Foreign language education in China has long overemphasized the value of teaching practice, overlooked the importance of constructing teaching theories, and as a result received little disciplinary support to its practice. This, among other factors, hinders the further development of Chinas foreign language education. Therefore, it becomes essential and imperative to make explicit the disciplinary nature of foreign language education. This paper illustrates the similarities and differences between Foreign Language Education Studies (FLES)and its related disciplines (i.e. , Applied Linguistics, Educational Linguistics, Second Language Acquisition, Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, and Foreign Language Curriculum and Pedagogy)so as to further highlight the peculiarities and necessities of FLES and provide sound theoretical basis to construct FLES as a new discipline.