Write What Matters First: An Information Structure-Driven Framework for English Word Order Teaching — From a Century of Linguistics to a Seven-Character Classroom Principle “谁重要先写谁”：信息结构驱动的英语语序教学框架——从近百年语言学到课堂七字原则

<p>Abstract: This paper proposes the seven-character principle “Write What Matters First” (谁重要先写谁) — a pedagogical framework that reduces English word order decisions to a single guiding principle. The framework integrates information structure theory (Chafe, 1976), the Prague School’s functional sentence perspective and communicative dynamism (Mathesius, 1929; Firbas, 1992), the typological distinction between topic-prominent and subject-prominent languages (Li &amp;amp; Thompson, 1976), the principle of end-focus (Quirk et al., 1985), grammatical devices for information packaging (Huddleston &amp;amp; Pullum, 2002), and focus structure typology (Lambrecht, 1994). It is the first to translate this century-long scholarly tradition into a seven-character classroom principle for Chinese learners, validated through teaching practice in Chinese primary school English classrooms. The paper applies this principle to five grammatical phenomena (passive voice, inversion, clause positioning, cleft sentences, and overall word order), demonstrating the pedagogical possibility of “one principle unifying five grammatical structures.”摘要： 本文提出“谁重要先写谁”——将英语语序的决定原则概括为七个字的教学框架。该框架整合了信息结构理论（Chafe, 1976）、布拉格学派功能句子观及交际动力理论（Mathesius, 1929; Firbas, 1992）、话题突出与主语突出的语言类型区分（Li &amp;amp; Thompson, 1976）、尾焦原则（Quirk et al., 1985）、信息包装的语法手段（Huddleston &amp;amp; Pullum, 2002）及焦点结构类型学（Lambrecht, 1994），首次将上述近百年学术传统翻译为面向中文学习者的七字教学原则，并在中国小学英语课堂中进行了实践验证。本文将该原则应用于五种语法现象（被动语态、倒装、从句位置、强调句、整体语序）的统一解释，论证了“一个原则贯穿五种语法”的教学可能性。Keywords: Write What Matters First; Information Structure; Functional Sentence Perspective; Focus Structure; English Word Order Teaching; Subtraction English关键词： 谁重要先写谁；信息结构；功能句子观；焦点结构；英语语序教学；减法英语</p>