Effects of Explicit Instruction on the Use of the English Definite Article

Ji-Hyun Park 한국외국어교육학회 2018 Foreign languages education Vol.25 No.1

This study investigates the use of the English definite article by Korean middle school students and examines the effects of explicit instruction on the article. Two hundred and seventy-two Korean middle school students were instructed on the core meaning of the definite article, identifiability, through a processing instruction method and were tested on their uses of the target form before and after instruction. The pretest results show that the various non-generic uses of the English definite article pose different levels of difficulty for Korean middle school learners of English. The comparison between the pretest and posttest results confirm the positive effect of teaching the core meaning of the definite article. All in all, the study shows that the non-generic use of the English definite article is teachable through the introduction of its core meaning in the EFL classroom. It provides substantial empirical evidence for the facilitative role of focus on form instruction in the acquisition of definite article in an EFL context.

The Use of the Definite Article, the in Korean L2 Learners’ Writing

김언조 중앙대학교 외국학연구소 2021 외국학연구 Vol.- No.55

The purpose of the current study is to examine L2 learners’ usage of the definite article the. By categorizing missed and overused definite article usage, the study provides statistical results and a detailed account of various kinds of use, mainly focusing on Hawkins’ (1978) eight types of the definite article. The study utilizes writing data from 61 L2 learners and 17 native speakers. Within the L2 group, missed definite article use improved significantly according to writing achievement scores, particularly when there were transferrable items in L1. Overuse of the definite article was unvaried between groups with different writing achievement scores. In addition, definite article usage was observed and analyzed according to more specifically categorized types. The findings imply that missed and overused definite article usage is influenced differently by L1 and shows consistent L1 influence. Therefore, L2 acquisition may be influenced by UG (Universal Grammar). The study reinforces previous research findings, which support the role of UG in L2 acquisition. Based on the results, the study suggests some implications for teaching the definite article the.

The Use of English Articles by Non-Native Speaker of English

조혜진 사단법인 인문사회과학기술융합학회 2018 예술인문사회융합멀티미디어논문지 Vol.8 No.5

This paper aims to investigate the use of English articles by non-native speaker of English. An adult English learner whose native language was Chinese participated in this study. In order to examine how the learner developed the English article system, TLU analysis was adopted. The data was collected from several oral interviews along with retell or picture-cue tasks. All the interviews were tape-recorded. With respect to the indefinite article a, although the participant showed the indefinite article a(n) appropriately in many contexts, she presented several cases of oversuppliance of the indefinite article. With respect to the definite article the, she used the zero article or the definite article in the context where the indefinite article was needed. There were many appropriate production showing that she conformed to the rule that the definite article the should be used when referring to a certain item that hearer and speaker know, to a certain item premodified by superlative form or ordinal numbers. However, she exhibited a few cases of overgeneralization of the definite article the in specific contexts. In addition, she misused the other articles such as the zero article and the indefinite article in the context where the definite article the was needed.

The Use of English Articles by Non-Native Speaker of English

Hyejin Cho 인문사회과학기술융합학회 2018 예술인문사회융합멀티미디어논문지 Vol.8 No.5

This paper aims to investigate the use of English articles by non-native speaker of English. An adult English learner whose native language was Chinese participated in this study. In order to examine how the learner developed the English article system, TLU analysis was adopted. The data was collected from several oral interviews along with retell or picture-cue tasks. All the interviews were tape-recorded. With respect to the indefinite article a, although the participant showed the indefinite article a(n) appropriately in many contexts, she presented several cases of oversuppliance of the indefinite article. With respect to the definite article the, she used the zero article or the definite article in the context where the indefinite article was needed. There were many appropriate production showing that she conformed to the rule that the definite article the should be used when referring to a certain item that hearer and speaker know, to a certain item premodified by superlative form or ordinal numbers. However, she exhibited a few cases of overgeneralization of the definite article the in specific contexts. In addition, she misused the other articles such as the zero article and the indefinite article in the context where the definite article the was needed.

On the rise and development of the definite article in the East Germanic languages

Hyejoon Yoon 사단법인 한국언어학회 2012 언어학 Vol.0 No.63

The aim of this paper is to investigate the rise and development of the definite article in Germanic languages. It is generally assumed that Indo-European language originally had no articles, with the fact that early Indo-European languages like Sanskrit, Homeric Greek and Classical Latin show no articles and even in Proto-Germanic, any article has not been reconstructed. However, in old Germanic languages like Gothic, Old High German and Old English, it is often observed that the demonstratives were used as the lexical definiteness markers in many ways similar to the definite articles of the modern languages. And it has produced, until now, a lot of discussions on the distinction between article-like demonstrative and definite article and the time of the emergence of definite article as a new grammatical category in Germanic languages. This paper, pointing out the problems found in the existing literatures, closely looks into the usages of demonstratives as definiteness markers in old Germanic languages, focusing on the Gothic language, the earliest Germanic language that is attested in sizable texts, and discusses the related problems with the rise and development of the definite article.

