VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HO CHI MINH CITY

UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES

FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE

A SURVEY INTO THE TEACHING AND LEARNING

OF ENGLISH ARTICLES AT ENGLISH FACULTY,
UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

A thesis submitted to the

Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature
in partial fulfillment of the Masters degree in TESOL

By
DINH THIEN LOC

Supervised by
NGUYEN THI KIEU THU, Ph.D.

HO CHI MINH CITY, AUGUST 2015

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP
I hereby certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled:
A SURVEY INTO THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF
ENGLISH ARTICLES AT ENGLISH FACULTY,
UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES
in terms of the statement of Requirements for the Thesis in Masters Program issued
by the Higher Degree Committee. The thesis has not been submitted for the award of
any degree or diploma in any other situation.

Ho Chi Minh City, August 2015

inh Thin Lc

RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS

I hereby state that I, inh Thin Lc, being the candidate for the degree of Master in
TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of
Masters Theses deposited in the Library.
In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in the
Library should be accessible for the purpose of study and research, in accordance with
the normal conditions established by the library for the care, loan or reproduction of
the thesis.

Ho Chi Minh City, August 2015

inh Thin Lc

ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my advisor,
Dr. NGUYEN THI KIEU THU for the continuous support to my thesis, for her
invaluable guidance, strong motivation, and extensive expertise. I am wholeheartedly
grateful to her deep devotion even when she was on Tet holiday. I simply can not
wish for better supervisor.
I owe a big debt of gratitude to Dr. Nguyen Thu Huong who inspired me to
come up with the thesis topic. He also spent a lot of his time to develop my
background on English articles and he was always willing to support me with his
helpful documents as well as immense knowledge.
I would like to acknowledge all members, teachers and students of the Faculty
of English Linguistics and Literature who directly and indirectly contribute to the
fulfillment of this thesis.
I am deeply thankful to my friends Ba Tong and Thuy Anh who gave me
indispensable advices and unceasing encouragement during my most difficult time. I
also appreciate every single support I received from my other friends at USSH.
Last but not least, my deepest gratitude goes to my parents, my sister, my aunt
and her son who are truly a miracle of my life. Without them, the whole thesis would
still be far from finished.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ................................................................................ i
RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS ................................................................. ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................... iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................................. iv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ...................................................................................... vii
LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................... viii
LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................... ix
ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... x
CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION ................................................................ 1

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY ............................................................. 1

1.2 RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY ................................................................ 2
1.3 AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY ............................................... 2
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS .......................................................................... 3
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY ............................................................. 3
1.5.1 Theoretical significance .................................................................. 4
1.5.2 Practical significance ...................................................................... 4
1.6 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY ........................................................... 4
CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF LITERATURE ............................................... 6

2.1 THEORETICAL ISSUES ON ARTICLES .................................................. 6

2.1.1 Definition of Articles ...................................................................... 6
2.1.2 Meaning of English Articles ........................................................... 7
2.1.2.1 Definiteness ...................................................................... 8
2.1.2.2 Specificity ....................................................................... 14
2.1.2.3 Genericity ....................................................................... 16
2.1.3 Types of English articles .............................................................. 17
2.1.4 Meaning of Vietnamese Article-like Determiners ........................ 20
2.1.4.1 Countability and Plurality ............................................... 21
2.1.4.2 Definiteness and Maximality .......................................... 22
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2.1.5 Types of Vietnamese Article-like Determiners ............................ 23

2.1.5.1 Mt .................................................................................. 24
2.1.5.2 Nhng/ Cc ..................................................................... 26
2.1.5.3 Zero articles .................................................................... 29
2.2 CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS .................................................................... 31
2.3 GRAMMAR TEACHING & THE METHODS TO TEACH ARTICLES 31
2.3.1 Grammar teaching......................................................................... 31
2.3.2 Methodologies to teach articles .................................................... 32
2.3.2.1 Traditional methods ........................................................ 33
2.3.2.2 Cognitive method............................................................ 34
2.4 ACQUISTION OF ARTICLES .................................................................. 36
2.4.1 Types of Articles Errors ................................................................ 36
2.4.2 Causes of Articles Errors .............................................................. 38
2.5 ERROR ANALYSIS .................................................................................. 40
2.6 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK ............................................................... 40
CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY ............................................................. 42

3.1 RESEARCH QUESTIONS ........................................................................ 42

3.2 RESEARCH DESIGN ................................................................................ 43
3.2.1 Context of the study ...................................................................... 43
3.2.2 Participants.................................................................................... 43
3.2.3 Research Materials ........................................................................ 47
3.2.3.1 Coursebooks ................................................................... 47
3.2.3.2 SOC, TLU and UOC ...................................................... 48
3.2.4 Research Methods and Research Tools ........................................ 50
3.2.4.1 Coding system ................................................................ 51
3.2.4.2 Contrastive analysis ........................................................ 53
3.2.4.3 Error analysis .................................................................. 54
3.2.4.4 Questionnaire .................................................................. 55
3.2.4.5 Proficiency test ............................................................... 57
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3.2.4.6 Interviews ....................................................................... 59

3.3 DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURE ...................................................... 61
3.4 DATA ANALYSIS PROCEDURE ............................................................ 61
CHAPTER 4

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ......................................... 63

4.1 ANALYSIS OF DATA AND DISCUSSION ............................................ 63

4.1.1 The teaching of English articles ................................................... 64
4.1.1.1 Coursebooks ................................................................... 64
4.1.1.2 Teaching methodology ................................................... 68
4.1.2 The learning of English articles .................................................... 71
4.1.2.1 Learners perception on English articles ........................ 71
4.1.2.2 Learners errors in using English articles ....................... 77
4.1.2.2.1 Learners errors based on article types ............. 78
4.1.2.2.2 Learners errors based on contexts ................... 80
4.1.2.3 Causes of learners errors in using English articles ........ 92
4.2 MAJOR FINDINGS ................................................................................... 96
4.2.1 Answers to research question RQ1 ............................................... 96
4.2.2 Answers to research question RQ2 ............................................... 97
4.3 SUMMARY .............................................................................................. 100
CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSION................................................................. 101

5.1 CONCLUSION ......................................................................................... 101

5.2 PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS ......................................................... 102
5.3 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER STUDIES ............................ 105
REFERENCES........................................................................................................... 106
APPENDIX 1: Syllabus for Advanced Grammar course .......................................... 114
APPENDIX 2: Questionnaire .................................................................................... 122
APPENDIX 3: Proficiency Test ................................................................................ 124
APPENDIX 4: Interview ........................................................................................... 125
APPENDIX 5: Answer keys for the Proficiency Test ............................................... 126

vi

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
CA

Contrastive Analysis

CL

Classifier

EF

the Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature

ELT

English Language Teaching

ESL

English as a Second Language

HK

Hearers Knowledge

L1

First language

L2

Second language

NEG

Negative

PASS

Passive

PhD

Doctor of Philosophy

SLA

Second Language Acquisition

SPSS

Statistical Package for the Social Sciences

SR

Specific Referent

SOC

Supplied in Obligatory Context

TESOL

Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages

TLU

Target Like USe

TOEFL

Test of English as a Foreign Language

UOC

Used in Obligatory Context

USSH

University of Social Sciences and Humanities Ho Chi Minh city

vii

LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1: Classification of English Articles by Master (1994)
Table 2.2: Classification of English Articles Contexts by White (2009)
Table 2.3: Classification of Vietnamese article-like determiners by Nguyen (2005)
Table 2.4: Differences between Nhng and Cc concerning Definiteness
Table 3.1: Description of Student Participants
Table 3.2: Description of Teacher Participants
Table 3.3: Synthesis of Research Tools and their Functions
Table 3.4: Coding System for the Correct Uses of English articles
Table 3.5: Coding System for the Incorrect Uses of English articles
Table 3.6: The Function of Items in the Questionnaire
Table 3.7: The Distribution of Number of Items within 5 Article Contexts
Table 3.8: The Aim of the Questions in the Interview
Table 4.1: Reliability Statistics of the Questionnaire
Table 4.2: Statistics of Questionnaires Items
Table 4.3: Statistic of Students Perception on English articles
Table 4.4: Reliability Statistics of the Proficiency Test
Table 4.5: Accuracy in Article Uses among 4 Groups of Participants
Table 4.6: Accuracy in Article Uses according to Article Types
Table 4.7: Combination of Students Accuracy according to Article Types and Article
Contexts
Table 4.8: Analysis of All Test Items
Table 4.9: UOC Score in Generic Context
Table 5.1: Articles Types within Four Semantic Contexts

viii

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.1: The Difference between Nhng and Cc
Figure 2.2: Synthesis of Issues related to the Teaching and Learning of English
Articles
Figure 4.1: Accuracy of Article Uses according to Article Contexts
Figure 5.1: Differences in Generic Sense under the View of Cognitive Grammar by
Nguyen (2005)

ix

ABSTRACT
Since the birth of the communicative approach, more and more attention have
been paid to the article system in English language which was partly considered as
function words, hardly carry any message and partly believed to determine users
level of proficiency. Therefore, the study done for and reported in this thesis was
conducted with the aim to investigate (i) the teaching practices of the English article
system at EF, USSH and (ii) the learning of English articles of 127 EF juniors. To
ensure the validity and consistency of the data collected, the five following research
methods and research tools were applied (i) error analysis, (ii) contrastive analysis,
(iii) proficiency test, (iv) questionnaire and (v) interviews.
The findings, although provisional, revealed some problems with EF teachers
and students performance in regards to the rules of English articles. The main
concerns were the shortcomings in the coursebooks and the pedagogies being applied
for Advanced Grammar course that might create a false perception on the learners.
Besides, EF students also caused quite many errors which were later classified into 11
types of errors with the application of a statistical software. Discussing learners
causes of errors, the two main sources were confirmed including (i) the complicated
nature of English articles and (ii) the interference of learners mother tongue which
was believed to be an article-less language.
The study, therefore, urged for a proper attention on the English articles at EF,
USSH. It also suggested some applicable techniques that (i) facilitate the
understanding of confusing concepts, (ii) balance the concentration on all article types
and (iii) simplify the long list of rules.

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
The articles, in some way, are one of the most commonly used words in
English. To be more accurate, a recent analysis from the Oxford English Corpus of
nearly a billion English words has shown that the is the most common word and a
is the sixth one. This leads to the fact that articles play a very important position in the
English language system. However, English articles have been believed to be one of
the most difficult grammar aspects for L2 learners, especially for learners whose
native language is article-less (Master 1997; Thomas 1989). According to a research
of Bardovi- Harlig & Bofman (1989) and later Bitchener et al. (2005) inaccurate use
of articles is one of the most frequent errors committed by ESL students. Therefore,
mastering articles is always a challenging task for English learners. For over 50 years,
countless studies were published to clarify the acquisition of English articles of L2
learners and to suggest the most suitable methodology to teach articles as well.
However, in a recent corpus study of nearly 700 L2 learners TOEFL essays, Han et
al. (2006) gave a shocking number that one per every eight noun phrases had errors
with articles. These findings somehow upset the previous works of many authors and
encouraged more studies to be conducted.
In his PhD dissertation, Nguyen (2005) raised his concern that articles were
overlooked by both teachers and learners due to the appearance of communicative
approaches in most English classroom. It could be noted that articles are function
words; unlike content words, they do not often carry the key information of a
sentence. In speaking, articles are often unstressed. In writing, especially in news
headlines or SMS messages, articles are even omitted. This fact, according to Master
(2002), might become a trigger that caused the mistreatment of articles in English
language teaching. With respect to learners errors in using articles, Barrett & Chen
1

(2011) suggested that teachers should not ignore those minor mistakes for they may
lead to a false perception in learners mind. Especially, as stated by Miller (2005),
native speakers tended to be sensitive with articles errors made by foreigners.
According to his research, three most frequent errors caused by non-native speakers
were the choice of tense, subject-verb agreement and the use of articles. While the
first two issues can be overcome, the problems with articles are still the common
errors which can be used to distinguish a native speaker and a non-native one. In a
same manner, Nguyen (2005) called for a special attention to the teaching and
learning of English articles because they reflected the proficiency of learners.

1.2 RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY

This study is carried out based on the Doctor dissertation of Nguyen (2005),
namely Vietnamese learners mastering English articles. Although Nguyen had
made an experimental teaching, his conclusion seemed yet to be verified by a survey.
It is quite clear that English articles have been discussed in many contexts of L2
speakers with article-less native language; the case in Vietnam is still new. Besides,
the Vietnamese counterparts of English articles were different and the absence of
articles is common in usage. Students, therefore, may lean on a false perception when
using English articles which is believed to lead to a majority of errors on articles. Due
to the reasons above, the current study was conducted by doing a survey on the
teaching and learning of English articles at University of Social Sciences and
Humanities- Ho Chi Minh city, a leading university in English language teaching in
Vietnam to see whether English articles are treated properly. It is obvious that in such
an academic environment where students mostly express themselves in written form,
errors related to articles should be controlled.

1.3 AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

It should be apparent that errors in using articles still exist at the advanced
level of L2 speakers where there is no equivalence to the English article system
2

(Master 1995). This encouraged the researcher to conduct a survey to explore how
articles are taught and learnt at EF, USSH. The focus will be on the teachers, the
students and the course books being used in the Advanced Grammar courses. Then, it
is expected that possible causes for the common errors related to students use of
articles could be figured out. Besides, in order to overcome the situation, the
traditional as well as the contemporary pedagogical practice will be analyzed to find
out some useful and applicable solutions. In general, the aim of this study is to
explore the current learning and teaching practice of English articles at USSH. The
main focus will be on full-time English major students at the Faculty of English
Linguistics and Literature.
The objectives below have been set out in order to achieve the aims above:
1. To investigate the understanding of English articles of students at EF,
USSH.
2. To find out how the system of English articles is taught at EF, USSH
3. To find out how students at EF, USSH apply their knowledge in using
English articles.
4. To find out some common errors with articles made by students at EF,
USSH.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

To serve the aforementioned significance and to accomplish the aims above,
the research questions were given as follows:
RQ1. What are the current teaching practices of English articles at EF, USSH?
RQ2. What is the current situation of learning English articles at EF, USSH?

