Use Of English Articles Research Articles

Use and Misuse of the English “the” : A Case of Hong Kong Cantonese ESL Learners

This paper discusses Hong Kong Cantonese ESL learners’ judgment of the use of the English definite article. 33 Cantonese ESL learners majoring in English participated in the study, which consisted of a grammaticality judgment task requiring participants to judge the grammaticality of 60 sentences with regard to the use (or non-use) of the definite article. Two post-task interviews of four interviewees each were conducted to collect in-depth reports about learners’ thinking processes during grammaticality judgment and the strategies they employed. The results of the study show that the generic use of the definite article is largely unknown to Cantonese ESL learners, and learners make certain incorrect hypotheses about the use of the. Reliance on L1 translations is also observed, showing learners’ unawareness of the functional and semantic differences between similar items in the two languages. It is suggested that ESL teachers alert learners to their misconceptions and help learners eradicate their faulty assumptions. The generic use of the, alongside other structures used to represent generic reference, should be incorporated into the curriculum of an advanced ESL classroom. Future research about English article use should not only focus on analyses of learner errors but also tap into learners’ thinking processes.

From Interlanguage grammar to target grammar in L2 processing of definiteness as uniqueness

This study investigated the processing of English articles by second language (L2) speakers whose first language (L1) is Korean. Previous studies in L2 English article use had some issues unresolved such as using offline tasks, conflating definiteness with real-world knowledge, and operationalizing definiteness and relevant constructs in ways that participants can be primed or get metalinguistic cues. To revisit such issues, the construct ‘definiteness’ was operationalized as unique identifiability, a self-paced reading task was used to collect data, and regression models were employed to analyse logarithm residuals of raw reading time data, which can detect subtle differences that are otherwise buried. The results show that L1 speakers show sensitivity to the use of definite and indefinite articles in response to given contexts and that both advanced and intermediate L2 speakers first resort to their non-target-like Interlanguage grammar, but the advanced group later revises their initial interpretation and eventually shows the effect of target grammar. The L2 behavior is discussed in terms of its theoretical implications.

Influence of native language and general English proficiency on the use of articles in English

Second language learners face a great difficulty in the use of English articles since their native language does not have an article system which is similar to the target language they learn. Turkish is one of the languages which have an article system marking the semantic features ‘definiteness’ or ‘specificity’ in different ways. It encodes these features by using case morphology, word order, stress and tense-aspect modality. Being aware of the fact that this difference and lack of an article system similar to English may cause problems to learners, this study investigates the acquisition of the English articles by Turkish learners. The data used in the study came from a fill-in-the blank task and a cloze test. The former included 20 test-sentences assessing the production of English articles in terms of definiteness and specificity whereas the latter had 20 blanks measuring the proficiency of learners. Thirty five English major students attending a university in Turkey participated in the study. Following the data collection, the data were analysed to find out the effect of the learners’ native language as well as their general English proficiency on the production of English articles. The results provided supporting evidence that the participants had some difficulties in the production of the definite and indefinite articles in English. In view of this finding, this paper discusses both the results and pedagogical implications of the study.
 Keywords: English articles, definiteness, specificity, L1 influence, language proficiency

Typology and contexts of article errors: Investigation into the use of English articles by Hong Kong Cantonese ESL learners

Abstract This paper provides a taxonomy of errors in the use of English articles by Hong Kong Cantonese ESL learners. A study was conducted with 387 Hong Kong Cantonese ESL learners, including 65 students from three local universities and 322 students from five local secondary schools. They did two free writing tasks of about 200–300 words. Over 600 pieces of free writing were obtained. The use of English articles was analyzed and errors were identified. Irrespective of learners’ proficiency levels, similar types of article errors have been observed. While over-extension errors and under-extension errors are both quite common, co-occurrence errors are nearly non-existent. Intended generic reference triggers most problems, although this reference has been least attempted. The function of the noun phrase in which an article error occurs may play a part in error severity, with Object creating most problems for learners, yet the precise effects of noun functions are yet to be determined. It is suggested that more emphasis be put on the teaching of English articles to learners at different proficiency levels. Advanced learners, such as university students, should be engaged in metalinguistic analyses uncovering the subtle differences between the use of different articles in the same linguistic context.

