LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 14:2 February 2014
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Acquisition of the Non-generic Uses of English Definite Article by the Adult ESL Learners

Tara Shankar Sinha, M.A. in TESL

Abstract

The non-generic use of the English Definite article the can be divided into four major categories: structural, textual, situational and cultural. This study aims to determine whether these uses pose different levels of challenges for the adult ESL learners and whether they are acquired at the same time. This study also focuses on whether learners’ performance in various non-generic uses of the English definite article the improves with context support.

The study is conducted with a group of adult learners having attended the Certificate of Proficiency (COP) course at The English and Foreign Languages University, India. Two types of tasks were used for data collection: a) a set of 24 isolated sentences and b) a paragraph with blanks. The data analysis reveals that the four non-generic uses pose varied levels of challenge for the adult ESL learners and there exists a natural order of acquisition. The issues related to this order of acquisition are discussed in the study. Besides, the pedagogical implications of the study, which include instructional sequence, task selection and strategies for the various uses of English definite article are discussed.

Key Words: order of acquisition, definite article, non-generic uses, context support

1. Introduction

In English, articles (a/an, the and the zero article) are one of the most commonly used words and EFL/ESL learners start learning these articles at an early stage of their education. Interestingly, it takes a prolonged period of time for the EFL/ESL learners to master over these articles. They continue to make errors in article use even at a higher level of proficiency. The main reason behind it might be the fact that there are too many complex rules for article use in English. These complex rules often make the English article system one of the most difficult grammatical items for the EFL/ESL learners. This study examines the adult ESL learners’ acquisition pattern of English definite article. Within the definite article, this study solely focuses on the acquisition of the non-generic uses.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Tara Shankar Sinha, M.A. in TESL
The English and Foreign Languages University
Hyderabad
Andhra Pradesh
India

Lecturer
Department of English
East West University
Aftabnagar, Dhaka, Bangladesh
tsinha84@gmail.com
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