Keywords
Abstract
This paper presents a classroom-based case study of persistent, fossilized errors in the use of the English article system (a/an, the, and the zero article) by an adult learner whose first languages, Uzbek and Russian, do not have a grammaticalized article category. Although the learner had received several years of formal English instruction, including test preparation and university-level study, a diagnostic interview and a writing sample revealed a stable pattern of article omission and substitution that had resisted correction over time. This pattern is consistent with predictions made by second language acquisition (SLA) research on transfer from article-less native languages. Drawing on this research together with established approaches to article pedagogy, a four-stage lesson sequence was designed and piloted with the learner, combining noticing tasks, explicit instruction, guided practice, and communicative consolidation. The paper situates the case within the wider SLA literature on article acquisition and fossilization, describes the intervention and its rationale, and discusses its limitations and implications for teaching advanced adult learners with fossilized article errors.
References
1. Duff, P. A. (2008). Case study research in applied linguistics. New York, NY: Lawrence Erlbaum/Routledge.
2. Ellis, R. (2005). Measuring implicit and explicit knowledge of a second language: A psychometric study. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 27(2), 141–172.
3. Ionin, T., Choi, S. H., & Liu, Q. (2022). What transfers (or doesn't) in the second language acquisition of English articles by learners from article-less native languages? Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 12(2), 133–171.
4. Ionin, T., Ko, H., & Wexler, K. (2004). Article semantics in L2 acquisition: The role of specificity. Language Acquisition, 12(1), 3–69.
5. Krashen, S. D. (1982). Principles and practice in second language acquisition. Oxford: Pergamon.
6. Lopez, E., & Sabir, M. (2019). Article pedagogy: Encouraging links between linguistic theory and teaching practice. RELC Journal, 50(1), 188–201.
7. Master, P. (1987). A cross-linguistic interlanguage analysis of the acquisition of the English article system (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of California, Los Angeles.
8. Master, P. (1990). Teaching the English articles as a binary system. TESOL Quarterly, 24(2), 461–478.
9. Master, P. (1997). The English article system: Acquisition, function, and pedagogy. System, 25(2), 215–232.
10. Master, P. (2002). Information structure and article pedagogy. System, 30(3), 331–348.
11. Robertson, D. (2000). Variability in the use of the English article system by Chinese learners of English. Second Language Research, 16(2), 135–172.
12. Selinker, L. (1972). Interlanguage. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 10(1–4), 209–231.
13. Sinclair, J. (Ed.). (1991). Collins COBUILD English grammar. London: HarperCollins.
14. Thornbury, S. (2006). How to teach grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press.