Definite Article Use in the Interlanguage of Spanish Speakers: A Multidimensional Problem
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26754/ojs_misc/mj.20119285Keywords:
transfer, interlanguage, fossilization, overgeneralization and omissionAbstract
This paper aims to study the relationship between the different forms of definite article use in Spanish and English and its inherent influence on the acquisitional process of Spanish learners of English. A study was carried out with three groups of ten intermediate-level students of English, plus one advanced-level group, all of whom were native speakers of Spanish. The study consisted of three different types of exercise comprising translation, filling-in the gaps and one either/or task. The results showed that transfer from the mother tongue was the major cause of interference in the learners’ interlanguage. Due to the grammatical differences between the two languages, overgeneralization, omission and overuse appear so as to compensate for the lack of knowledge in the second language, suggesting that the Multiple Effects Principle might be at work as well. As a consequence of all the aforementioned processes, the Interlanguage (henceforth, IL) will tend to fossilize into non-standard constructions where the definite article in English should not be used.
Downloads
References
Allen, Dave. 1992. Oxford Placement Test 2. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Andersen, Roger. 1992. “Transfer to Somewhere”. In Susan Gass and Larry Selinker (eds). Language Transfer in Language Learning. Amsterdam: John Benjamins: 177-201.
Bickerton, Derek. 1981. Roots of Language. Ann Arbor, MI: Karoma.
Butt, John & Carmen Benjamin. 1988. A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish. London: Arnold.
Cebreiros, Ramiro. 2004. “The Operation of Transfer and IL Principles: The Use of Empty Categories in the IL of Spanish Learners of English”. VIAL 1: 33-54.
Celce-Murcia, Marianne & Diane Larsen-Freeman. 1999. The Grammar Book: An ESL/EFL Teacher’s Course. Massachusetts: Newbury House.
Christophersen, Paul. 1939. The Articles: A Study of Their Theory and Use in English. Copenhagen: Einar Munksgaard.
Corder, S. P. 1981. Error Analysis and Interlanguage. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Coulter, Kenneth. 1968. Linguistic error analysis of the spoken English of two native Russians. Unpublished MA thesis: University of Washington.
Covitt, R. 1976. Some Problematic Grammar Areas for ESL Teachers. Unpublished MA thesis: University of California, Los Angeles.
De Angelis, Gessica. 2005. “Interlanguage Transfer of Function Words”. Language Learning 55 (3): 379-414.
Dulay, Heidi, Marina Burt and Stephen Krashen. 1982. Language Two. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hawkins, Roger. 2001. Second Language Syntax. A Generative Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell.
Huebner, Thom. 1983. A Longitudinal Analysis of the Acquisition of English. Ann Arbor, MI: Karoma.
Huddleston, Rodney & Geoffrey PULLUM. 2002. The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Goad, Heather & Lydia White. 2004. “Ultimate Attainment of L2 inflections: Effects of L1 Prosodic Structure”. In Foster-Cohen, Samuel et al. (eds.) EUROSLA Yearbook 4. Amsterdam: John Benjamins: 119-145.
Ionin, Tania et al. 2004. “Article Semantics in L2 Acquisition: The Role of Specificity”. Language Acquisition 12: 3-69.
Ionin, Tania, María Luisa Zubizarreta and Salvador Bautista Maldonado. 2008. “Sources of Linguistic Knowledge in the Second Language Acquisition of the English Articles”. Lingua 118: 554-576.
Jarvis, Scott. 2000. “Methodological Rigor in the Study of Transfer: Identifying L1 influence in the Interlanguage Lexicon”. Language Learning 23: 245-300.
—. 2002. “Topic continuity in L2 English Article Use”. Studies in Second Language Research 24: 387-418.
Jespersen, Otto. 1949. A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles: Vol. 7. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
Kellerman, Eric. 1995. “Crosslinguistic Influence: Transfer to Nowhere?” Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 15: 125-150.
Liu, Dilin and Johanna L. Gleason. 2002. “Acquisition of the Article by Nonnative Speakers of English”. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 24: 1-26.
Lu, Crystal Fen-Chuan. 2001. “The acquisition of English articles by Chinese learners”. Second Language Studies 20(1): 43-78.
Odlin, Terence. 1989. Language Transfer. Crosslinguistic Influence in Language Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Parrish, Betty. 1987. “A New Look at the Methodologies in the Study of Article Acquisition for Learners of ESL”. Language Learning 3(3): 361-384.
Prévost, Philippe & Lydia White. 2000. “Missing Surface Inflection or Impairment in Second Language Acquisition? Evidence from Tense and Agreement”. Second Language Research 16: 103-133.
Quirk, Randolph, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech and Jan Svartvik. 1985. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. London: Longman.
Ringbom, Hakan. 1987. The Role of First Language in Foreign Language learning. Clevedon: UK Multilingual Matters.
Robertson, Daniel. 2000. “Variability in the use of the English article system by Chinese learners of English”. Second Language Research 16: 135-172.
Selinker, Larry. 1972. “Interlanguage”. IRAL 3: 209-231.
Selinker, Larry and Usha Lakshamanan. 1992. “Language Transfer and Fossilization: The ‘Multiple Effects Principle’”. In Gass, S. and L.
Selinker (eds.) Language Transfer in Language Learning. Amsterdam: Benjamins: 197-216.
Stehle, Megan. 2009. The Interlanguage Development of Articles in English as a Second Language: A Longitudinal Study. Unpublished MA Thesis: University of Pittsburgh.
Thomas, Margaret. 1989. “The Acquisition of English Articles by First and Second Language learners”. Applied Psycholinguistics 10: 335- 355.
Trenkic, Danijela. 2007. “Variability in Second Language Article Production”. Second Language Research 23(3): 289-327.
Vildomec, Veroboj. 1963. Multilingualism. Leyden : A.W. Sythoff.
White, Lydia. 2003. “Fossilization in Steady State L2 Grammars: Persistent Problems with Inflectional Morphology”. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 6:129-14.
Williams, Sarah & Bjorn Hammaberg. 1998. “Language Switches in L3 Production: Implications for a Polyglot-Speaking Model”. Applied Linguistics 19 (3): 295–333.
Zdorenko, Tatiana & Johanne Paradis. 2008. “The Acquisition of Articles in Child Second-Language English: Fluctuation, Transfer or Both?”. Second Language Research 24 (2): 227-250.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2012 Laura Torrado Mariñas
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
