The combination of form and meaning seems a question needless to be discussed. However, in the teaching practice, it is always a complex problem which has not been solved. We can discuss the form and meaning in different situations and various theoretical frames. The syntax, semantics and pragmatics all have their own forms and meanings. According to the principle of combining the structure, function and culture in the Chinese language teaching, the structure is the form while the function and culture is meaning. However, in the aspect of communicative activity, the language is form while content in specific context is the meaning.

Let’s take a dialogue as an example. A:这是什么？B：这是书. It is totally correct in the language forms and we can also understand the meanings. However, it often makes people feel funny when it is put in the classroom teaching, thus calling it 没有意思, meaning no content. Teachers would tell you the dialogue of such type is really lack of practical meaning when they teach Mandarin language. There is no possible support of contexts and they are not common even if we find some.

When somebody say 日本在中国的西面, you may think this sentence is incorrect, which is to say, the content that this sentence expressed is wrong. However, as a matter of fact, we can say it is correct because the language form of this sentence is definitely correct and we can also understand the meaning. In short, this sentence is correct from the perspective of language form. But the main focus of people is usually the meaning but not the form. As a result, we often think this sentence is not correct.

Here “form” means the language itself while meaning stands for the contents that the language expresses or the value of the language. The meaning should belong to the discourse and has specific context, relating to the application of language. Therefore, it seems more suitable to be called as content or value. The most important point that the learners who learn Chinese language need to know is that the relation of form and meaning of language is actually the relation between language itself and the contents.

Therefore, the attention paid to the form includes three aspects, namely, syntax, semantics and pragmatics, including five aspects, morphemes, words, phrases, sentences and discourses.