On Meaning Construction

This thesis is intended to study the relation between the constructivist learning theory and foreign language learning. It is known to all that mankind for a long time has been trying to know what happens to man when he learns. All the so-called learning theories, of which there is a trend from the simple to the complicated, are the results of mankind's reflection on his behaviors.Firstly, the foremost important is to know something about the language itself, which is really as intricate as mankind himself. Its features set an foundation and thus a tone for all the mankind's behaviors.Secondly, knowledge is dealt about. It has many forms, which is closely related to how to learn and when to learn in one's life.Thirdly, learning is the first and most important thing in one's life. Nobody can live without some kind of learning. Learning can be divided into many categories, which are meant to be learned differently, but language is involved.Fourthly, the constructivist learning theory is discussed thoroughly. It is pointed out that meaning construction is the key in the learning process. Without meaning construction, there is no learning at all, according to the theory. It is quite clear that meaning construction is based on language one is using.Lastly, thorough some discussion, it is obtained that why the constructivist learning theory can not be used in foreign language learning. It is discussed and reasoned that it is subjective of the constructivist learning theory and is objective in the foreign language learning, which is rather contradictive from each other. It is talked about that one's mother tongue is the basis for one's meaning construction. With little vocabulary, one can not do meaning constructing at all. And one's mother tongue will definitely have great impact upon one thinking. Also, there is an obvious difference between foreign language learning and learning subjects other than foreign language, so even though conversation seems to be involved in both processes.It is concluded that in foreign language learning, it is better that there is little meaning construction than there is some, for one who learns a foreign language has no ability to construct meaningfully in the foreign language until he masters it, when he is using but not learning.