EFL환경 대학생들의 영어 관사에 대한 이해정도 연구

양용준 미래영어영문학회 2024 영어영문학 Vol.29 No.1

The aim of his paper is to survey and examine how much they know about articles and how they are used for 126 students taking liberal arts English at J University in small and medium-sized cities in Korea. Articles do not go into part of speech, and Korean middle and high schools are instructed to learn about indefinite and definite articles of association based on basic matters. However, students at J University were embarrassed that there were three articles instead of two. There are indefinite, definite, and zero articles in the articles There are three articles and must be understood the articles must exist in the NP-phrase. It is judged that teaching to learn and acquire articles by dividing them into NP in which indefinite articles are used, NP in which definite article are used, and NP in which zero article are used is effective in acquiring articles and will not be treated lightly. In conclusion, when you want to learn about articles, you should consider the noun phrase (NP) and remember to acquire articles together. This is because all positions where articles are used are in front of nouns. It should be understood that articles exist in all NP phrases, and one of the indefinite, definite and zero articles is used. Students at J University tended not to understand the English articles officially and clearly. When teaching about articles in middle and high schools in Korea, it is necessary to expand to the English official article rather than just the indefinite articles and the definite article.

On the Rise and Development of the Definite Article in the East Germanic Languages

윤혜준 사단법인 한국언어학회 2012 언어학 Vol.0 No.63

The aim of this paper is to investigate the rise and development of the definite article in Germanic languages. It is generally assumed that Indo-European language originally had no articles, with the fact that early Indo-European languages like Sanskrit, Homeric Greek and Classical Latin show no articles and even in Proto-Germanic, any article has not been reconstructed. However, in old Germanic languages like Gothic, Old High German and Old English, it is often observed that the demonstratives were used as the lexical definiteness markers in many ways similar to the definite articles of the modern languages. And it has produced, until now, a lot of discussions on the distinction between article-like demonstrative and definite article and the time of the emergence of definite article as a new grammatical category in Germanic languages. This paper, pointing out the problems found in the existing literatures, closely looks into the usages of demonstratives as definiteness markers in old Germanic languages, focusing on the Gothic language, the earliest Germanic language that is attested in sizable texts, and discusses the related problems with the rise and development of the definite article.

포르투갈어 무관사 명사에 대한 소고

이승용 ( Lee Sung-young ) 한국포르투갈-브라질학회 2004 포르투갈-브라질 연구 Vol.1 No.1

This study is designed to explain the absence of the definite article in front of some specific nouns called “nouns without article”. For this purpose, I set up a hypothesis based on the diachronic observation from which those nouns have same level of markedness in spite of the absence of the definite article. According to the hypothesis, the reason why those nouns cannot admit the definite article is the conflict of markedness between the article and the noun itself. As the definite article plays also a role of offering markedness to the noun, there will be some kind of semantic collision of markedness when a specific noun having markedness feature already host the definite article again. If it happens, the noun might have another different meaning.

(In)definiteness in Korean without an article

Kang, Arum,Park, Myung-Kwan 한국언어학회 2020 언어 Vol.45 No.3

Bare NPs in Korean have recently drawn increasing attention since apparently without any overt grammatical article/determiner on them, they are interpreted at least in three ways: generic, indefinite, and definite. Concentrating on the latter two readings, we investigate how bare NPs in Korean yield them. We first show that indefinites in Korean that correspond to an indefinite article headed DP in English are represented by bare NPs, though specificity-encoding and number-in-focus ones are represented by singular numeral classified NPs. We then show that definites in Korean analogous to definite article headed DPs in English are also represented by article-less bare NPs. Since like in English, in Korean there is no distinction in form between uniqueness-denoting weak definites and familiarity-denoting anaphoric strong definites, it follows that in Korean without an article, bare NPs can serve as both types of definites. Particularly, bare NPs as strong definites come about in restricted discourse contexts where two or more sentences are part of one larger topic situation. Meanwhile, personal names are referred back to by demonstrative-preceded bare NPs, which indicates that in Korean, the demonstrative is starting to develop into a definite article-like determiner.

스페인어 초급문법교과의 관사 용법에 대한 평가분석

곽재용(Kwak, Jae-Yong) 한국외국어교육학회 2009 Foreign languages education Vol.16 No.1

The most of Spanish Grammar textbooks generally explain the distinction between the two types of normal expressions -nouns with definite/indefinite article and bare nouns (nouns without article) - based on the use of the definite article. There are two approaches in the previous studies about the definite articles: one is based on the descriptive viewpoint (Leonetti, 1999; Padron, 1999; Solis, 1999), and the other is on the acquisition per se of the articles (Cohen, 1976; Fernández, 1997; Mayberry, 1998; Salaberry & López-Ortega, 1998; Tarone, 1988). In the descriptive approach, there are more explanations about the definite article than the indefinite article. For example, Padron(1999) stipulates that the definite article is more difficult in the acquisition among the Spanish L2 learners. We will try to show that the distinction between nouns with definite/indefinite article and bare nouns must be explained as the independent usages in Spanish, not as a variety of the use of the definite article. La mayor parte de los libros de texto de la gramática espańola explica la distinción entre los dos tripos de expresiones nominales - nombres con artículo definido/indefinido y nombres escueto (nombres sin artículi)-según el uso del artículo definido. Esisten dos aproximaciones en los previos estudios sobre los artículos defínidos: una de la perspectiva descriptiva (Leonetti, 1999; Padron, 1999; Solis, 1999), y otra de la adquicisión per se de los artículos (Cohen, 1976; Fernández, 1997; Mayberry, 1998; Salaberry & López-Ortega, 1998; Tarone, 1988). Bajo la aproximación descriptiva, se encuentran más explicaciones sobre el artículo definido que el artículo defínido resulta más difícil en la adquisición entre los estudiantes de L2 de espańol. Intentaremos mostrar que la distinción entre nombres con artículo defínido/indefínido y nombres escuetos deben explicarse como usos independientes en espańol, no como una variedad del uso del artículo defínido.