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study is hoped to fill the gap in the literature review so that some
significance to the study could be as follows:

1.5.1 Theoretical significance

Chapter 2 of this thesis gave an overview as well as some detailed information
on the understanding of the complicated system of English articles and Vietnamese
counterparts. Some common pedagogical practices to teach articles from the past to
the present were also collected. The study strived to arrive at some errors that L2
learners often made as well. Furthermore, the process of learning articles would be
clarified which was expected to reflect the effectiveness of the current teaching
method at EF, USSH.

1.5.2 Practical significance

Detailed description of learners errors and the possible causes would bring
some certain benefits to the teaching of articles at EF, USSH and also at other
universities in Vietnam in general. The teaching and learning implications as well as
suggestions were attempted to provide both teachers and learners the most suitable
and effective method to master the English articles.

1.6 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY

Regarding the framework of the study, the whole thesis is divided into 5 main
chapters (i) Introduction, (ii) Review of Literature, (iii) Methodology, (iv) Results and
Discussion and (v) Conclusion, apart from the Acknowledgements, Abstract,
References and Appendixes.
The first chapter, the Introduction, presents the rationale of the study, the
reasons that persuade the researcher to conduct the survey. A discussion of the
background and the significance of the study are also addressed in this chapter.
Chapter two, the Review of Literature is divided into two parts. The first one
deals with the theoretical background as well as the definitions of major terms and
concepts. Then comes the second part which reviews the prior studies on the topic. A
wide range of literature is also mentioned in this chapter. As a guideline for the
following chapter, the conceptual framework is introduced as well.
4

The third chapter, entitled Methodology, describes the methods employed to

conduct the study. Detailed research questions, research designs and relevant
procedures to collect and analyze the data are the other sessions of the chapter.
The next one is Results and Discussion. This can be considered as the most
valuable part of the study. Chapter four reports the results from the data collection
procedure and gives discussions on the findings. The purpose of this part is not only
to seek for the answers of the aforementioned research questions but also to serve as a
basis of the last chapter.
Chapter five, Conclusion, is a brief summary of the study. It states the
conclusion of the whole thesis. Some suggestions for the suitable approaches of
teaching and learning English articles are also included. Recommendations for the
further research are the last parts the author would like to contribute in the thesis.

CHAPTER 2
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
2.1 THEORETICAL ISSUES ON ARTICLES
2.1.1 Definition of Articles
Although numerous studies have been conducted on the system of English
articles, there seemed to be a widespread agreement on the definition of articles that
very few authors tried to redefine the term. Traditionally, articles are considered as
adjectives due to the fact that their function is to modify the nouns standing right after
them. However, with times, the linguists realized the differences between the
functions of adjectives and articles. The most common explanation of articles is that
articles are used to indicate whether a noun refers to a specific or a general item. This
way of defining articles can be found in most grammar books and also documents on
the internet. Using specificity to define articles, to some extent, is to determine the
definiteness of a noun which is widely accepted by many authors (Chaudron &
Parker, 1990; Chesterman, 1991; Nguyen 2005). Besides the role of marking the
specificity of noun phrases, Foster (2010) added that articles can also be used to
signify the level of definiteness or knowness.
A more general definition could be found in (Berry, 1993) that articles are
determinatives which serve to give precision to the nouns/noun equivalents to which
they are attached (p. 23). Similarly, in his book about English grammar, Alexander
(1998) defined that articles are determiners which affect the meaning of the noun and
make it clearer by showing which particular thing we are referring to (p. 55). Latter,
Neldelcu (2003) supported the idea of Berry (1993) and stated that the definitions of
English articles do not, in general, go beyond Berrys description.

2.1.2 Meaning of English Articles

While most scholars and linguists agreed on the definition of English articles,
they based on different ways to categorize the system of articles. When talking about
articles in English, it comes to our mind that a/an, the and zero article are the main
categories. The word zero article is used to describe the state in which no article is
used before nouns or noun phrases. Some authors also suggested putting one more
type to describe the state of non-use article, which is named null article (Chesterman
1991, Nguyen 2005). The line to distinguish the two terms is also based on
definiteness. As explained by Master (2003), zero article is applied with the most
indefinite nouns like non-count nouns (e.g. sugar) or plural count nouns (e.g.
tables); meanwhile, null article is the most definite form of English articles.
Chesterman (1991) stated that null article represents entities that have distinctive
exterior form, a complete external boundary (p. 86). Or in other words, null article
often occurs before proper nouns or some specific count nouns (e.g. Paris). This
means zero and null article stand at two opposite poles, one represents the most
indefinite nouns, one indicates the most definite nouns. However, because the
distinction between zero and null article is fairly vague and not very necessary, it is
still not mentioned in most current grammar books. Thus, in the scope of the thesis,
zero article is the only word used to refer the situation in which no article is needed.
With regards to the approaches on studying of English articles, Chesterman
(1991) summarized the linguistics history into three main trends. The first one was
triggered by Russell (1905) who considered the role of definiteness as the core of the
system of English articles. Those who followed this trend mainly based on the
meaning and the role of definiteness in the grammar system. The second trend tended
to generate the uses of articles in various contexts. Although this approach revealed a
certain number of weaknesses, quite a lot of scholars do not stop their ambition on
finding the more exact generated rule of choosing articles. And those who learn about
the articles from the articles themselves, i.e. the meaning and distribution of each
article belong to the third group.
7

Within the limited scope of this study, only the very selected literature would
be reviewed among numbers of valuable ones. The focus would mainly on the first
trend of studying on English articles, i.e. discussing the role of definiteness as the core
of English articles. The reason comes from the current situation in Vietnam that when
a student or a teacher is required to classify articles, it would be common that they list
the two types: definite and indefinite articles. The popularity and trueness of the first
approach is another reason that persuaded the author to navigate his study to this
direction. Many linguists and scholars spent thousands of pages to investigate every
corner of the notion of definiteness and up to now, there have not been a common
agreement on all elements that create the definiteness of English articles. So as to give
a sound classification of the system of English articles, three main notions that carry
the meaning of English articles would be reviewed: (i) definiteness, (ii) specificity
and (iii) genericity.

2.1.2.1 Definiteness
Unlike most teachers who classify English articles by the name of a/ an, the or
zero article, researchers always base on one or some particular terms to arrange those
articles in smaller groups. Firstly, the literature review comes up with the most
famous notion which was mentioned in most of studies throughout the history of
English linguistics, definiteness. Although the term was considered as the core of
the system of English articles by many scholars (Master 1990, Lyons 1999, Butler
2002, Ionin 2004 among others), Nguyen (2005) believed it is not easy to give a clear
definition on definiteness. Using up to six notions to discuss the meaning of
definiteness, Nguyen explained the term based on three different levels. The first one
was about definiteness itself, the second was the intersection between definiteness and
specificity and the intersection between definiteness and genericity was the last level
of this complex definition. Similarly, Chesterman (1991) showed that there are
numbers of issues need to be examined so as to answer the core question on
definiteness. He used a metaphor image a labyrinth of problems to express his
8

feeling on definiteness in his book of over 250 pages (Chesterman 1991, p. 3). To
some degree, the study of Lyons (1999) on definiteness was quoted by a handful of
studies of various researchers. Thus, in order to clarify the meaning of definiteness,
three following elements suggested by Lyons (1999) would be discussed (i)
familiarity, (ii) identifiability and (iii) inclusiveness.

Familiarity
Among the other ways of defining definiteness, Yang & Ionin (2009)
considered the notion both in semantic and pragmatic aspect. This is somehow in line
with a famous study on definiteness of Lyons (1999) who assumed that the simplest
and most common ways to mention this issue should base on both view of logicians
(or semanticists) and pragmaticists. Firstly, discussing the semantic feature of
definiteness is not new, however failure to recognize it may result in
misunderstanding of articles. Ionin (2004) claimed that definiteness is a discourserelated semantic feature or in other words, it linked with the knowledge of both
speaker and hearer in a specific discourse (p. 325). Likewise, Guillemin (2011)
considered a definite noun as it refers to an entity that is both known to the speaker
and the hearer while indefinite noun is familiar only to the speaker. Though the term
familiarity Guillemin gave for this distinction between definite and indefinite may
differ from Ionin, Nguyen (2005) tended to have the same way to discuss familiarity.
Nguyen (2005) even traced back to the age of ancient Greek that familiarity can be
simply translated as the thing you know. That is why this notion is also called
knowness as suggested by Bolinger (1977). The following examples given might
clarify the semantic feature of definiteness in terms of familiarity:
(1a) Can you give me the book?
(1b) Can you give me a book? Which one?
The difference between the two sentences above lies in the notion of
familiarity of the hearer. It can be understood that in (1a), the hearer has already
known the book that the speaker mentioned. However, in (1b), there might be a lot of
9

books that the use of a book from the speaker confused the hearer. To some extent,
the misunderstanding of familiarity is the main cause of the overgeneralization rule in
choosing the correct articles. With regards to definiteness, the element of familiarity is
also known as Familiarity theories of Definiteness and is believed to be first
mentioned by Christophersen (1939) and latter is supported by Heim (1983).
However, the linguist community would not pay much attention to familiarity without
the works of Heim (1983) and his famous donkey example (Abbott 2006). In most
literature, the role of familiarity is defined as to decide whether definite or indefinite
should be put before a noun. As the father of the Familiarity theories, Christophersen
also recognized its weakness that he warned learners should pay attention to the
unambiguous relation between the noun and an entity related to the noun that has
already been known by the hearer. The expression of The author is unknown is a
prominent example when we talk about a certain book. To make it short,
Christophersen (1939) suggested For the proper use of the, it is necessary that it
should call up in hearers mind the image of the exact individual that the speaker is
thinking of (p. 28).
Interestingly, Hawkins (1978) who was inspired by the quantification theories
of Russell claimed that sometimes the is linked with unfamiliarity rather than
familiarity. Take the example below as an example.
(2) Theyve arrived in Ho Chi Minh city. The plane was five hours late.
Because to reach Ho Chi Minh city, a passenger have many other choices
beside using air way, the appearance of the plane is obviously not known to the hearer
before it was uttered by the speaker. Thus, there was the appearance of unfamiliarity
in the choice of definite article the in this case. The Familiarity theories of
Christopheren were challenged again when Perrion (1989) finally pointed out the
weakness he found in indefinite NPs. In his dissertation, Nguyen (2005) restated the
example of Perrion to illustrate this interesting idea:
(3) You have a fine daughter.

10

The point here is that the hearer must have known who his daughter is but the
way the speaker addressed the girl using a instead of the is totally correct. It means
that the element of familiarity seems to have problem in this situation. As the result,
this led the linguists to coin a new term: identifiability.

Identifiability
According to Lyon (1999), identifiability appears when the hearer can refer the
entity that the speaker mentioned by signaling that he [the hearer] is in a position to
identify it (p. 6). The use of identifiability, as explained by Lyons (1999) does not
deny the element of familiarity. Without the prior knowledge of familiarity, the hearer
can hardly apply identifiability. The combination of the two terms allows the hearer to
match the noun mentioned by the speaker with the real entity that the hearer knows
about its existence. Although the speaker does not directly mention that entity, the
hearer can refer to the exact entity because he has seen it, heard about it or he can
base on common senses. From the definition of Russell (1905), Guillemin (2011)
simply explained identifiability as a discourse referent that belongs to a set that the
hearer must be able to identify for clear interpretation (p. 4). Here is an example
taken from a study of Russell (1905).
(4) I took a taxi to the airport, but the driver was new to the area. So I missed
the flight.
In this case, although the hearer does not know about the driver, he can refer to
the existence of the driver of the taxi. This happens thanks to his knowledge that he
has had before in his life. Or we may say he can identify the driver due to the link
between the taxi and the driver. But the situation is not that simple, Lyons (1999)
suggested that it also required hearers readiness to identify the real entity of the noun
phrase indicated by the definite article the. To explain the idea of Lyons, Nguyen
(2005) introduced two examples as follows:
(5a) Just give the shelf a quick wipe, will you, before I put the television on it.
(5b) Pass me the hammer, will you?
11

At this stage, some linguists start to look at definiteness under pragmatics

viewpoint. So as to understand the situation, the physical condition of the utterances
needs to be regarded as well. In (5a), both the speaker and hearer are in a same room,
the speaker asks for a favor and of course the hearer can immediately refer to the shelf
that visible in his eyesight. However, the setting for (5b) is when the speaker stands
on a ladder and intends to drive a nail into the wall and the hammer is out of his reach.
At that very moment, the hearer entered the room and immediately the speaker utters
the suggestion to the hearer. In this case, the hearer does not have any idea about the
hammer but he can quickly realize the current situation with the speaker on the ladder.
The hearer then can look around and find the chair. The quick response action of the
hearer can be understood as the hearers readiness when he hears the definite article
the before hammer as supposed to exist by Lyons (ibid). The example also proves the
interchange between familiarity and identifiablity. As in The author is unknown,
where familiarity fails to explain the choice of article, identifiability can bring
evidence.
It might be noted that Hawkins (1999) used to suggest the use of locatability
in which the location joins the steps of deciding the definiteness as well. This means
in some cases, the speaker and the hearer do not communicate in harmony because the
relationship between speakers referent and hearers identifiable entity in real life can
not be established. The suggestion of Hawkins was that location needed to be
considered. The theory was soon directly criticized by some prominent authors like
Lyons (1991) and Chesterman (1991) as another way to define the alrealdy-known
notions of uniqueness and identifiability. Conversely, Nguyen (2005) still believed it
would be worth discussing the examples raised by Hawkins.

