text makes the article tedious， and excessive use of complex sentences will cause the article to be lengthy and cumbersome， and  only a reasonable combination of the two sentences will make the article vivid and level. In the writing process， different contexts use different expressions to make the article more brilliant. Paragraph essays usually imitate known language structures to innovate expression memes with new content. The language structure used as the memetic matrix can be classic famous sentences， segments or famous articles， because memes with practicality， rationality， and fashionableness can be widely imitated by people.

Ⅳ Conclusion

Memetics provides a new theoretical perspective for the progress and development of language research. It has profound enlightenment and guiding significance for foreign language teaching， especially writing teaching. Based on memetics， teachers can foster students to express the same content in different structures according to different contexts， and to fill the English writing ability of different content with the same structure， thereby improving English learning.

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