The Factors Affecting the Korean EFL Learners’ English Article Use

The Factors Affecting the Korean EFL Learners’ English Article Use

Do cognitive linguistic insights help Japanese learners improve their use of English articles

Do cognitive linguistic insights help Japanese learners improve their use of English articles

Variable article use with acronyms and initialisms

Abstract Shortening is a common type of word-formation in many languages. Crystal (2008) distinguishes two kinds of abbreviation: initialisms and acronyms. Article use in English is variable with both acronyms and initialisms used as proper names (e.g. (the) UKIP, at the UN vs. at MIT). The question is whether variability is largely dependent on the semantics of the underlying full form (i.e. whether this is derived from a proper name or common noun) or whether the two types of abbreviation show different behaviour with respect to variable article use. This paper uses data from CoStEP, a new, word-aligned version of EuroParl, and a data-driven approach to investigate variable article use with abbreviations and their full forms uttered by English native speakers and compares the findings to data from parallel German and Italian corpora. The results show higher article variability in English and a marked preference for and near categorical article use in German and Italian. Furthermore, our evidence confirms that acronyms tend towards the proper name end of the cline, while initialisms behave syntactically more like common nouns.

A Corpus-based Study of the Use of English Articles by Korean EFL Learners

A Corpus-based Study of the Use of English Articles by Korean EFL Learners

Exploring patterns of article use by advanced Korean learners of English and Spanish

AbstractIt has been widely recognized in the field of second language acquisition that language learners tend to struggle with the acquisition of articles when their first languages (L1) do not have a similar linguistic system. Thus, various L1 effects on the usage of articles have been studied. In this context, the present study examined how the same L1 (i. e., Korean) would influence article usage in two different languages (i. e., English and Spanish). Specifically, advanced learners of English and advanced learners of Spanish performed a task of consecutive interpreting from Korean to English and Spanish, respectively, and their article usage patterns in English and Spanish were analyzed for comparison. The results show that both groups exhibited high levels of accuracy in the use of English and Spanish articles while major error types were article omission and article misuse, which can be partly attributed to L1 effects. As for differences, the participants in the English group tended to employ other determiners instead of articles, such as possessives, quantifiers, and demonstratives. In Spanish, the tendency to over-use definite articles was stronger than the English group. These differences may be related to certain consecutive interpreting strategies as well as differences in pedagogical approaches of teaching English and Spanish in Korea. Detailed patterns in the use of articles in English and Spanish are compared, and their implications are discussed.

Het gebruik van bepaalde en onbepaalde lidwoorden in het Nederlands door Tsjechische studenten Nederlands

In their studies 2003, 2004 and 2008 Ionin et al. examined English article use by L2-English speakers. They found that speakers of an article-less L1 Korean and Russian make mistakes mainly in two of the total four conditions of English article use. By contrast, speakers whose L1 has articles Spanish do not show any particular pattern of article misuse. In this study Ionin et al.’s method-ology was used to investigate article use in Dutch by Czech students of Dutch. It was found that Czech learners of Dutch fluctuate between definiteness and specificity in their article use because they overuse the indefinite article in [+def, -spec] condition and they overuse the definite article in [-def, +spec] condition. By analysing data of particular proficiency groups, it was found that article use by Czech learners of Dutch tends to improve as their proficiency increases.