Inclusiveness
According to Lyons (1999), to criticize the idea of uniqueness, Hawkins (1978)
suggested that with plural nouns or mass noun, the definiteness was affected by
inclusiveness rather than uniqueness. In terms of uniqueness, Russell (1905)
12

concluded that definite the must be applied before unique entities, the entities that
happened to be the only on Earth. In contrast, when indefinite article a is used, there
must be more than one entity of that kind found on Earth. Therefore, Hawkins (1978)
proposed that if something is marked definite, it is not necessary a unique entity but it
needs to carry the element of inclusiveness. Lyons (1999) seems to stand on both
sides that inclusiveness and uniqueness have a mutual affection. The most important
thing Lyons (1999) reminded was that it would be a wrongly assumption that the
signals uniqueness with singular noun phrases and inclusiveness with plural and mass
noun phrases (p. 11& 12). However, inclusiveness, according to Hawkins, did not
directly belong to a list of category of definiteness but just a part of identifiability or
to be more exact, inclusiveness took care of the quantity aspect of identifiability. To
discuss the link between quantity and inclusiveness, Chesterman (1991) based on both
semantic and pragmatic view. And from the viewpoint of Chomsky, Chesterman
(1991) somehow added the feature [+all] to inclusiveness. Or in Lyons (1999)s
words, the is a universal quantifier which has the same meaning with all. The
following example is taken from Hawkins (1978)
(6) We have to ask you to move the sand from our gateway.
The use of definite article before the mass noun here requires the hearer to
consider the feature [+all] in this case. This means in a common sense, the hearer
would remove all the sand away. In the same manner, Lyons (1999) compared Ive
washed the dishes and Ive washed all the dishes to emphasize the very link
between the and all.
But again, the theory of Hawkins was not supported by quite a lot authors.
Among those, Chesterman questioned the link between mass noun/ plural noun with
the feature [+all] included in inclusiveness. Nguyen (2005) demonstrated this debate
by an example of Chesterman (1991)
(7) The Americans have reached the moon.
It is as clear as crystal that not all Americans have reached the moon. The
definite article the in this example can not be understood correctly within its
13

inclusiveness. Thus, the theory of Hawkins needs to be modified. One way to revise
inclusiveness, in Chestermans opinion, is that [+all] might be just more or less all.
Talking about definiteness, there are tons of paper to discuss and debate on
every small aspects of its. However, in this paper, only the prominent literatures on
some main features of familiarity, identifiability and inclusiveness are reviewed.
Although this is just an overall review, Lyons (1999) and Nguyen (2005) believed the
core of definiteness somehow can be understood with the knowledge on those
aforementioned notions.

2.1.2.2 Specificity
According to Lyons (1999), specificity is a term applied for an indefinite
singular noun phrase to decide whether it refers to a particular entity or a general one.
Later, Briton (2000) supported the idea by defining a specific article as an article that
denotes a particular entity in the real world and an article that denotes no particular
entity in the real world is a nonspecific article (p.292). It is also well documented in
SLA that specificity is linked with particular entity in the real world (ibid.).
Huebner (1983) seemed to trigger this trend and his idea was highly appreciated by
many authors like Roberson (2000). Another way to distinguish specificity and nonspecificity is to identify the two notions of reference and denotation (Guillemin
2011). As explained by the author, the purpose of a specific expression is to refer
while a non-specific expression is to denote (p. 6). The examples bellows were
given to demonstrate his idea.
(8a) A/ the cat purrs. (non-specific)
(8b) A/ the cat purred. (specific)
In (8a), the meaning of the sentence is applied for all cats or it can be viewed
as a universal truth. Hence, sentence (8a) denotes a generic sense which does not aim
to any specific cat. In contrast, sentence (8b) directly asserts a/ the cat that purred.
Hearer, in this case, can refer to the existence of such cat.

14

As one of the most prominent modern writers on English articles, Ionin et

Wexler (2003) suggested that standard English does not carry the feature of
specificity. The is marked for definite article and a/an is marked for indefinite article,
regardless the appearance of specificity. It is, in fact, the colloquial English (or spoken
English) that can mark the element of specificity. This can be understood as only the
context can explain the specificity. And thus, definiteness does not affect the selection
of specificity. To support this idea, Nguyen (2005) gave 3 examples to show the
combination between definiteness and specificity (not including [-specific, + definite],
i.e. generic case)
(9) A lion and two tigers are sleeping in the cage.
(10) I am going to clean the house.
(11) Pass me a book.
First, sentence (9a) can be inferred that hearer can refer to a specific lion
although he can not identify the lion mentioned by the speaker. Concerning the
second example, it is pretty clear that both speaker and hearer can refer to a specific
house and that house is known by the hearer. In the third sentence, the book
mentioned by the speaker is not a specific one and it neither belongs to any set of
books that is known by the hearer. In this case, by using a book, the speaker means
any book
In conclusion, Guillemin (2011) gave a brief review on specificity from the
association with definiteness. Firstly, considering the definite cases, Guillemin relied
on the previous studies of Pesetsky (1987) and Ishane & Pusks (2001) to state that
the discourse determined the specificity. The entity indicated by the speaker can either
be mentioned before or in the discourse, there is enough information given by the
speaker that somehow the hearer can refer to a unique entity in the real world.
Secondly, in indefinite situations, Guillemin wrote that specificity can be identified by
a presupposition of existence (Brickerton 1981), or an assertion of existence (Ionin
2006) (Guillemin 2011, p.7).

15

2.1.2.3 Genericity
As a main interest of many authors who have delicately worked on the system
of English articles, genericity has been so far a debatable topic on hundreds of studies.
Therefore, a detailed literature review might be too large for the scope of this study.
When talking about genericity, it would be a big mistake not mentioning Carsol who
has been considered as an inspiration for many notable works on this topic
(Greenberg 2003, Mari et al. 2013). The definition given by Carsol (2009) is that
genericity is a phenomenon whereby generalizations are expressed by sentences that
typically abstract over events, situations. Lyons (1999) also stated that the most
common way of defining generic sentence is that it is used to express a class as a
whole (p. 179). This means all the entities included in that specific class would
normally satisfy all the characteristics of the generic noun. Universal truth is
another term which is widely used to explain the genericity (Guillemin 2011,
Hawkins 1999 among others). Also, Guillemin (2011) added that the sense of a
generic sentence often denotes a permanent characteristic on the noun. Concerning the
choice of article affected by the appearance of genericity, Nguyen (2005) remarked
that all three forms of article (i.e. a/an, the and zero article) can appear with generic
sense. This explains why in most literature, genericity is put at the same level with
definiteness and specificity although generic articles are a sub-category which is equal
to [+definite, - specific] cases. According to Greenberg (2003) who spent five years
writing a dissertation on genericity, the distinction between indefinite plural and
bare plural noun is the key point to decide the use of generic article. This appears to
be in line with a recent book on about genericity by Mari et al. (2013) in which they
mentioned various forms of plurality in their very first chapter of the book. To
understand the element of genericity and different meaning of generic articles, we
should have a look the examples below:
(12a) Cats purr.
(12b) A cat purrs.
(12c) The cat purrs.
16

Although the three sentences above seems to carry the same meaning, a
detailed explanation can show the slightly different generic sense of the, a and zero
article. In (12a), bare plural with generic sense is considered as a denoting term
(Carlson 1978, 1999). Besides, a generic bare plural can stand for the category of an
entity; thus this sentence can be understood as Generally a cat purrs. (Guillemin
2011). For sentence (12b), Guillemin translated it into For all cats, if x is a cat, then
x purrs. In most literature, when a generic article is used before an indefinite singular
noun, the noun is considered as property associated with the kind (Guillemin 2011,
p.9). Interestingly, Nguyen (2005) raised his concern that normally there exists two
ways of analyzing the meaning of generic a. The first one compared it with a
typical and the second one viewed it as any. Taking a neutral stand, Nguyen
suggested the uses based on each particular sentence. Lastly, in reference to example
(12c), a paraphrase of its should be That kind of animal purrs. Guillemin (2011)
stated that a generic definite noun can be the representative of the kind.
It is worth noticing that Lyons (1999) also warned the misunderstanding that
generic articles are another forms of any, each, every, all. He quoted from previous
studies that there were some examples to prove the irrelevance between the sense of
generic articles and the aforementioned determiners. For the generic sense is
somehow outside the influence of semantics, Lyons (1999) suggested that the specific
cases should be considered before drawing up a description for generic uses.

2.1.3 Types of English articles

Due to the notion of definiteness, most teachers and grammar books divided
the English articles into two groups: definite and indefinite articles. Moore (2004)
seemed to be one of a few researchers who claimed that the system of English articles
included three groups: definite, indefinite and zero article. Zehler & Brewer (1980)
gave a more exact division that this kind of classification consisted of definite,
indefinite and null article because in most researches published by international
journals, zero article was listed as an item of both definite and indefinite articles
17

(White 2009, Han et al. 2006, Hall 2004, Butler 2002). However, from the study of
Chesterman (1991), Master (2003) directly concluded that zero and null article were
at the two opposite extremes namely most definite and most indefinite article. Thus, it
would turn back to the basic classification that English has two types of articles:
definite and indefinite.
When definiteness was mentioned, another term was coined: specificity.
According to Ionin et al. (2004), definiteness occurs in case both speaker and hearer
are aware of the existence of a thing denoted by a noun phrase. Specificity, on the
other hand, occurs when the speaker refer to a thing denoted by a noun phrase and
considers this individual [a thing denoted by a noun phrase] to possess some
noteworthy property. White (2009) suggested that the main theoretical premise
behind the division of definiteness and specificity was rooted from a very famous
classification scheme by Bickerton (1981). It is worth noticing that Bickerton believed
a referent, i.e. a thing denoted by a noun phrase, had two universals: (i) semantic
universal which decided whether a referent is specific or not, i.e. [+SR] or [-SR] and
(ii) discourse universal which assumed whether a referent is known by the hearer or
not, i.e. [+HK] or [-HK]. From this study of Bickerton, Huebner (1983) introduced his
semantic wheel which is later adapted in numerous studies related to English articles.
It is, indeed, the most common classifications to be found in academic researches. In
1994, Master summarized the idea of Huebner in a table and gave some examples as
shown below.
Table 2.1: Classification of English Articles by Master (1994)
Category

Article

Environment

Example (from Master 1994)

[-SR] [+HK]

the, a,

Generics

The favorite food of the jaguar is the wild pig.

Wild pigs move in bands of fifteen to twenty.

[+SR] [+HK]

the

Unique, previously
mentioned, or physically
present referents

What is the diameter of the moon?

Once there were many trees here. Now, the trees
are gone.

18

[+SR] [-HK]

a,

First-mention NPs or
NPs following
existential has/ have or
there is/ there are

I would like a cup of coffee, please.

I always drink water with my meals.
There is an orange in the bowl.

[-SR] [-HK]

a,

Equative NPs, or NPs in

negation, question, or
irrealis mode

What is the sex of your baby? Its a boy!

Einstein was a man of great intelligence.
Foreigners would come up with a better solution.

(SR: Specific Referent / HK: Hearers Knowledge)

It can easily be seen that the classification above was influenced by the three
concepts of definiteness, specificity and genericity. Specific referent and hearers
knowledge somehow were just another name for the notions discussed above. The
existence of genericity also appears in the case where a noun carries the feature of
hearers knowledge but denies the specific referent.
At the end of the 1980s, Thomas (1989) was one of a few who suggested
adding a fifth category to the list. He argued that the use of idioms was not mentioned
in the semantic wheel of Huebner. In favor of Thomas (1989)s idea on the fifth
category, Butler (2002) supported the new classification system by giving some
examples as all of a sudden to argue that the use of article here is beyond [+/- SR] and
[+/- HK]. In the same manner, Hall (2004) believed the system of five categories
should be applied for the idiomatic uses of articles required neither semantic nor
discourse explanation.
While current studies tended to favor the classification with five categories,
few still seek for other ways. Among those was Ionin et al. In their journal article in
2004, they based on previous studies which chose definiteness and specificity as key
notions. However, after doing an experimental study on Korean speakers, they added
the element of partivity to the universal semantic feature of a referent. Thus, their
classification would include eight categories, each one was described by three factors
(for example [-definite, + specific, + partitive]). In one way or another, partitive,
according to their explanation, could be interpreted as previously mentioned.
Taking a middle-ground position, White (2009) on the one hand supported the idea of
19

definiteness and specificity, but on the other hand, he hoped to explore the deeper
layer of the semantic context. Therefore, although two issues may seem to have the
same semantic features [+definite, + specific], their meaning may not be the same. As
the result, the classification with six different contexts of White was introduced as
follows:
Table 2.2: Classification of English Articles Contexts by White (2009)
Context 1

[+definite, +specific]

Previous Mention

Context 2

[+definite, +specific]

Explicit Speaker Knowledge

Context 3

[+definite, - specific]

Denial of Speaker Knowledge

Context 4

[- definite, +specific]

Explicit Speaker Knowledge

Context 5

[- definite, - specific]

First Mention

Context 6

[- definite, - specific]

Denial of Speaker Knowledge

Nguyen (2005) believed that the intersection between definiteness and

specificity is not the last level of English article. Genericity, in his opinion, was
indeed the last one. When it came to genericity, the problem was even more complex.
Or in other words, the four categories were not the most detailed classification which
could be found. Depend on the meaning and the usage, the categorization can be
various. Quirk et al. (1985) could even divide the use of the in seven different
contexts. In general, the classification of English articles may vary; authors are still
looking for the most correct one but many appear to agree on the system of five
categories.

