Revisiting countability of English in terms of learnability

Abstract

AS Parrot (2010) points out, acquiring countability of nouns is the core of grammar on nouns. But IL (interlanguage) learners have difficulty in acquiring the countability (Celce-Murcia & Larson-Freeman, 1999; Cowan, 2013). To cope with this problem, based on semantic features presented by Aarts (2018) and Fromkin, Rodman & Hyams (2014), this study proposes ‘a system of countability on nouns’ in order to distinguish countable from uncountable nouns, which consists of 3 semantic features, [±countable]/[±abstract]/[±amorphous]. The system tells us that countable nous have [+countable]/[-abstract]/[-amorphous], whereas uncountable nous have [-countable]/[+abstract]/[+amorphous]. Also, it shows us that the conversion of countability can be accounted for by assigning converted or reversed values to the 3 semantic features.. In a sense, the system could be said to be a ‘linguistic sense’ to the distinction between countable and uncountable nouns. To activate this sense, this study suggests ‘5 viable criteria’ for specifying the system to teaching in practice, and a kind of consciousness raising tasks (CR tasks) for applying it to the classroom. In conclusion, the system, the 5 viable criteria, and the CR tasks will be enhancing learnability for IL learners in acquiring the countability as well as teachability for teachers in teaching it.