This paper attempts to make an argument for meaningful learning as an essential factor in the teaching of English as a foreign language. Meaningful learning rests its theories against cognitive processing. While contemporary literature shows knowledge of language in general is essential for second language use, this research is mainly concerned with ways of improving students’ language use. It has proved that meaningful learning facilitates the retention of knowledge as it makes learners organize their knowledge logically. In the classroom, the teacher should offer activities that relate the new input to learners’ existing knowledge, for which cognitive engagement is required. In English language teaching, it is important for teachers to know that learner-centeredness should be applied because they are the ones who process knowledge. This paper begins with an overview of different approaches of foreign language teaching, then presents theories in which meaningful learning is grounded and rooted. The discussion of how one’s knowledge of a first language is essential for foreign language learning is given prior to giving implications of meaningful learning in the Vietnamese context.

中文翻译：

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有意义的学习及其对越南语言教育的启示

本文试图将有意义的学习作为英语作为外语教学的重要因素进行论证。有意义的学习将其理论与认知加工相对立。虽然当代文学表明，一般而言，语言知识对于第二语言的使用至关重要，但这项研究主要涉及改善学生的语言使用方式。事实证明，有意义的学习可促进知识的保留，因为它使学习者逻辑上组织其知识。在课堂上，教师应提供将新输入与学习者现有知识相关联的活动，而这需要认知参与。在英语教学中，重要的是要让教师知道以学习者为中心，因为他们是知识的处理者。本文首先概述了不同的外语教学方法，然后提出了有意义的学习基础和扎根的理论。在给出越南语环境下有意义学习的含义之前，先讨论一下自己的第一语言知识对于外语学习至关重要。