2.1.4 Meaning of Vietnamese Article-like Determiners

In the scope of this thesis, the theory that Vietnamese is an article-less
language is appreciated. However, it could not be ignored that the idea whether
Vietnamese language has a system of article is still controversial. In most literatures,
it was believed that Truong (1888) was one of the pioneers who tried to compare the
Vietnamese system of article-like words with the real system of articles in Western
20

countries. However, the case was only seriously discussed after decades when two
famous scholars Nguyen (1975) and Dinh (1986) considered mt, nhng/cc and zero
article as Vietnamese counterparts of articles in French or English. Mt is used before
singular indefinite nouns. Nhng and cc, despite their slightly differences in
definiteness, are used with plural nouns. Lastly, zero article can be used before mass
nouns with generic sense or before definite singular nouns. Thus, to some extent,
Nguyen (1975) and Dinh (1986) believed there exists a system of articles in
Vietnamese language. As a rebuttal to this point, Cao (1999) simply classified those
words as quantifiers or determiners. He used many noteworthy examples to
demonstrate for his arguments. The case was also taken into consideration by other
researchers as To (2011) or Bui (2000). On the one hand, Vietnamese linguists agreed
upon the existence of some words which are somehow equivalent to English
articles. Their grammatical role, on the other hand, still challenged linguists
community and that caused different ways of naming those words. To avoid
misunderstanding, the name article-like determiners is used in the thesis to refer to
Vietnamese counterparts of English articles as suggested by Nguyen (2005).

2.1.4.1 Countability and Plurality

Unlike English articles which were classified built on definiteness and
specificity, Vietnamese counterparts were grouped due to their countability. Hoang
& Nguyen (2008) stated that Truong (1883) was the first to point out the element of
countability in Vietnamese noun phrase base on his understanding of French.
According to Cao (1999), countability is the key notion which appears not only in
grammatical but also in lexical aspect of Vietnamese nouns. Cao strongly believed
that his view on countability as the main criteria of Vietnamese noun phrases was
totally fit with previous studies of famous linguists like Jespersen (1924) or Chomsky
(1965). In his book on Vietnamese grammar, he stated that most of Vietnamese nouns
are [-countable], leaving the rest 350 nouns are [+countable]. Within the small
number of countable nouns in Vietnamese, Cao argued only 270 words are
21

[+substantive]. That leads him to add substance to the list of factors that can be used
to select the suitable article-like determiners. Another factor that linked to countability
is plurality, the state to decide whether a noun is in singular or plural form. Nguyen
(2004) divided the system into two categories, (i) mt, ci and zero article are used
with singular form and (ii) for plural form, Vietnamese language has nhng and cc.
Although not many studies discuss the feature of [+/- unit] as an important part
of Vietnamese grammar, Hoang & Nguyen (2008) noted that it appeared quite often
both explicitly and implicitly in various articles. As an author of many high school
and university coursebooks, Diep (1991) directly suggested unit as a criteria to
classify the system of Vietnamese noun phrases. According to him, unit can be the
criteria to mark something as in loaf, ming piece or a collective of things as
by herb, n flock. The way of understanding unit seemed to attract linguists
like Hoang & Nguyen (2008) who agreed that unit plays an important part in diving
unit noun and mass noun. In their recent work, Hoang & Nguyen (2008) also
suggested that [+/- unit] should be considered before [+/-countability] to determine
the article for Vietnamese noun phrases. This is a typical difference between noun
phrase in English and in Vietnamese. It would be wrong to say *mt lnh a soldier
in Vietnam, mt ngi lnh is a correct expression, instead. To some extent, the
appearance of [+/- unit] is implied into the system of Vietnamese classifier (Nguyen
1975).

2.1.4.2 Definiteness and Maximality

Definiteness in Vietnamese counterparts of English articles was also
mentioned by many researchers (To 2011, Bui 2000, Nguyen 2005). In his recent
journal, Bui (2000) debated an issue raised by Nguyen (1975) and Dinh (1986) that
definiteness can be applied to distinguish between nhng and cc. Moreover, Nguyen
(2005) and Cao (1999) assumed that the confusion of mt and zero article in
Vietnamese language can also be determined by the element of definiteness. It might
be noted that the notion of maximality was introduced by Nguyen (2005) to
22

compare with definiteness. First, he based on the study of Langacker (1987) to list
maximality and uniqueness as two elements to decide the definiteness in speech act.
Basically, maximality is used to inform a mass noun. But to some extent, maximality
can occur when the is put before plural nouns to refer the mutual mental contact of the
speaker and the hearer. The point here is that Nguyen (2005) used the background
from Langacker and mixed it with the theory of Nguyen (1975) and Cao (1999) to
reveal some correlations between maximality and definiteness in the system of
Vietnamese article-like determiners. In general, to classify the Vietnamese
counterparts of English article, (i.e. cc, nhng, mt and zero article), we depend on
countability, plurality, definiteness or maximality. The following illustration from
Nguyen (2005) is expected to summarize the ideas above.
Table 2.3: Classification of Vietnamese article-like determiners
by Nguyen (2005)
Instance

Singular
Count
Plural
Noncount

Type

Indefinite/
Limited size
Mt ci bnh
A piece cake
(A cake)

Definite/
Maximal size

ci bnh
piece cake
(The cake)

Nhng ci bnh
-s
piece cake
(The cakes/ Cakes)

Cc ci bnh
-s piece cake
(The cakes/ Cakes)

bnh
cake
(Cake)

Mass

2.1.5 Types of Vietnamese Article-like Determiners

Although most linguists agreed that mt, nhng, cc and zero article altogether
make up the Vietnamese counterparts of English articles, it is worth noticing that ci
also appeared in some literature. However, the role of ci is very complicated which
might almost be the most controversial word in Vietnamese, according to Nguyen
(2005). Depending on different authors that ci played quite a various role as an
article (Tran 1941), a general classifier (Nguyen 1997) or a special word for counting
23

(Cao 1999), an indexical ci1 (Nguyen 1975) or even a particle ci (Nguyen 2004).
Because the role of ci is rather difficult to decide, the author of this study would
leave ci out of the list of Vietnamese article-like determiners with the hope that one
day experts will give an apparent investigation on this most complex word in
Vietnamese language. The following part will introduce some main points on each
member of Vietnamese article-like determiners, i.e mt, nhng, cc and zero article.

2.1.5.1 Mt
Normally, mt is used as a singular, indefinite article in Vietnamese language.
Or it can be said that mt is [+singular, -definite]. However, as mentioned before,
most of noun phrases in Vietnamese are [-countable], thus they require a classifier,
e.g. chic, ming, con after mt (To2011). This seems to be in line with the element of
unit mentioned in the previous part. It is also emphasized that the appearance of such
classifiers between mt and an uncountable noun is necessary in most cases. Consider
the following examples:
(13) Ti va mua mt quyn sch tim sch.
I

just buy a

CL

book at store book.

I have just bought a book at the book store.

It might be confused that mt is also a numeral one in Vietnamese. To
demonstrate the differences between the two functions of mt, let us have a look at the
following example of Nguyen (2004)
(14) H

ch

mt ngi con, ch khng phi hai.

They only have one CL child but NEG right two.

They have only one child, not two.
An interesting feature of mt is that it is often used for first mentioned noun
phrase. For the next times the noun phrase is referred, mt is no more put before that
noun phrase. Or as explained by Nguyen (2004), this can be a clear evidence to prove

Indexical ci1: ci ch nh

24

the indefiniteness of mt. Somehow it can be compared with the use of the indefinite
article a in English. Here is the example
(15) B

ti cho ti mt con mo. Mt hm (*mt) con mo ...

Grandmother I give I one/a CL cat

one day (one/a ) CL cat...

My grandma gave me a cat. One day, the cat

Another notable point which is observed by Nguyen (2004) is that mt can also
immediately precede an uncountable noun in case the noun belongs to a kind of food
and it is used with a countable sense.
(16) Cho ti mt c ph .
Give I

coffee ice

Can I have a (glass of) coffee with ice, please?

In this case, the speaker does not need to add any classifier between the
uncountable noun c ph and the article-like determiner mt. Still, this kind of
expression is not very popular and is mostly used in informal language.
Interesting, Nguyen (2004) also remarked the use of mt in daily conversation
where no formality is required. He noticed the absence of mt before indefinite noun
phrase, especially in case when the indefinite context can be inferred easily by the
hearer. To understand the situation where mt is omitted, the context should be
considered.
(17) Context: a regular customer at the newsstand
Bn cho (mt) t

bo.

Sell give (one/a) CL newspaper.

A newspaper, please.
With regard to generictiy, the use of mt requires a strict rule as highlighted by
To (2011). In her recent article, she stated three requirements that can create the
generic use of mt, i.e. (i) mt must appear at the first position, (ii) the classifier must
not be omitted and (iii) the uncountable noun need to carry a restrictive adjunct. Only
then can a singular noun be the representative for a whole class of people, animals or
things.
25

(18) Mt

nh lnh o gii th khng th no hnh ng nh th.

One/a house leader good is

NEG

can

behave like that.

A good leader cannot behave in such a way.

On the other hand, according to Nguyen (2005), the generic mt can not be
translated as an equivalence of a in English. To fully acquire the genericity of mt and
a, users must regard the pragmatic use of them. The following example from Nguyen
is worth discussing the common errors of Vietnamese learners.
(19) Bt k con s t no cng l thuc loi ng vt c v.
Any

CL lion

also be belong class

mammal.

Any representation of the lion is a mammal.

A lion is a mammal.
In general, there are sound evidence to prove that mt carries the feature of
[+singular] [-definite] in Vietnamese language. In most situations, mt requires a
classifier before an uncountable noun. Sometimes, in particular contexts, either mt or
the classifier can be omitted. Besides, the generic use of mt is a remarkable point.
And the misunderstanding between numeral mt and the determiner mt might
confuse users as well.

2.1.5.2 Nhng/ Cc
Many authors viewed nhng, cc as plural markers or pluralizers in
Vietnamese language (Cao 1992, Nguyen 1997, Bui 2000 among others). Although
the plurality of nhng and cc is widely agreed in the community, the definiteness of
nhng and cc seems to be a debatable topic with various viewpoints. In his literature
review, Bui (2000) summarized2 the ideas into two main branches (i) nhng and cc
are at two opposite poles of definiteness in which cc carries the feature of [+definite]
and nhng, as opposed to cc, is [-definite] (Tran, T. K 1950) or two poles of
[+/-precise2] (Nguyen 1975, Dinh 1983, Diep 1996) and (ii) cc is marked [+definite]
while nhng takes a neutral position which is [+/-definite] (Cao 1992, Nguyen 1996).
Precise2: ch bit

26

Standing on the second point of view, Nguyen (2004) added that despite the
fact that both nhng and cc can mark [+definite], nhng is, to some extent, less
definite than cc. To demonstrate the slightly difference between the two words,
Nguyen (2004) drew a diagram based on the idea of Thompson (1965) that nhng
refers to only certain of the total possible number are referred to while cc
emphasizes all of a given set of entities (quoted from Nguyen 2004, p. 36).

nhng

Nhng

Cc
Figure 2.1: The Difference between Nhng and Cc
The outer circle marks the use of cc which represents for the whole class of
entity while nhng is put in the inner circle which demonstrates the use to mark a
boundary between a subset and another within a set (Nguyen 2005:106). To explain
the differences, Nguyen (2005) proposed that cc carries the element of maximality
while nhng can be understood as the cataphoric use of English article the or some in
some cases. Standing on the same line, Nguyen (2004) believed the meaning of some
proves the [-definite] feature of nhng. Let us consider the examples below
(20) l nhng du hiu u tin ca ma
This be

-s

sign

first

ng.

of season winter.

These are some of the first signs of winter.

(Not .the first signs)
(21) C
There

nhng ngi sng st k rng

-s

man surviving tell that

There are some of the survivors telling that

(Not the survivors)

27

This tricky use of nhng and its counterpart in English might be difficult for
Vietnamese learners, according to Nguyen (2004). The first signs or the survivors
is definite but some of the first signs and some of the survivor are obviously
indefinite.
Hoang & Nguyen (2008) focused on the element of maximality of cc which is
not contained in nhng to distinguish two words. They argued that the presence of cc
implied the maximiality of the noun. The following examples were given in their
article in 2008:
(22a) Cc thc khch (u)
-s

guest

n.

(all) aleady come

(All) the guests came.

Not Nhng thc khch (u) n.
(22b) C

nhng thc khch

There

-s

guest

n.

already come

There are some of the guests who already came.

Not C cc thc khch n.
In (22a), the speaker tends to refer to the whole set of guests, therefore, the
use of cc is obligatory because nhng can not mark maximality. In contrast, sentence
(22b) simply infers some of the guests, thus we need to put nhng to differentiate
between those who came and those who have not came. Nguyen (2004) emphasized
that in existential sentence which requires indefiniteness like (22b), cc can never be
used. It should also be noted that Hoang & Nguyen (2008) believed in some cases
where cc and nhng can be used interchangeably, nhng is used to compare with the
other subsets contained in the same set which is marked by cc. This way of
identifying is similar to what Nguyen (2005) called mark the boundary (p.106). The
table below is expected to summary the differences between of nhng and cc in
terms of definiteness.

28

Table 2.4: Differences between Nhng and Cc concerning Definiteness.

Tha cc ng
cc b!
Greeting -s gentleman s lady!
(Ladies and gentlemen!)

Cc
Definite

Nhng gio vin y rt nhit tnh.

Cc gio vin y rt nhit tnh.
-s
teacher that very enthusiastic
(Those teachers are very enthusiastic.)

Nhng/ Cc

Ti thch nhng quyn sch t tin.

I like -s
CL book expensive.
(I like expensive books.)

(
Indefinite

Nhng

In addition, the genericity is also mentioned for nhng and cc. It requires the
noun phrases to be [+countable] and [+plural] so as to be marked genericity with
nhng and cc. To (2011) noted that restrictive adjuncts are often required in those
cases.
cht lng tt.

(23) Cc sn phm Vit Nam c

-s

product Vietnam have quality good

The products from Vietnam have good quality.

(24) Nhng k li bing th khng lm g nn thn.
-s

CL

lazy

is NEG

do

decently.

Lazy people cannot do anything decently.

To sum up, nhng and cc are both plural markers in Vietnamese. Still, there is
a slightly difference in their usage in which nhng can precede an indefinite noun
phrase while cc cannot. In terms of their meaning, cc presents all the entities within
a given set; nhng, however, refers to only a certain number of entities in a set.
Lastly, the sense of genericity can also be inferred by nhng and cc with some
specific requirements.

