A UG Approach to the Development of L2 English Articles

Abstract

This study examines the development of L2 English articles by Korean EFL students (middle school, high school and college students) in terms of the specificity feature. It shows that the acquisition order or difficulty level of L2 English articles is [-specific] a > [+specific] a > the > [+specific] Φ > [-specific] Φ (from the earliest/easiest to the latest/most difficult), which has not been presented in the literature. This finding implies that the prototypical meaning of a DP with the indefinite article a is a non-specific entity, and a DP with the zero Φ article typically refers to the most definite one (Berezowski 2009, Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freemman 1999). The significant role of the UG feature specificity with the Korean teenage speakers of L2 English is consistent with the findings of Ionin et al. (2004). But the findings reveal that the number of a certain type of learners who are sensitive to specificity and thus overuse the does not decrease as their proficiency increases, suggesting that some special instructions or treatments be needed for this type of Korean EFL learners.