A Study on the Use of English Articlesby Korean Learners

Abstract

On the basis of an existing classification of English articles (a, the, zero), this study examines the use of English articles by Korean learners and analyzes the production task conducted by three subject groups, suggesting a model of article acquisition in the UG perspective. The result of the experiment reveals that the beginner group overuse zero article, a negative influence of L1 and use 'the' with high accuracy, an evidence of L1 transfer. The intermediate group fluctuates between definite and indefinite article in accuracy and the advanced group uses their articles similar to that of natives in frequency and also 'the' most accurately. These patterns of English articles used by the three groups lead to a conclusion that Korean learners whose L1 lacks articles follow the pattern of ‘Partial Transfer/Full Access’ with a steady state of inter-language grammar(ILG) as the ultimate attainment. Thus they are partially influenced by L1 transfer when they acquire English articles