2.1.5.3 Zero articles

The no-use of article in Vietnamese is also named zero article. Some authors,
like Nguyen (2005) also suggested null article for some specific cases where the
29

absence of article before a noun phrase occurs. Despite that Nguyen (2005) provided
clear evidence for his distinction, in this study only zero article is applied for the nouse of article due to the simplicity.
Based on the previous studies of Cao (1999), Bui (2000) and Dang (2010),
zero article in Vietnamese can be used to precede an uncountable noun no matter it is
definite or not.
(25) Ti thch tr.
I

like tea.

I like tea.
(26) Ti gp mt ng gi trong cng vin. ng gi trng rt
I

meet a man old in

park.

yu.

Man old look very weak.

I met an old man in the park. The old man looked very weak.
Additionally, Nguyen (2004) believed that zero article can also be applied for
a singular definite noun phrase in Vietnamese. The following example will
demonstrate his idea.
(26) Ngi n my ch y

lu.

CL beggar wait there since long.

The beggar has waited there for a long time.

In terms of genericity, To (2011) assumed that zero article can also carry this
feature as long as some strict requirements can be satisfied. Although the detailed
description may sound complex, it can be understood that both uncountable nouns and
singular nouns can follow zero article to mark genericity with the presence of
restrictive adjuncts.
(27) Ch l loi ng vt trung thnh vi
Dog is CL animal

loyal

ch.

with master.

Dogs are loyal animal to their masters.

(28) X hi c quyn nhn thy k phm php b
Society have right

see

trng tr.

CL break law PASS punish.

Society has the right to see law-breaker punished.

30

In general, like its counterpart in English, Vietnamese also has zero article. It
can either mark [+definite] or [-definite], [+countable] or [-countable]. The sense of
genericity, as well, can be expressed with zero article in some certain cases.

2.2 CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS

Over eighty years ago, contrastive analysis used to be the only way to teach
English properly. There was a consensus among many linguists that learning a new
language is to compare and contrast with ones mother tongue. In terms of pedagogy,
Fries (1945) was the first who officially established contrastive analysis as a part of
English teaching. In his book on teaching and learning English, he wrote that The
most efficient materials are those that are based upon a scientific description of the
language to be learned, carefully compared with a parallel description of the native
language of the learner (Fries 1945, p. 9). Similarly, Lado (1957) believed that the
basis of contrastive analysis is to identify the interference of learners mother tongue
on the target language so that similarities and differences between two languages can
be a helping hand for the learning process. Unfortunately, the analysis was later
strongly criticized both on empirical validity and theoretical foundations by many
authors in which Selinker, F. was one of the most prominent (Render 1990). Ample
evidence were given to prove that in some cases, the predictions of CA were not
correct or some errors were not rooted from the interference of mother tongue. As the
result, the role of CA in the modern world of linguistics was not to predict every
errors made by L2 learners. However, it cannot be denied that the presence of CA was
very helpful when it came to retrospective explanation of learners errors.

2.3 GRAMMAR TEACHING AND THE METHODS TO TEACH ARTICLES

2.3.1 Grammar teaching
The benefit of teaching grammar as a part of second language teaching has
long been a controversy. The debate was mostly on the necessity of grammar
instruction in the process of language acquisition. Krashen (1982) was a
31

representative for the anti-grammar teaching side with the famous Krashen Monitors
hypothesis which he believed the learned language can never become the
acquired language. As could be explained from his hypothesis, grammar teaching
based on conscious learning process in which language was learnt by explaining and
remembering rules. To acquire a language, on the contrary, learners should be
exposed to it by communication and the subconscious ability would take care of the
rest. Notably, the message conveyance was the key issue that learners should focus
on during the acquisition procedure. Pursuant to Krashen hypothesis, Truscott (1996)
suggested a strange teaching method that ignored grammar mistakes in learners
written performance. He developed the theory of Krashen (1982) that grammar
correction was like grammar teaching, could solely be affective for learning but not
for acquisition. Conversely, Long (1983) and Ellis (1999) expressed their objection to
Krashen by using ample evidence to prove that the form-based teaching techniques
can also encourage the acquisition process. Explained by Ellis (2006), grammar rules
were very beneficial for memorizing and for metalinguistic application. Steady
practicing, according to Long (1991), would bridge the gap between learned and
acquired knowledge to such an extent that the two concepts would almost overlap.
To be more exact, Ellis (2006) claimed that it would be most efficient if grammar can
be taught in the way that could be compatible with the process of natural language
acquisition. As should be apparent by now, Yabei (2007) concluded that within ELT
community, the grammar teaching has never left the classroom (p. 8).
2.3.2 Methodologies to teach articles
It has become common today to discuss the methodologies to teach the system
of English articles for L2 learners whose native language is article-less, Japanese
(Butler 2002, Snape 2006), Turkish (White 2003), Polish (Karkefka 2012), Russian
(Ionin & Wexler 2003), Korean (Ionin et al. 2004), Chinese (Li & Yang 2010,
Lardiere 2004), Vietnamese (Nguyen 2005), to name a few. The standard way of
thinking was that the system of English articles was one of the hardest grammar parts
32

to be acquired by L2 learners (Master 1997). Likewise, Maslamani (2008) asserted

that the system was not only complex for students to understand but also too hard for
language teachers to articulate. Hence, the author would like to review some studies
related to pedagogy methods to see how English articles have been taught so far.

2.3.2.1 Traditional methods

In discussion of articles pedagogy, Maslamani (2008) summarized the
traditional approaches into two main branches. Master (1995) was one of the authors
who supported the method which focused on form. To some extent, it can be viewed
as grammar-translation method (Karkefka 2012). Pica (1983a), on the other hand,
strongly believed that communicative approach was the most suitable one to teach
English articles. One of the most famous methods introduced by Master (1988) to
decide a suitable article for a noun phrase was answering six following questions: (i)
Is the noun generic or specific?, (ii) Is the noun definite or is it indefinite? (iii) Is it
countable noun or uncountable noun? (iv) Is the noun post modified or not? (v) Is it
common noun or proper one? And (vi) is the noun a part of an idiomatic phrase or
not? Later, Master made further research and he also provided learners with many
other rules for choosing articles before noun phrases in English. Inspired by the
communicative approach, Pica (1983a) believed that articles were like any other
grammar piece, learners could use it perfectly by practicing regularly through
communication. She directly criticized Master that he introduced too many rules and
for each rule, there were always exceptions to be remembered. She wisely quoted
from his study to point out even Master had to claim for the complexity of the article
system. Although Master (1995) agreed on that point, he insisted that communicative
approach can not be the suitable method. In making this comment, he took some
examples to show that the role of articles was not really important in communication.
Most of the time, articles were unstressed or sometimes, produced wrongly but the
aim of communication was still reached. The two branches of articles pedagogy has
challenged the works of many researchers who tended to fix the weaknesses of both
33

methods. To reflect the current situation, Karkefka (2012) highlighted the problems of
the approaches have been applied to teach English articles which were (i) complex
functional rules and (ii) unimportance in communication. When talking about
applying explicit learning, Karkefka (2012) even used the term never fully achieve
to show the impossibility of acquiring English article by that way. Surprisingly, using
implicit method was neither a suitable one based on his experiment teaching result in
2007. The upshot of all this is that traditional methods appeared to fail to explain the
complex system of English articles to learners, especially learners with article-less
mother tongue.

2.3.2.2 Cognitive method

While scholars were still struggling for a more useful method, Dimitrijevi
(2013) indicated that cognitive method has been applied to teach English article with
empirical evidence in the last fifteen years. Some studies to be listed as Langacker
(2000), Epstein (2000), Nguyen (2005) or Vespoor & Nguyen (2008). In terms of
cognitive linguistics, Langacker (1987) was widely believed to be father of using
cognitive method in language teaching (Harper 2003). In his book Foundation of
Cognitive Grammar, Langacker (1987) claimed that language is neither selfcontained nor describable without essential reference to cognitive process. Or in
other word, it could simply be understood that cognitive grammar is a type of
approach to language which is based on learners experience of the world and the
ways they perceive and conceptualize it (Taylor 2003). Recently, Langacker (2001)
presupposed that cognitive approach could build a close relationship between
discourse meaning and linguistic structure. By using conceptualization, symbolization
or some other technical skills, learners can clarify the abstracted usage contexts. As
the core value of cognitive approach is to deal with interactive language, Langacker
(2001) emphasized that for a full and explicit description of interaction and
discourse, a cognitive perspective is necessary (p. 185). Cognitive approach is,

34

therefore, a beneficial teaching method to handle the grammar points which were
usually implied under a complex discourse context.
Concerning the application of cognitive method in English articles teaching,
Epstein (2000) proposed that the message carried by the utilization of English articles
was indeed the sense cognitive domain. He believed that the perfect usage of articles
would only occur once the appropriate cognitive connections between the speaker and
the hearer could be established. And thus, only the cognitive approach can solve the
ungrammatical functions of discourse prominence, role status or point of view shift
(Epstein 2000, p. 333). Later, Karkefka (2012) based on the study of Langacker to
deploy a detailed instruction to teach English articles within six main concepts: (i)
referential first-mention, (ii) non-reference, (iii) conceptualization, (iv) subsequent
mention, (v) perspective and prominence and (vi) specificity. Although the study has
not been verified by an experimental teaching, the instruction was hoped to meet three
criteria of ideal language pedagogy by Hammely (1982) that it was easy to
understand, remember and apply. In the same manner, Nguyen (2005) picked up some
key notions of English articles and designed his own lesson plan to teach articles with
cognitive method. Within 5 lessons, he introduced step by step the concepts of
definiteness and non-definitenesss, determiners, boundedness and unboundedness and
finally the use of articles with proper nouns. The uses of images and practical
examples were also conducted as a part of cognitive approach. The result, however,
indicated that students who were taught with traditional method, i.e. grammar
translation, performed almost as well as those who were trained with cognitive
method at the end of the course. The finding, although being inconsistent with what
has been expected, was still an inspiration for further researches as believed by the
author. Among those who seemed doubtful of the effectiveness of cognitive grammar,
Robinson & Ellis (2008) deplored the tendency to favor this contemporary cognitive
approach in teaching English for L2 learners. They warned that the approach was no
different from a double-edge knife that it could either facilitate or interfere the
development of L2 due to the cognitive transition from L1 to L2. Contradictory,
35

Dimitrijevi (2013) used his previous studies in 2009, 2010 and 2011 to defend for
the process of teaching English articles through cognitive method. He argued that the
method would in no way allow any negative cross-linguistic interference (p.68).
To sum up, cognitive approach in teaching articles is still new in the English
teaching community. Despite that more studies need to be conducted, the presence of
this method is quite promising, especially when both grammar-translation method and
communicative approach were proved to be inefficient in dealing with the complex
system of English articles.

2.4 ACQUISTION OF ARTICLES

2.4.1 Types of Articles Errors
Talking about learners errors in using English articles, Nguyen (2005)
summarized from the previous studies on L2 acquisition of articles that the errors
mostly felt into three following areas: (i) omission of article, (ii) wrong insertion of
article and (iii) confusion of article. Similarly, Han et al. (2006) demonstrated three
most common types of errors of L2 learners which somehow were relevant to
Nguyens study. Another trend of classification learners errors was to depend on the
semantic wheel of Huebner (ibid.), thus there would be five types of errors
corresponding with five contexts of articles in English (Ionin & Wexler 2004, Snape
2006, Piex-Bednar & Papp 2008). However, not all authors followed that division. In
most studies, researchers tend to test the hypothesis of each particular error. For
example, Hall (2004) tested his participants errors based on seven different types of
error which are a/an instead of zero article, a/an instead of the, the instead of zero
article, the instead of a/an, zero article instead of a/an, zero article instead of the and
quantifier instead of the. As one of some who paid much attention to countability,
Butler (2002) listed the errors as errors linked with mass noun, count noun or and
non-count noun. Lee (2007) seemed to follow the classification of Butler that his
study focused on countability of noun. The highlight of his study was that he also

36

made use of the context to test if the errors with countability vary in definite or
indefinite context.
Due to the detailed classification of errors, linguistic researchers conduct a
wide range of studies to find the most common errors. But then came the trouble that
the results in different contexts were quite divergent, sometimes they were opposed to
the previous studies. Another problem was that researchers stood on different
classification of learners errors with articles, the finding of them, therefore, cannot
always be compared with the others. But to some extent, omission of articles was
widely discussed and there were ample evidence to prove it the most frequent error
(White 2009). The finding of Master (1987) and Parish (1987) seemed to come up
with the same conclusion when they focus on English beginners. Recently, Robertson
(2000) and Leung (2005) also claimed omission was the most common type of error
after conducting their research on advanced learners of English. With the
classification of five types of article errors based on the contexts, i.e. [+HK] [+SR],
[+HK] [-SR], [-HK] [+SR], [-HK] [-SR] and idiomatic use, the errors were mostly
found in generic context, i.e. [+HK] [-SR]. The result came from a study of Nguyen
(2005) in Vietnam, Ionin & Wexler (2004) in Japan.
With respect to Vietnamese context, To (2011) stated that we can not deny the
similarity between generic sense in English articles and Vietnamese counterparts.
However, she also warned that the minor differences between two languages may
confuse students. Dang (2011) believed that most errors of Vietnamese learners of
English is related to zero articles. The two common ones are that (i) Vietnamese
speakers, in most cases, do not realize the omission of articles which means they tend
to put a/ an or the where zero article should be applied and (ii) due to their mother
tongue interference, Vietnamese users often make mistakes with plurality of English
nouns and their required articles. Although, the study of Nguyen (2005) showed the
same hypothesis with Dang (2011) that errors related to plural form in English is quite
common in Vietnam, Nguyen supposed it would be the that is the most common
cause of errors for Vietnamese students, zero article should be the second one.
37

