An Application of Memetics in English Teaching for Middle School Students

【Abstract】：Memetics is a new theory based on Darwin’s theory of evolution， which can be used for explaining the rules of cultural evolution. This paper mainly discusses the application of memetics in English teaching for middle school students from four aspects. They are vocabulary teaching， audio-visual English teaching， writing teaching and translation teaching. This will improve teaching quality and teaching method. Students would realize the importance of recitation， imitation and retention in order to learn effectively.

【Key words】： memetics; meme; English teaching; imitation

1.Introduction

Memetics is a new theory based on Darwin’s theory of evolution in pragmatics， which put forward that meme is the unit of cultural transmission. From the perspective of memetics， linguistic meme reveals the rule of language development. At the same time， the application of memetics in English teaching can improve the quality of English teaching， especially for middle school students. Xie amp; He （2007） pointed out that language itself is a kind of meme and memes also exists in language. Any words， phrases， paragraphs and chapters， as long as being copied and transmitted， are possible to become a meme. The linguistic memes have the feature of duplication and transmission， which provides a new idea for us about foreign language teaching. This paper mainly discusses the application of memetics in English teaching for middle school students from the perspective of vocabulary， listening and speaking， writing and translation. The proposition of this theory would improve the quality of English teaching in middle school.

2.Literature review

2.1 The review of related researches about memetics

The development of memetics goes through four stages. At first， the publishing of Selfish Gene makes us realize that we can make full use of biological theory in other fields. The word meme is used to explain the similarity of different culture from the appearance of meme. The British psychologist， Susan Black， published The Meme Machine in 1999， which marked the beginning of the second stage about memetics. The third stage is the establishment of memetics system. Many prominent scholars use memetics to explain and solve many social problems， such as homosexuality. The last stage is from the meeting of TED in 2008 to now. At this meeting， meme is regarded as an information packet， which was able to compete， survive， duplicate and multiply. In general， memetics is a new thing in China. Although many scholars have introduced memetics into linguistics， translation， pragmatics and language teaching， the research of memetics still exist many problems， which need to be solved.

2.2 The present situation of English teaching in middle school

Many students have learned English since they were junior school students， but they still can’t speak English fluently. When they communicate with foreigners， they even can’t understand what the foreigners are speaking. Many Chinglish existed in their writing. We even can’t find the object， subject or predicate in some sentences. About vocabulary， they can’t remember the words. Some students know the Chinese meaning， but they can’t spell it. Many teachers do not know how to teach and what to teach. If we can make full use of memetics in English teaching， students would learn English efficiently and happily. Teacher should make students realize the importance of recitation and memory according to memetics.

3. Theoretical foundation

3.1 Meme

A meme is a postulated unit of cultural ideas， symbols or practices， which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing， speech， gestures， rituals， or other imitable phenomena. The concept of “meme” was first put forward by Richard Dawkins （1976）， zoologist of Oxford University in his The Selfish Gene. The pronunciation of meme is similar to the pronunciation of gene， which means that the same gene lead to the similarity， so memes means cultural genes. Gene can be inherited to multiply， but meme can be imitated to transmit. It is the basic unit of culture （He， 2005）. Meme is like a virus， which can infect human’s brain and change their behavior. It can be inherited to the next generation. Dawkins （1976） defined meme as physical entity， which has three features： longevity， fecundity and fidelity. Meme can be survived by duplicating and transmitting， but language is the carrier of meme. Meme is good for the development of language， but meme can be duplicated by language. The lifecycle of meme can be divided into four stages： assimilation， retention， expression and transmission.

3.2 Memetics

Memetics is a theory of mental content based on analogy with Darwinian evolution， exploring the concepts and transmission of memes in terms of an evolutionary model. From the perspective of memetics， the process of learning language is the process that meme is imitated， duplicated and transmitted （Du， 2006）. From the perspective of linguistics， Chen（2008） memetics can be used to explain language phenomena， explore the origin of language and provide efficient guidance for language learning. Therefore， memetics should be used in English teaching.

4. An application of memetics in English teaching for middle school students

4.1 An application of memetics in English vocabulary teaching

Vocabulary is the basic material of language， so remembering and using vocabulary is very important for student. However， retention plays the most important role when meme is transmitted. The longer we remember the vocabulary， the more possible meme can be transmitted. Teacher should often stress the importance of vocabulary. Genotype means that we can use the same word in different contexts， but the meaning is not changed. For example， beautiful can be used in the two sentences：

The flowers are so beautiful.

The skirt she wears is so beautiful.

Teacher can let students make sentences by using the word beautiful in different situations. In addition， the same information can be expressed in different ways to help students to enrich vocabulary and distinguish synonyms. For example：

When you go to a forging country， you must adapt yourself to new manners and customs.

When traveling in a foreign country， it is wise to conform to the habits of the natives.

Adapt and conform have the same meaning， but they have different uses. By observing the two sentences， we can distinguish the two words easily.

Another type of meme is phenotype， which tells us that we must remember words by association. Here we mainly talks about three types. The first one is that we can remember new words by associating the similarity of their pronunciation and shape， such as lesson and lessen; sink and think，; sale and sail. The second type is that teacher can lead students to remember words from the perspective of meaning. For example， we can lead students to remember the words of the same category.