The Use of English Articles : An Analysis of the Knowledge Used by Japanese University Students

The Use of English Articles : An Analysis of the Knowledge Used by Japanese University Students

The Role of Transfer in the Use of English Articles by Moroccan Learners

<p class="1"><span lang="EN-US">This study investigates the acquisition of the English article system by Moroccan EFL learners. More specifically, the focus is on transfer and the extent to which it accounts for errors in the use of these articles by Moroccan university students. The study purports to investigate: 1- the effect of proficiency level on transfer errors by Moroccan learners in the use of articles, 2- the difference between transfer errors made in comprehension and in production in using articles and 3- the difference in transfer errors according to the three English articles. In order to answer the aforementioned questions, data was collected from university students (40 in first year and 40 in third year) through their performance on a grammaticality judgment test and an essay. The findings of the study show that: 1- proficiency level has an effect on transfer errors made in article usage. This effect is clear in comprehension but not in production, 2- subjects made more transfer errors in comprehension than in production, 3- the effect of transfer differs according to the three English articles. The findings of the study have some important implications for the methodology of teaching articles.</span></p>

The Acquisition of English Articles by Arabic L2-English Learners: A Semantic Approach

The purpose of this study is to examine the acquisition of English articles by Arabic second language (L2) learners of English as a function of different linguistic contexts contrasted based upon two semantic notions: definiteness and specificity. The participants in this study are 30 adult learners of L2 English whose first language (L1) is Arabic. The data for this study consist of the participants’ responses to a forced-choice elicitation task targeting the use of articles in English. The results show that the learners were more accurate in terms of their article usage in definite contexts than in indefinite contexts regardless of specificity. While advanced learners performed native-like and converged to the target system of articles in English in all of the semantic contexts, low proficiency learners and intermediate learners made several errors, the most common of which was article omission in obligatory contexts. Moreover, the results show that the low proficiency learners fluctuated between definiteness and specificity in the two crucial mismatching semantic contexts: [+definite, -specific] and [-definite, +specific], overusing the indefinite article in the former context and overusing the definite article in the latter context. Unlike the low proficiency learners, the intermediate learners did not fluctuate between definiteness and specificity. The study proposes a development model for the acquisition of the English article system by Arabic learners of L2 English incorporating the Fluctuation Hypothesis (FH) and drawing on the available sources of linguistic knowledge in second language acquisition (SLA).

L2 English article use by L1 speakers of article-less languages

This paper adopts the Integrated Contrastive Model (Granger 1996) to an examination of the use of articles in the L2 English written production of L1 speakers of three article-less languages (Mandarin Chinese, Korean and Thai) across four L2 proficiency levels. Data is sourced from the International Corpus Network of Asian Learners of English (ICNALE; Ishikawa 2011, 2013), comprising 575 written essays totalling 125,588 words across two writing prompts. Accuracy of zero, indefinite and definite articles is measured using Pica’s (1983) Target Language Use across Bickerton’s (1981) semantic/pragmatic article contexts (generic, specific definite, specific indefinite and non-specific indefinite). The results show two different orders of article accuracy depending on L1 background, as well as effects of writing prompt on the accuracy of certain article forms, and evidence of pseudo-longitudinal development for particular article usages as L2 proficiency increases, although not in all cases. Massive overproduction of indefinite/definite articles in generic contexts is problematic for all three L2 groups regardless of L1 background and L2 proficiency. However, Mandarin L2 English users appear to enjoy a significant advantage in L2 article accuracy over Korean or Thai L2 English users in almost all contexts of use and L2 proficiency levels, providing further potential evidence that the often reported grammaticalisation of definiteness/specificity markers in L1 Mandarin is aiding Mandarin L2 English users’ acquisition of the English article system.