2.4.2 Causes of Articles Errors

Despite the types of articles errors may vary, the causes of them were luckily
almost the same under the view of many authors and linguists. With a careful look
back on the previous literatures, the researcher would generalize the causes of articles
errors into the three main categories: (i) the complexity of English articles system, (ii)
L1 interference and (iii) shortcomings in the teaching practices.
Firstly, when it comes to the topic of acquiring English articles, most of the
authors readily agree that no simple rule can be applied to master the complexity of
the system. nen (2007) claimed that the rules of choosing suitable articles were so
difficult for learners, even at advanced level. In the same manner, Barrett & Chen
(2011) explained that it required semantic, pragmatic and grammar knowledge to
understand the system of English articles. Moreover, there appeared to be no one-toone form-function mapping for each type of article. (p. 2). This led to a large number
of rules to be remembered. To make it worse, Master (1995) complained that for each
rule, there were also exceptions and mastering them was a challenging task for
English learners. In his other journal article, Master (2003) quoted from Chesterman
(1981) that in the most indefinite context, zero articles are used; and in the most
definite context, nouns require null articles. However, both zero and null articles are
demonstrated in written and oral text as no article. To put it short, another layer of
complexity was added to the already-complex issue.
The interference of the speakers native language is the second source of
causing errors. Investigation into L1 interference of L2 learners acquisition of
English article was more or less the most tempting topic in this field. The result from
numerous studies confirmed the intervention of learners mother tongue, especially
the article-less language was a main cause of learners errors. Mizuno (1989) argued
that in Japanese language where the is sono (i.e. that) and a/an is hitosuno (i.e.
one), the cause of error was somehow rooted from the countability and the
existence of mass noun. Similarly, Nguyen (2005) gave an example in Vietnamese
language that students may say *She is teacher for a/an in Vietnamese is mt (i.e.
38

one) and teacher is a mass noun in Vietnamese language. White (2009), in the same
way, stated that Japanese language does not distinguish between count noun and mass
noun. Students, therefore, tend to exhibit omission errors in definite context. In his
research with Czech and Slovak participants, Young (1996) claimed the omission of
English articles in final position was the consequence of pragmatic use of word order
in Czech and Slovak language (quoted from White 2009). Accordingly, Robertson
(2000) wrote that in Chinese language, definiteness and indefiniteness could be
decided by word order or the determiners and that may explain for errors made by
Chinese learners. L1 interference was also believed to be the cause of learners errors
when a handful of studies were conducted in Korea, Russia, India and many other
contexts.
Lastly, although not being broadly discussed, teaching instruction was also
blamed for learners inability to use English articles properly. Ekiert (2004) believed
that applying overgeneralization rules was the cause for errors, notably the overuse of
the in many contexts. Master (1996) and Thomas (1986) called this situation theflooding phenomenon. Lu (2001) assumed that Chinese speakers tendency to use
the in of-phrase was a result of overgeneralization (a length of 12 meters, copies
of rare book). Recently, Nguyen (2005) directly criticized current textbooks and
language instructors to teach these rules for learners. One of the most common false
generalizations is that a/an is used for the first mention of an entity in a discourse
and the is used to refer back the earlier mention entity (Han et al. 2006, p. 117). To
oppose the rule, Nguyen (2005) and Band et al. (1995) took the examples of generic
use of articles. nen (2007), on the other hand, strongly blamed the errors in generic,
idiomatic and conventional uses of articles for the lack of teachers instructions or the
state of being delayed in classrooms. In general, teachers and coursebooks have been
considered as one of the roots that unintentionally caused learners errors in the
process of acquiring the complex system of English articles.

39

2.5 ERROR ANALYSIS

There is a wealth of literature to prove that the Error Analysis was emerged
due to the failure of Contrastive Analysis related to learners errors. According to
Ellis (1999), the growth of EA movement was encouraged intensively by Corder who
has published a number of seminal articles (p. 19). One of the first things Corder
(1967) noticed in his studies was the distinction between an error and a mistake.
Somehow, a mistake is a shortcoming that learners can be more or less self-corrected.
An error, on the other hand, is beyond learners knowledge that they do not aware of
it and thus can be corrected by themselves. Likewise, Ellis (1997) considered a
mistake as learners inability to perform what they have already known while an error
is due to learners lack of knowledge.
Thanks to the aforementioned differences, Corder (1967) pointed out that
Error Analysis can bring three significances. The study was then supported by Ellis
(1999) and could be summarized as follows: (i) teachers can realize the learning
progress of their students and decide what remains to teach, (ii) researchers can base
on the date collected to identify the strategies applied by learners and (iii) learners, by
committing their errors, can improve their performance. Consequently, all the reasons
discussed above have persuaded the researcher to apply EA for the thesis.

2.6 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

As the aim of the study is to explore the current situation of the teaching and
learning articles at EF, USSH, the framework will, therefore, be divided into two
parts: (i) the teaching of English articles and (ii) the learning of English articles.
Firstly, to explore how the system of articles was being taught, the researcher would
look into (i) the coursebook and (ii) the teaching methodology being applied. The
reason came from a study of Cunningsworh (1995) in which he referred to
coursebooks as an ultimate part of the teaching process together with teachers
instructions. Secondly, in terms of the learning of English articles, the researcher was
persuaded by a survey of Dang (2014) in Vietnamese context in which she suggested
40

three aspects to be analyzed including (i) learners perception, (ii) learners common
errors and (iii) possible causes of the errors. Understanding the true meaning of each
aspect requires a linkage among all aspects, therefore, the researcher applied the
conceptual framework for the whole survey as the illustration below

The Teaching and Learning of

English Articles

The Teaching of
English Articles

Coursebook

Teaching
Method

The Learning of
English Articles

Learners
Perception

Learners
Errors

Causes of
Errors

Proficiency Test

Questionnaire

Questionnaire

Interview

Interview

Figure 2.2: Synthesis of Issues related to the Teaching and Learning

of English Articles

41

CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents the research methodology applied in the current study
from the very first step to the completion. It consists of three main stages: the first one
introduces the research questions; the second one discusses the research design in
detail with descriptions of research participants, research materials and research tool;
the last stage, data collection and data analysis procedure explains the way the data is
collected and evaluated. Below are details of the methodology being employed.

3.1 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

So as to find out the answer for the aforementioned research question, some
sub-questions were given. Those questions would, of-course, align with the main
research questions as well as support the author with useful guides as described
below:
1. What are the current teaching practices of English articles at EF, USSH?
1a. What do the textbooks tell about English articles?
1b. How are English articles taught at USSH?
1c. How the current teaching approaches affect students acquisition of
English articles?
2. What is the current situation of learning English articles at EF, USSH?
2a. What do students understand about English articles?
2b. What are the common errors with English articles made by students at
EF, USSH?
2c. Why EF students make some specific kinds of errors?

42

3.2 RESEARCH DESIGN

3.2.1 Context of the study
The study aimed to students at EF, or to be more accurate, third-year students
at EF, USSH. According to the syllabus from the faculty, those students were required
to take three Language Skill courses 1B, 2B and 3B which provided them essential
knowledge of reading skill, writing skill and grammar as well. The courses took place
during the first two academic years. Besides, students were also demanded to take
Advanced Grammar as a core course to fulfill the prerequisites before choosing their
specialization, no matter they major in English Linguistics and Language Teaching,
American-British Culture and Literature or Translation-Interpretation. In one way or
another, third-year students at EF were well-equipped with three compulsory
integrated skill courses and one grammar-focused course at the advanced level.
In terms of coursebooks, the main books for Language Skill courses were
Interaction and Mosaic. For the English Advanced Grammar course, the faculty
suggested teachers with a list of books and references. However, for years, two main
books were chosen by most teachers to be the main textbooks for Advanced Grammar
course were English Advanced Grammar in Use and Longman English Grammar
Practice. Besides, teachers were also advised to prepare other sources with up-to-date
knowledge. Although all of the books above dealt with English articles, it seemed to
be a lack of focus on this issue.

3.2.2 Participants
Student Participants: Student participants in this study were 127 juniors at EF,
USSH (N=127). They came from four different classes. As a part of the survey, those
students were asked to fill the questionnaire and to do a small proficiency test on
English articles. At their second year, students were supposed to take two courses
related to grammar which contained the lessons of the English articles and one course
at the first semester of their third year which highly aimed to the grammar at
advanced level. It is also worth noticing that during the first two academic years at
43

EF, USSH, students had to take part in writing courses in which their grammar
mistakes related to using English articles could be checked and corrected by the
teachers as well. According to EF official syllabus of the writing courses for freshmen
and sophomores, teachers are required to focus on articles errors and corrections as
well as explanations must be adequate. It was believed that to some extents, the
juniors at EF were fulfilled with all required knowledge of English grammar and their
advanced level of proficiency could be confirmed. Thus, they were the most suitable
participants to be selected for the purpose of this study. Freshmen and sophomores
may still be affected by what they have learnt at high schools; hence, their
understanding of English articles did not purely reflect the current situation of
teaching English articles at USSH. Seniors, on the other hand, mostly paid attention to
their specializations and might somehow wrongly produce some pieces of knowledge
of English articles they have been taught so far.
Of all 127 student participants, none with foreign nationality or origin were
selected so as to preserve the Vietnamese interference, if any. According to the EF
administrator, there are some Turkish and Korean students who currently study their
third year at EF. As the result, they were excluded from the student sample
beforehand. Other information of student participants like age or sex was not
considered as a factor that could change the outcome of the study. Data collected on
those issues is mainly to ensure no bias would interfere the findings. Students
average scores of the previous semester were collected as the preferences to see
whether the wrong use of English articles was due to the teachers and the coursebooks
or it rooted from students poor English competence. Since it was a sensitive problem,
students were not asked to write down their name and therefore that would encourage
accurate answers. There were four ranges of score to classify students English
proficiency. The code for each group was given as follows: group A included all the
best students with their average score varying from 8.0 to 10, group B included those
whose average score spread from 7.0 to 7.9 whereas group C consisted of students
with scores ranging from 6.0 to 6.9 leaving the rest whose average score was below
44

6.0 members of group D. Students who failed to gain at least 5.0 would be required to
retake the failed courses and therefore, none of them could join this Advanced
Grammar course. Although the range score for group A may seem to be larger than
the other groups, it can be justified that there rarely has an EF student with the overall
score higher than 9.0 for a semester.
Table 3.1: Description of Student Participants
Students
gender

Number of
students

Students average score

TOTAL

Group D
5.0 5.9

Group C
6.0 6.9

Group B
7.0 7.9

Group A
8.0 10.0

Male

15

Female

40

60

112

Total

44

66

13

127

In terms of the interview, four juniors were handpicked by the researcher due
to the idea they put in the questionnaire. Those participants were expected to be the
representatives for different schools of thought about the system of English articles
being taught at USSH. One of them was a monitor while the other three were normal
students. They came from four different classes; the purpose of which was to make
sure their feedback would be given on four different teachers. The name of their
Advanced Grammar teacher was also reconfirmed before the interview. The criteria
for student participants selection mostly depended on the students willingness to
share their own opinion. The process of collecting and analyzing data was fully
explained to each student. All student participants were committed that all opinions
they shared would be kept for the sake of this study and the recorded files would be
treated as confidentiality. No other students or teachers could notice the participation
of all four selected students and their identity could not be accessed by anyone accept
for the researcher of the current study.

45

Teacher participants: As a part of this survey required teachers at EF, USSH to

join, five of them were chosen among those who have taught Advanced Grammar
course at EF during the last 2 school years. The list of teachers who met the
requirement was provided by the EF administrator. The total number of teacher
candidates was seven. Each teacher was then given with a number randomly and only
five participants were selected via https://www.random.org/ to ensure the objectivity
of the study. They were tagged with the following codes: T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5. So
as to be in charge of the course, teachers at EF were required to hold at least a Master
degree in TESOL. Among them, one was certified with a Doctor of Philosophy
degree in English teaching. Five teachers selected for the interview were haphazardly
all female. All teacher participants were Vietnamese and are currently teaching at
least one course at EF. Their teaching experience ranged from 6 to over 20 years. The
information about teaching background of all teachers was supported by EF
administrator and later confirmed by the participants. However, their age, gender and
years of teaching were simply considered as a reference. The teacher participants
were allowed to refuse joining in the interview but the five showed their interest in the
objectives of the study. The answers from teacher participants were anonymous in
order to protect personal information as well as to stimulate appropriate responses.
Table 3.2: Description of Teacher Participants
Code

T1

T2

T3

T4

T5

Degree holding

M.A.

M.A.

M.A.

M.A.

Ph.D.

Years of experience

10

Over 20

Latest course of
Advanced Grammar

1 year ago

Currently

Currently

6 months
ago

6 months
ago

46

3.2.3 Research Materials

3.2.3.1 Coursebooks
To meet the demanding task of equipping students with the insight knowledge
of English grammar, two textbooks were chosen for the course of Advanced
Grammar. Depending on the teacher and the classrooms need, teachers can choose
either of the two textbooks or they might mix up the two. Although the use of
handouts or a collection of grammars pieces from other books as well as from the
internet are recommended by the EF, most of the time, students are taught with
lessons from the main textbooks.
Advanced Grammar in Use (2002) by Martin Hewings, published by
Cambridge University Press is chosen to be taught at EF classroom. As designed by
the author, this book can be used with an instructor or the students can learn by
themselves. Also, answer keys are included. The content is completely clear with 120
units to be presented in seventeen grammar sessions. Each session is separated from
the others with a clear-cut distinction. With respect to the English articles, the author
spends a whole session including seven small units to discuss the authentic grammar
of the system of articles, i.e. from unit 56 to unit 62. It should be noted that to deal
with English articles, this book applies the binary relationship between two different
articles. To be more exact, no unit deal with a/an individually, but a/an is introduced
in four different units with the contrast with one, the and zero article. Moreover,
carrying the characteristic of a self-study book, every unit is composed with a
theoretical part followed by one or few exercises.
The second textbook for Advanced Grammar course at EF, USSH is Longman
English Grammar Practice (2004), composed by L.G. Alexander. Due to the financial
difficulty, the Vietnamese version of the book is used widely by the students for
purchasing an authentic textbook cost too much. Although the book is written with
Vietnamese explanation, Vietnamese language appears only in the units titles and the
exercises explanation. The book consists of 16 main grammar points; each of which
includes from two to six small lessons. Unit 3 is about Articles which is discussed
47

right after the system of Noun in unit 2. Unlike Advanced Grammar in Use, the book
of Alexander treats definite article and indefinite article individually. Lessons are
comprised with a small piece of knowledge and a follow-up exercise to test learners
understanding. Answer keys are also included at the end of the book. However, no
apparent explanation for each answer is given.