Fruit： apple， pear， banana， peach， grape， etc.

Animal： monkey， horse， chicken， rabbit， cow， etc.

Organ： foot，head，hand， eye， ear， nose， mouth， etc.

Sport： badminton， hockey， skating， tennis， football， etc.

The third type is that we can remember word by associating the structure. It means that we can use prefix， suffix， infix and root to help students to remember words. For example：

Prefix： in- information， incorrect

de- decrease， degrade

en-endanger， enrich， enlarge

Infix： -able eatable，， available

-eer pioneer， engineer

- er banker， worker

The above words are just a small part of vocabulary. In the practical teaching， teacher should pay more attention to the structure of words. This is a good way to enrich vocabulary quickly. By the application of memetics， we can improve the English vocabulary teaching efficiently. Students would remember these words more easily and happily.

4.2An application of memetics in audio-visual English teaching

Many people think that there is no connection between listening and speaking. In fact， we can connect listening and speaking by memetics. At first， students received the training of listening. In this way， language is input in their mind. Then meme begin to play the role. When the input is enough， the language would be output with the help of meme. If we let students retell what they heard， excellent students tend to retell what they heard in their own words. As for the students whose English is not good， they tend to retell some sentences in the original text. No matter good or bad students at English， their oral output belongs to the transmission of genotype. Here is an example.

A： Did you hear about Mrs. Baroda？

B： Yes， I did. She was an upright and respectable woman.

When teacher let students retell what they heard， students whose English is good said Mrs. Baroda is dead. As for the other students， some can’t understand the original texts， and some retell the original text without any change. When we let students have a free talk， students tend to use the transmission of phenotype. As we all know the famous words To be or not to be， that is a question. Students can imitate this sentence to create more sentences. For example， To go abroad or not， this is a question; To find job or not， that is a question; Therefore， we can find what role the meme plays between listening comprehension and oral output.

listening input → the transmission of genotype and phenotype→ oral output

Therefore， students need to recite many good sentences to improve their oral English. If their linguistic meme is enough， they can speak well.

4.3 An application of memetics in teaching English writing

Hua （2006） pointed out that the importance of writing is underestimated in current teaching English writing. Writing class is the most unsatisfactory class because writing is the weakest part in English learning. As we all know， meme has the feature of duplication. This needs us pay more attention to the importance of recitation in English writing. In teaching English writing， many students do not know how to express their own views because their accumulation of language is not enough. Therefore， teacher should ask students recite many authentic materials. Because of the difference between English writing and Chinese writing， it is very helpful to imitate the excellent composition in English writing. It can lead students how to express， how to write and what to write. The variability of meme reminds us to use language creatively. When meme is transmitted， something has changed. Teacher should lead students to imitate the authentic English and use what they have learned creatively. Here is an example.

As is often pointed out， knowledge is a two-edged weapon which can be used equally for good or evil.

We can imitate this sentence to create another sentence.

As is often pointed out， globalization is a two-edged weapon which can be used equally for good or evil.

This is a skill of English writing， which would make the sentence be more vivid. Teacher should also pay more attention to choosing the textbook depend on the reason why some meme succeed and some meme failed. As we all know， some meme succeed in competition because of their fidelity， fecundity and longevity. If a meme has a very strong vitality， then it will survive longer. It can also duplicate more memes. Therefore， when choosing writing textbook， we should choose some authoritative articles based on different topics. These articles are more authentic and more understandable. Therefore， we need to make full use of memetics in teaching English writing.

4.4 An application of memetics in translation teaching

The five aspects of language learning are listening， speaking， reading， writing and translation. Anyone can’t be ignored. Translation is the part that can most test one’s English ability. When we translate， we can use memetics. On the one hand， students need enough language accumulation. On the other hand， learners need to obey the lifecycle of meme. There is such a proverb. Where there is a will， there is a way （有志者事竟成）. When we translate this sentence“留得青山在，不怕沒柴燒”， we can translate it according to the theory of phenotype. Therefore， we can translate it into where there is a life， there is a hope. There is a show which called “百科全說” in Hunan TV. A teacher of New Oriental School translates it into Talking takes all. He imitated the proverb Winner takes all. When we are translating， we need to consider the variability of meme. Keep me as the apple of the eye， hide me under the shadow of the wing（保護我就如同保護眼中的瞳仁，將我隱藏在你的翅膀蔭下）. Therefore， we need to take advantage of memetics in translation teaching.

5. Conclusion

The research of linguistic meme is good for foreign language teaching. The duplication and transmission laws of meme will give us fresh ideas about English teaching for middle school students. At the same time， it let us reflect teaching method， realize the importance of recitation and imitation. This is not only good for the efficient English teaching， but also good for the development of language. The process of learning English is the process of duplicating and transmitting memes. Therefore， we need adopt right methods to learn English according to the feature of meme. The application of memetics in vocabulary teaching， audio-visual teaching， English writing and translation teaching will greatly improve the quality of teaching and stimulate students’ interest. It will also change the current situation of English teaching in middle school.

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