Abstract: Context, i.e. the language environment, is the basis of verbal communication. In 1923 the anthropologist B. Malinowski firstly proposed the concept of "context". During the process of linguistics studies, context has become prominent as a vital issue and almost all schools of linguistics have been involved in it when studying language from different perspectives. In the late 1960s, with the initiation and development of social linguistics and pragmatics, western linguists made considerable progress in this regard. After Firth, many such linguists as Hymes, Halliday, Lyons have elaborated context from the different angles. But as for the components, the definition and the classification of context, different schools and different linguists hold different views. The context in this thesis is constructed by learners themselves: With the relevant experience in their cognitive structure, learners refer to and assimilate verbal context and social context, hence constructing a reasonable context which makes most contribution to solving the problem in their English learning.
Tense and aspect are two grammatical categories which learners are very familiar with. And there have been many studies on their meaning and usage. Having knowledge of tense and aspect lays a foundation for learning the usage of the predicate verbs in English. And tense and aspect are the indispensable part of English examinations. To select the appropriate form of tense and aspect is a difficult process for Chinese learners. In theory, on the basis of general research of scholars on context and constructivism, the author takes its rationality and deepens the understanding of the contextual theory and analyzes the usage of eight forms of tense and aspect; also in practice, the author puts the context study into the interpretation of the tense and aspects in order to ensure the learners form a clear picture when selecting the tense and aspect for English verbs.
Key words: context; constructivism; tense and aspect; English teaching and learning
摘要: 语境，即语言使用的环境，是语言交际的基础。语境概念首先是二十世纪二十年代由人类学家马林诺夫斯基(B．Malinowski)提出的。语言学作为一门独立的学科，在20世纪有了长足的发展。在此期间，语境问题作为一个重要课题，在语言学研究中日益凸现出来，几乎所有语言学流派在语言学分支学科的研究上都涉及到了语境问题。到60年代后期，随着社会语言学和语用学的兴起和发展，国外语言学界对语境的研究取得了重要的进展。继弗斯(Firth)之后，韩礼德(Halliday)，莱昂斯(Lyons)等语言学家相继从各种角度对语境进行了阐述。然而，到目前为止，语境到底包括哪些要素，语境应如何定义如何分类，不同的学术流派、不同的语言学家的看法各异。本文作者所言的语境则是由学习者自我建构的，学习者利用自己原有认知结构中的有关经验去同化和索引所依赖的言语语境和社会语境，从而，建立一个最有利于解决问题的合理情境。
英语动词的时（tense）、体（aspect）是为大家所熟知的，均属语法范畴。就其意义与用法而言，已有大量的研究。动词的时和体是学习英语谓语动词的基础，更是全国各省市高考英语命题的必考内容。如何正确判断动词时态，是学习者做题的难点。本文作者在前人的基础上，取其合理性，并运用建构主义理论和语境理论，不仅对英语的八种时、体形式及其相关的用法进行逐一分析，也会对不同语境影响下的动词时体形式的选用作出合理的解释，以帮助学习者理清思路，正确选用英语动词时、体形式。
关键词：语境； 建构； 动词时和体；英语教学