3.2.3.2 SOC, TLU and UOC

To measure the accuracy in using English articles, there are three most
common tools: (i) Supplied in Obligatory Context (SOC), (ii) Target Like Use (TLU)
and (iii) Used in Obligatory Context (UOC). Obligatory context is defined by Master
(1987) as the context in which a native speaker would choose a specific article. Thus,
the expression of non-obligatory context is to describe a situation when incorrect
articles were used.
According to a study of Fen-Chuan (2011), the father of SOC was Brown
(1973) who created the formula to calculate the level of accuracy in using English
articles. His method was soon adapted by many famous scholars as Andersen (1976),
Master (1987), Parrish (1987), Thomas (1989) among others. SOC is simply to test
how many percent of correct usage of a given article in contexts where its use is
obligatory. For example, in the sentence What is _____ sex of your baby, the is
chosen by native speakers and therefore, students selection of the results in a score of
100%. Picking up a/an or zero article would earn students a score of 0%. In general,
with a larger scale, the SOC score can be calculated as follow:
SOC

x 100%

On logical grounds, there is no compelling reason to argue that SOC gives

incorrect number of learners ability in given contexts. However, Pica (1983b) finally
realized a shortcoming of this formula which was the inability to measure the overuse
of an article in non-obligatory contexts. To put it in another way, if a participant

48

overgeneralizes an article, his score of SOC for that article is still 100%. Martynchuk
(2010) believed this was the reason why many studies indicated that zero article was
the most accurately used article at the beginning level of L2 speakers by using SOC.
As a speaker of an article-less language, L2 learners often do not put any article
before a noun phrase. To some extent, using SOC in those cases leads to an
overestimation of learners ability. Thanks to the observations of many linguists, Pica
(1983b) thought of a better way of measuring learners competence. The TLU was
then introduced in hope of being able to overcome the disadvantage of SOC.
TLU

) (

x 100%

There is a slightly difference between SOC and TLU in which the denominator
of TLU is a sum of number of obligatory context and number of incorrect answers
that the students cause by overusing that article. For example, in a test with 30 items,
the obligatory context for each choice of a/an, the and zero article is 10, a student
supplied 6 correct answers in the context and he overused the three times in a/an
context as well as 3 times overused the in context that required zero article. Based on
the formula, the SOC score for this student would be 60% meanwhile the score
computed by using TLU gives him just 40%.
Although TLU was able to take the overuse of a given article into account,
Master (1987) also wanted to calculate the underuse of articles in obligatory context.
As the result, UOC was revised as a tool to measure both learners overuse and
underuse of a particular article.
x 100%

UOC

Similar to TLU, UOC can also consider the use of an article in non-obligatory
context. However, the advantage of UOC, according to Master (1987) was that its
ability to calculate the underuse of an article. In terms of mathematics, the scores
given by SOC and TLU can not exceed 100% but UOCs can. When the UOC score
49

of an article is higher than 100%, it can be understood as the students overuse that
article while the score below 100% indicates the underuse of that article. The ideal
number for this measurement is 100%.
Still, it is not necessarily followed that all the findings from studies using SOC
or TLU were not reliable. In fact, it is undeniable that the existence of three formulas
here increased the accuracy of measuring learners ability in using English articles.
The juxtaposition of all three can bring back better understandings to researchers.
Consequently, this study is calculated by using all SOC, TLU and UOC. SOC is to
account for learners accurate use of an article in obligatory context while TLU is in
charge of giving the accuracy rate in both obligatory and non-obligatory context.
UOC, on the other hand, is to determine the overuse and underuse of an article.

3.2.4 Research Methods and Research Tools

For the purpose of collecting reliable and valuable data, the survey was applied
with three methods: (i) using questionnaire, (ii) interviewing and (iii) using a
proficiency test. In hope of being able to get enough objective information for this
study, both qualitative and quantitative methods were conducted.
Adapted from Dang (2014), the functions of research tools were designed as
shown in the table:
Table 3.3: Synthesis of Research Tools and their Functions
FUNCTIONS
RESEARCH
TOOLS

Questionnaire

Teaching

Learning

CourseBook

Teaching
method

Learners
Perception

Proficiency Test

Student Interview
Teacher Interview

50

Types of
Errors

Causes of
Errors

In order to seek for the answers for the research questions, each research tool
was designed to capture some specific aspects. For example, the questionnaire was
conducted to get the data about the coursebooks and teaching methods, which both
represented the current teaching of English articles at USSH. Learners perception, on
the other hand, was collected by a questionnaire to reflect the learning of English
articles. Altogether, four research tools covered all five aspects which were the aim of
the study. The strength of this system was that data of each aspect was collected at
least by two tools. Or to put it differently, the double check method was hoped to
ensure the validity and reliability of the survey.

3.2.4.1 Coding system

In order to conduct a detailed analysis, the study would adopt the idea of
coding all correct and incorrect uses of article from Dez-Bedmar & Papp (2008) who
also based on the famous classification of Huebner (1983). Within this study, the idea
of classifying English articles into four categories by Huebner (1983) would be
amended with a fifth one namely idiomatic use. Thus, the coding system of
Dez-Bedmar & Papp (2008) would increase from 8 correct types of article use up to
11 categories. The codes were given with a number followed by two letters. The
number represented the semantic context and two letters were the acronym of the type
of the required article.

51

Table 3.4: Coding System for the Correct Uses of English articles
Context 1

Context 2

Context 3

Context 4

Context 5

[-SR] [+HK]
Generic use

[+SR] [+HK]
Referential
definite
context

[+SR] [-HK]
Referential
indefinite
context

[-SR] [-HK]
Nonreferential
context

Idioms/
Conventional
use

Definite Article
(DA)

1DA

2DA

Indefinite Article
(IA)

1IA

3IA

4IA

5IA

Zero Article
(ZA)

1ZA

3ZA

4ZA

5ZA

5DA

When a correct article was chosen, it would be tagged with a code as

introduced in the table above. Here is an example to illustrate the way the system was
applied.
(29) 2DA air in this city is not very clean.
As we can see that a native speak would definitely use the in that case with a
sense of referring to a unique context which is both known by speaker and hearer. The
benefit of this coding system was that it not only supplied the correct answers but also
provided the semantic contexts for readers to follow.
From the coding system of Dez-Bedmar & Papp (1983), Martynchuk (2010)
developed a new system for incorrect use of English articles in obligatory contexts.
His system included 16 types of errors, not including errors with idiomatic use. To
bring a more detailed system with no category of errors would be excluded; this study
added three more categories of errors related to the incorrect use in idiomatic context.
As a revised version of Martynchuks system, the code for errors contained two part,
the first part was the code of the correct use followed by the second part in which
students wrong choice was coded. Errors with context 5 were recoded into 5EI which
means error with idioms. IA, ZA and DA were not added into the code of context 5

52

because no explanation based on definiteness or specificity could be given for errors

of this context.
Table 3.5: Coding System for the Incorrect Uses of English articles

Definite Article
(DA)

Context 1

Context 2

Context 3

Context 4

Context 5

[-SR] [+HK]
Generic use

[+SR] [+HK]
Referential
definites

[+SR] [-HK]
Referential
indefinites

[-SR] [-HK]
Nonreferentials

Idioms/
Conventional
use

1DA-IA

2DA-IA

1DA-ZA

2DA-ZA

5DA-EI

Indefinite Article
(IA)

1IA-DA

3IA-DA

4IA-DA

1IA-ZA

3IA-ZA

4IA-ZA

Zero Article
(ZA)

1ZA-DA

3ZA-DA

4ZA-DA

1ZA-IA

3ZA-IA

4ZA-IA

5IA-EI

5ZA-EI

The example below was taken from Martynchuk (2010) to show how the two
systems of coding for correct and incorrect use of English articles were applied in an
answer provided by a participant.
(30) 1ZA people who spent few years in 1ZA-IA prison need 1ZA-IA
rehabitation.
This means the participant gave only one correct answer which he used zero
article at the first blank with generic sense. For next two blanks, the code followed
the correct use 1ZA signaled that he made mistakes with his answer. In this case,
IA showed that a was his choice for these blanks.

3.2.4.2 Contrastive analysis

As mentioned in the literature review, the use of CA is to explain as well as
predict the errors in a target language based on learners mother tongue. According to

53

Odlin (1989), the step of transferring from L1 to L2 was influenced by both

similarities and differences between the two languages. Thus, there were two type of
transfer: positive and negative transfer. While positive transfer, according to Ellis
(1997), could facilitate the learning process, negative transfer, as explained by Odlin
(1989), resulted in overproduction, underproduction, miscomprehension and other
effects linked with the differences in behavior between two languages. In this study,
the negative transfer was preferred for it could be used to answer research question
2c, i.e. to explain the causes of errors made by students. With the application of SOC,
TLU and UOC, the overuse and underuse of articles would be clarified.
In a famous study of Lado (1957), he stated that learners difficulties rooted
from the differences between L1 and L2 which would later became errors in using the
target language. Thus, to apply CA, Lado (1957) followed two steps: comparing form
and comparing meaning. However, later studies of many authors showed some
weaknesses of the method. To bring a better process for CA, in 1994, Ellis suggested
a four-step procedure to do the analysis: (i) description, (ii) selection, (iii) comparison
and (iv) prediction. Due to the effectiveness of Ellis method and the feasibility of the
study, the current thesis is conducted by following four steps above. In the first step, a
detailed description of the two languages would be given. This step can be found in
chapter 2 of this study. Next, only certain areas are chosen to compare English articles
and Vietnamese counterparts. In the third step, some prominent differences are
highlighted. And finally, those differences are used to explain the errors likely caused
by the interference of learners mother tongue. Despite that Ellis (1994) believed his
method can be used to predict errors, the purpose of this study is merely to find the
explanations for learners errors; hence, no further step will be done to predict errors
based on the analysis.

3.2.4.3 Error analysis

Due to the fact that not all errors of L2 learners can be traced back to their first
language, researchers agreed that CA was not enough to examine problems caused by
54

L2 learners. EA, as the name itself, is an analysis focusing on learners errors. In the
aforementioned part, the use of EA can bring benefit to the teachers, the learners and
also the researchers. In particular, for the sake of this study, EA is expected to give
proof for the explanation of how language is acquired systematically by Vietnamese
learners. In the scope of this study, the use of EA was favored due to its role in
analyzing errors caused by learners related to article use. Furthermore, the application
of EA here would be more effective with the appearance of CA which could be
applied compare the errors with the similar cases in Vietnamese.
In reference to the procedure for EA, Ellis (1997) divided the analysis into five
small steps: (i) collection of samples, (ii) identification, (iii) description, (iv)
explanation and lastly (v) evaluation of errors. To collect the sample for this study, a
proficiency test is distributed to 127 participants with straightforward explanations.
For each participants were required to fill in 50 blanks, it would add up to 6350
possible errors in the sample. Later, all errors caused by the participants will be
identified based on the answer key attached in the appendix. In the third step, with the
application of SPSS, errors will be put in different categories as described in the
coding system. At this stage, many calculations will also be made as so to supply the
study with necessary data. The explanation step will be done with the help of CA
while the last step shows the authors judgment towards the errors based on their level
of frequency and severity.

3.2.4.4 Questionnaire
The idea of conducting the survey using the questionnaire was based on the
idea of Brown (2001). According to Brown, a questionnaire was a suitable choice
when we asked for participants opinion which required description, explanation or
expression of personal views, behaviors or attitudes. On the same line, Ackroyd &
Hughes (1981) believed that using questionnaire can reduce bias for it was more
objective than other forms of survey. Another reason that persuaded the researcher to
use questionnaire was that he hoped the participants might feel less intrusive with this
55

kind of survey. The students may feel like being asked for their personal experience
rather than be put under the pressure of a test. And that also increased the reliability of
this study.
The questionnaire consisted of two parts with 12 questions in total. Eleven of
which were multiple choice items, leaving the rest one item candidate-supplied
response question. It could be found that multiple choice items can ensure the
accuracy of the survey while the candidate-supplied response item encouraged
personal opinions to be shared. A combination of the two types was applied here
thanks to the result of the pilot study on ten participants. With the purpose of
maintaining the objectivity of the survey, each question allowed five options in the
Likert-scale questionnaire, ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree.
Concerning the candidate-supplied response, students were allowed to leave a blank
space if they had had nothing to share.
As described in the research questions, the Likert-scale questionnaire was
divided into three parts which respectively aimed to the students themselves, the
coursebooks and the teachers. The number of items for each target was almost equal.
Meanwhile the candidate-supplied response encouraged student participants to share
their opinion on the way English articles are being taught at EF, USSH. Students were
also appreciated to give any contribution or recommendation to improve the current
teaching situation of English articles. The wording in the questionnaire was paid with
much attention to ensure all participants truly understood what were asked. The
confidential of the survey was also mentioned so that students would easily express
their own opinions. Due to the fact that all participants were seniors of English
faculty, no Vietnamese translation was given within the questionnaire. The
explanation, however, might be given by the researcher if there was any requirement
from the participants.