Sociocultural Interaction between a Native Speaker and a Non-Native Speaker of English

From the perspective of Vygotskian sociocultural theory, this study investigates the process in which a non-native speaker (NNS) learns the distinctive use of English articles in grammar with the assistance of a native speaker (NS) of English. Over three months, two participants developed an instructional dialogue through a social network service. The research questions are as follows: (1) How does an interaction with the NS mediate the NNS to have language awareness (LA) of definite/indefinite articles in English? (2) How are the agencies of being a learner and a teacher developed in the process of instructional dialogue? For the purpose of data triangulation, semi-structured interviews with the NS, the NNS learning diary, and the transcription of discourse data were collected and analyzed in accordance with a qualitative research frame. The results indicate that (1) the NNS’s language awareness on articles was developed within the zone of proximal development; and (2) the learner and teacher agencies were manifested and negotiated through the instructional dialogue.

The Inapplicability of Huebner’s Semantic Wheel to Some English Nps: A Debatable Viewpoint at the Deeper Level

The current paper is an argumentative outlook of Huebner’s Semantic Wheel. The researcher wanted to investigate the difficulties in the use of English articles by the Yemeni EFL learners. Huebner’s Semantic Wheel was used to identify the most frequently substituted NPs. However, some shortcomings in the applicability of such model in some cases were found. The curiosity of discovering the reasons behind the inapplicability of Huebner’s model to some noun phrases led to some notable conclusions; which are put, here, for discussion.

Academic Writing for International Students of Business

The recently released 2nd edition of Stephen Bailey’s Academic Writing for International Students of Business (2015) overviews general concepts about academic writing in English for non-native speakers studying business. Bailey’s text can be utilized both as a classroom text and as a self-study guide, supported by a corresponding answer key at the end of the text. The 2nd edition differs from the first in that it offers a new section on writing a literature review (replacing the composing a CV section in the previous edition) and a more in-depth explanation on the correct use of definite articles in English. Like the first edition, the 2nd edition is available as a softbound book as well as an electronic text in an easy to utilize, downloadable format

How much do Cantonese ESL learners know about the English article system?

Abstract This article investigated Cantonese ESL learners' explicit knowledge of the English article system. A total of 33 Cantonese ESL learners majoring in English participated in a questionnaire survey consisting of both ranking questions and open-ended questions requiring them to give detailed descriptions about their use and knowledge of English articles. The results of the study showed that many respondents were confident of their use of English articles, but they did not regard articles as very important for speaking, reading, writing or listening. They did not possess the metalanguage that enabled them to articulate the functions and semantics of different English articles and had some misconceptions and/or confusion about the system. These misconceptions may be the source of certain article errors, such as substitution errors. It is suggested that formal and systematic teaching be given to enhance ESL learners' explicit knowledge of the English article system and to strengthen their use of English articles.

A Study on the Use of English Articles by Korean Learners

A Study on the Use of English Articles by Korean Learners

An Investigation into Undergraduates’ Errors in the use of the Indefinite Article at Omar Al-Mukhtar University

The purpose of this study was to examine the use of English articles as well the errors made by the students at Omar Al-Mukhtar University. The research objectives consists of : To identify the types and sources of errors made by Libyan EFL Undergraduates at Omar Al-Mukhtar University in the use of the indefinite article during their written composition, To determine the major types of errors in which larger numbers of errors have been committed by the students in their written composition. Based on previous studies, a qualitative method of data collection represented by an essay-writing composition is implemented in this study. Moreover, they were asked to write essay writing composition of the following topics Discuss The Problems You Face In Learning English Language? The results provide of this study, reporting the information collected from Compositions and analyzed by using descriptive statistical percentages in terms of errors numbers and percentages of errors occurrences under their major types, which enabled the researchers to put these in an order of their occurrences. In other words, data were organized using categories given to each of these errors. Regarding the length of compositions, a total of (2194) English words were written by the students across their university levels. Freshmen wrote a total of (1193) words which represents (54.37%) whereas sophomores wrote (1001) words which represents (40.62%). These research also suggest that there is a significant and negative impact of the use of English Articles. Since majority of students agreed that the English Articles are important, and we should look at the importance of English language as well as how students improve their proficiency in English articles towards mastering the use of English language. Keywords: Writing, English language, Articles, Morpheme, communication, Language Acquisition, Grammar