Though some studies on vocabulary learning strategies have been explored in China, there still lacks a detailed relatively comprehensive picture of how Chinese junior middle school students deal with their English vocabulary learning. This thesis aims at conducting a research on the local junior middle school students’ vocabulary learning beliefs and vocabulary learning strategies, what’s more investigating the current situations of vocabulary learning and teaching. Based on the analysis of the existing problems and the constructivist theory, the application of constructivism in English vocabulary learning and teaching will be talked.
It is hoped that the study can help highlight the importance of using vocabulary teaching and learning strategies and eventually put forward some pedagogic suggestions on English vocabulary instruction at junior middle school.

II. Constructivism

2.1 The Definition of Constructivism
Constructivism is basically a theory -- based on observation and scientific study about how people learn. It says that people construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world, through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences. When we encounter something new, we have to reconcile it with our previous ideas and experience, maybe changing what we believe, or maybe discarding the new information as irrelevant. In any case, we are active creators of our own knowledge. To do this, we must ask questions, explore, and assess what we know.
In the classroom, the constructivist view of learning can point out a number of different teaching practices. In the most general sense, it usually means encouraging students to use active techniques (experiments, real-world problem solving) to create more knowledge and then to reflect on and talk about what they are doing and how their understanding is changing. The teacher makes sure she understands the students' preexisting conceptions, and guides the activity to address them and then build on them.
Constructivist teachers encourage students to constantly assess how the activity is helping them gain understanding. By questioning themselves and their strategies, students in the constructivist classroom ideally become “expert learners”. This gives them ever-broadening tools to keep learning. With a well-planned classroom environment, the students learn how to learn.
You might look at it as a spiral. When they continuously reflect on their experiences, students find their ideas gaining in complexity and power, and they develop increasingly strong abilities to integrate new information. One of the teacher's main roles is to encourage this learning and reflection process.
The constructivist teacher provides tools such as problem-solving and inquiry-based learning activities with which students formulate and test their ideas, draw conclusions and inferences, and pool and convey their knowledge in a collaborative learning environment. Constructivism transforms the student from a passive recipient of information to an active participant in the learning process. Always guided by the teacher, students construct their knowledge actively rather than just mechanically ingesting knowledge from the teacher or the textbook.
2.2 The Development of Constructivism
The concept of constructivism has roots in classical antiquity, going back to Socrates's dialogues with his followers, in which he asked directed questions that led his students to realize the weaknesses in their thoughts. The Socratic dialogue is still an important tool in the way constructivist educators assess their students' learning and plan new learning experiences.
In this century, Jean Piaget and John Dewey developed theories of childhood development and education, what we now call Progressive Education, which led to the evolution of constructivism.
Piaget believed that humans learn through the construction of one logical structure after another. He also concluded that the logic of children and their modes of thinking are initially entirely different from those of adults. The implications of this theory and how he applied them have shaped the foundation of constructivist education. 建构主义在初中英语词汇教学中的应用(2):http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_18568.html