Zu einigen Problemen des Verstehens in der konstruktivistisch orientierten Fremdsprachendidaktik

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to justify the assumption that understanding is the essence of learning. From the constructivist viewpoint understanding is a complex mental and social process that involves decoding the symbolic message received from others and then interpreting and assigning a personal meaning to that message. Since personal background largely determines how the message will be understood it is important that the development of the learning environment encourages understanding from multiple perspective. Therefore the learning process should be based on techniques drawn from the constructivist’s epistemological assumptions, e.g., construction of intersubjective perspective, situated cognition in authentic life contexts and collaborative learning environment.