56

Table 3.6: The Function of Items in the Questionnaire

Question

Content

A1
A2
A3

Learners
perception

Belief on
learners
ability

Level of confidence with English articles

Awareness of causing errors with English articles

Opinion on the similarity between English and learners mother tongue

in terms of articles

A4

Attitude towards the role of English articles

B1

Opinion on the amount of knowledge given by coursebooks

B2

Coursebooks
Opinion on the way the knowledge is given by coursebooks
evaluation

B3

Opinion on the accuracy of knowledge given by coursebooks

C1

Effectiveness
of the teaching
method

C2
C3

Judgment on
the teaching
method

C4

Error
correction

Ability to follow the teaching method

Teachers performance
Teachers reaction towards learners errors
Teachers reaction towards correcting learners errors

3.2.4.5 Proficiency test

In order to test students proficiency as well as to collect data for the error
analysis, a proficiency test was carefully designed. It was quite obvious that the result
of the proficiency test could reflect the participants performance and with the
appearance of the interview, both quantitative and qualitative methods were
employed. Another reason why the test was composed came from the results it
brought in previous relevant researches of Nguyen (2005), Butler (2002), Ionin &
Wexler (2004).
In terms of test format, there were totally 50 items in form of paper-and-pencil
test. Common sense has that the more test items there are, the more reliability the test
is. However, giving too many items might increase participants fatigue or cause some
negative testing affects. On average, it took a participant no more than 15 minutes to
finish the test. Prior to the test, the researcher provided 32 multiple choice sentences
57

with 50 test items. The traditional discrete point test was expected to elucidate
learners strategies. For each test item, participants were required to choose a/an, the,
or (i.e. zero or null article). A blank was considered as no answer.
The test was adapted from Nguyen (2005), Master (1994), nen (2007) and
Suk-fun (2010). Most of the items were adopted from Master (1994) due to the fact
they were used in many contexts where participants mother tongue was not English.
Through various studies in China, Korea, India, Malaysia and so on, the adoption
from Masters test has proved the reliability in measuring participants knowledge of
English articles. Some items from the test were removed because they contained
background knowledge which seemed not to be familiar with Vietnamese learners.
These omissions came from the valuable feedback of participants in the pilot study.
Few items were also revised to make sure the selection of each item was based purely
on learners knowledge of articles. Besides, items with two possible options were
excluded from the test. There were, basically, three choices for each blank, i.e. a/an,
the or zero article. Thus, allowing an item two possible choices would make the ratio
of having a correct answer up to 66% and it might decrease the reliability of the test
due to students guessing. In the original test of Master (1994), there was also a
reading text with gap-filling items to create the context for the previously mentioned
noun phrases and generic nouns. However, the result from the authors pilot study
showed that Vietnamese learners could handle well the element of previously
mentioned. As the result, only two sentences with generic sense from the text were
taken out and added into the proficiency test as two individual sentences.
As previously discussed, the proficiency test was expected to reflect learners
understanding from the five contexts, i.e. four from Bickertons semantic categories
and the fifth one with idiomatic context. The number of items for each context was
almost equal. In terms of article types, the number of items distributed for the, a/an
and zero article was 17, 16 and 17 respectively. The distribution of items related to
each context was shown in the following table:

58

Table 3.7: The Distribution of Number of Items within 5 Article Contexts

Context 1

Context 2

Context 3

Context 4

Context 5

[-SR] [+HK]

[+SR] [+HK]

[+SR] [-HK]

[-SR] [-HK]

Idioms

The

Item 8, 9, 31,
32

Item 5, 7, 11,
12, 18, 24,
28, 48, 49

A/ an

Item 19, 26,

42

Item 6, 10,
25, 35, 40

Zero
article

Item 1, 3, 14,
15, 45, 46

Item 20, 23,

Item 16, 36,
29, 39, 41, 44 43

Frequency

13

11

Item 2, 17,
22, 27, 33, 50

Frequency

Item 4, 34,
38, 47

17

Item 21, 37

16

Item 13, 30

17

50

3.2.4.6 Interviews
Apart from the questionnaire, this survey was also applied with another method
to collect the data: interviewing. Driscoll (2011) believed that interview was the best
choice when we needed to collect detailed information from a few specific persons,
especially opinions from the experts. Consequently, this method would be adapted to
seek for the personal idea of both teachers and learners. In addition, the element of
precision was another benefit of using interview. To be more specific, when the
participants joined an interview, they could share their opinion clearer than simply
ticking in the questionnaire. Moreover, at some stage of the interview, follow-up
questions might be used to evoke thorough responses from the participants. Therefore,
to some extent, the semi-structured interviews were applied in the survey. Regarding
the interview method, the recorder was used with a full awareness from the
interviewees.
As mentioned above, four juniors were handpicked for the personal interview.
In theory, there were four questions in total. The topic mostly aimed to their
knowledge towards the role of English articles and their opinions about the teaching
method being applied to teach English articles in their class. Knowing that giving
59

opinions on the teachers was a sensible issue in Vietnamese culture, the researcher
hoped that student participants were fully aware of the confidentiality of the survey as
well as the data from the interview would surely be used for the purpose of the study
only. Furthermore, to explore the reason for student participants choices in the
proficiency test, their explanation might be asked as well. These questions were used
just in case a participant seemed to make a particular errors type in the prior test.
Unlike the student participants, teacher participants were not required to do the
questionnaire. Thus, the number of questions in the interview would be eight, i.e. two
times higher than the number of questions for student participants. There were three
parts in the interview. The first two questions aimed to the role of the current
coursebooks as well as their weaknesses (if any). The next four questions turned to
teachers perception on the role of articles and their learners ability. Their teaching
approaches were also explored in this part of the interview. Besides, teachers reaction
towards learners errors were included as well. The rest two questions were put forth
to all teacher participants in order to collect their opinion on students ability and the
possible causes of making errors related to articles use.
Table 3.8: The Aim of the Questions in the Interview
Participants

Question

Aim
The teaching of English
The learning of English
articles
articles

SQ1 SQ3

Students perception

Students
SQ4
TQ1 TQ2
TQ3
Teachers

TQ4 TQ6
TQ7

Teaching method
Coursebooks
Teachers perception on
the role of articles
Teaching method
Teachers perception on
learners ability
Causes of learners errors

TQ8

60

3.3 DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURE

The questionnaires and the proficiency test were delivered to students during
break-time. All students were instructed carefully before answering the questionnaires
and doing the test. So as to increase the validity of the items, the researcher was
willing to give explanations for participants who may fell confused about any item.
Students were required to do their questionnaire and proficiency test individually. No
interference from the outside was allowed during data collection procedure. Although
it was expected to cost a normal student fifteen minutes to finish two tasks, no time
limit was given.
The interviews, both for teachers and students, were conducted in person with
the use of Vietnamese language. For the purpose of the survey is to collect detailed
and precise data, it would be relatively difficult or uncomfortable for the interviewees
to answer in English. All participants were asked for being recorded for the sake of
the survey and were assured that their opinions would be anonymous. Understanding
that a sudden interview may interfere the personal comfortable zone, the researcher
announced all participants beforehand so that they could have a good preparation for
the interview. All of them had been approached by either mail or phone before the inperson meeting took place. Besides, time and place for the interview also depended on
participants convenience to make sure they have a good environment to share their
thinking.

3.4 DATA ANALYSIS PROCEDURE

The data collected for this study were from the questionnaires, the proficiency
test and the interviews with EF students and teachers. Thus, the data were both
qualitative and quantitative.
First, concerning quantitative method, the data from the questionnaires were
collected and analyzed using Statistics Package for Social Sciences version 21.0
(SPSS 21). Cronbachs Alpha would be calculated to ensure the reliability of the
questionnaire. For the proficiency test, errors caused by the participants were
61

classified into five different contexts and then coded as mentioned in part 3.3.2.4.
SOC, TLU and UOC were computed for three article choices, i.e. a/an, the and zero
article. Mean scores for all types of errors measured SOC and TLU were ranged in a
descending order to identify the accuracy of each article use. Similarly, mean scores
from UOC were chosen to measure the overuse or underuse of each particular English
article. SPSS 21 was also applied to compute the percentage and frequency of each
type of errors.
Second, as a process qualitative method, the responses from the interviews
with teachers and students were taken into account to help the researcher clarify some
important issues. In some cases, the responses from the interviews would be
compared with the results of the test done by student participants to decide whether
there was a correlation between learners perception and their performance.
Finally, the data from both methods were compared to check for the reliability
and also to conclude the possible causes for each type of learners errors.

62

CHAPTER 4
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
This chapter principally reports the results collected from the proficiency test,
the questionnaire as well as the interviews both with the teachers and the students.
Also, chapter 4 explains the findings so as to answer the aforementioned research
questions. The teaching and learning of English articles at English Faculty, USSH will
be discussed critically.
4.1 ANALYSIS OF DATA AND DISCUSSION
Instead of separating data analysis and discussion into two different parts in
which each part would mention one single issue in the conceptual framework, the
study would like to present the two stages together for each issue. This means the
current section includes five subsections namely: (i) coursebook, (ii) teaching
methodology, (iii) learners perception, (iv) learners errors and (v) causes of errors.
The impending analysis based on 127 students opinions shared in questionnaire and
their performance on the proficiency test as well as the personal interviews with 9
participants. The table below showed the reliability of the questionnaire.
Table 4.1: Reliability Statistics of the Questionnaire

The Cronbachs Alpha for the questionnaire was 0.721 which was higher than
the acceptable coefficient 0.7 in most social science research. This means all items
had relatively high internal consistency and thus the reliability of the questionnaire
could be confirmed.
63

4.1.1 The teaching of English articles

The teaching of English articles, as introduced in the conceptual framework,
was divided into (i) the coursebooks and (ii) the teaching methodology. The former
dealt with two main English coursebooks currently chosen for the Advanced
Grammar course while the latter provided an in-depth analysis on the methods being
applied to teach the system of English articles at EF, USSH.

4.1.1.1 Coursebooks
As two coursebooks were used at the same time to teach the Advanced
Grammar course, both of them would be discussed in terms of the content and their
shortcoming in presenting the knowledge.
Firstly, the book of Advanced Grammar in Use (2002) by Martin Hewings,
published by Cambridge University Press was selected by two out of five teacher
participants. Still, the two teachers admitted Advanced Grammar in Use was not the
only book they used for the chapter of English articles. Articles were mentioned in
seven continuous units from unit 56 to unit 62. For each lesson, three to four points
were introduced by giving the theoretical issues and followed by examples. The book
appeared to cover the basic knowledge by comparing two types of articles in each
unit, i.e. using contrastive method. For example, unit 57 put the next to a/an to
distinguish the use of the only one and then in unit 58, the was compared with a/an
regarding the things already known. The generic sense was implied in unit 60 which
was titled things in general. The other units tried to cover the additional uses of
articles with people, places, holidays and so on. In general, this book almost met all
the requirements of introducing the system of English articles according to the criteria
of Master (1994) (ibid.). However, concerning the rules, there were over 40 grammar
points to remember so as to master the English articles as suggested by this
coursebook.
Secondly, Longman English Grammar Practice (2004) composed by L.G.
Alexander was highly recommended by the English Faculty and was chosen by all
64

five teachers. Student participants also confirmed that most of the time, their teachers
based on this book to give instructions. Students were also advised to prepare their
lessons beforehand by using this book. Similar to the book of Cambridge University,
L. G. Alexander spent quite a lot of pages for articles in his book. However, Longman
English Grammar Practice did not compare articles in pair but a/an, the and zero
article were mentioned separately in which two lessons were spent for each type of
article. Or in other words, by presenting in a discrete way, the whole chapter of
articles was divided into six lessons. The strong point of this method is that students
could easily follow the lesson but that also caused a problem which was too many
sub-sets to remember. As designed by the author, in each lesson, there was always a
table marked study which suggested students to memorize the rules inside. Simply
by counting the small bullets in the tables, it would add up to 53 small rules.
Regarding the criteria of Master (1994), the book supplied students with all case uses
except for that the generic sense was mentioned with a/an and zero article only.
To collect students opinions towards (i) their understanding of English
articles, (ii) the coursebooks and (ii) the teachers methodology, a questionnaire was
designed. The following table would show the results collected from 127 participants.
Table 4.2: Statistics of Questionnaires Items

65

Concerning the coursebooks, item B1, B2, B3 were hoped to gain basic
feedback of students about the two books mentioned above. As shown in the table,
the mean score for item B1 was almost 3.0 which means most students took neutral
stand when being asked if the coursebooks supplied them with necessary information
about English articles that they could use in all cases. However, in comparison with
other items, the mean score for B1 was relatively high or it can be understood that
students seemed to have a little positive attitude towards the role of the coursebooks.
The interview with teacher participants brought the same results. All five teachers
agreed that the two books being used at EF had a good content with necessary pieces
of knowledge of English articles. A plus for Longman English Grammar Practice was
that exercises were given right after each grammar point. Unlike many other books in
which exercises were separated with the theoretical part, the coursebook of Longman
directly put the students into practice after telling each usage of articles. The effective
way of organizing the lessons and the related tests was highly appreciated by three
teacher participants.
Item B2 was about whether the rules given by the coursebooks were easy to
remember. Although the results from the questionnaire did not clearly admit the
shortcoming of the authors in giving too many rules, all teachers and students in the
interviews complained that rules in the books were very difficult to memorize. Two of
them even emphasized the inability to remember all rules within a course. To be more
exact, teacher T2 stated that Even the teachers may feel overwhelming with tons of
rules given in the book. In most cases, interviewees took examples from the use of
articles before the names of rivers, mountains, cities which were quite challenging to
apply. Teacher T5 and student S3 seemed to share the same idea that the coursebooks
might be used as a kind of grammar dictionary which students could look up when
needed rather than learn those minor points by heart.
To measure the reliability of the coursebooks, item B3 was designed to see if
the students make mistakes when applying the knowledge from the coursebooks.
Surprisingly, the mean score for B3 was just 2.48 and was the second lowest mean
66

score in the questionnaire. Also, the standard derivation of it was relatively low in
comparison with other items. Those numbers indicated that most students conceded
that all the rules given by the coursebooks were not totally correct. When being
addressed to question TQ2 in the interview about the accuracy of the coursebooks,
teacher T5 stated that some rules had problems; especially, rules about using definite
articles before names did not reflect the real life situations. She concluded that It is
not always correct if students just apply exactly what is written in the courebooks.
Standing on the same side, teacher T3 warned that Teachers need to be careful
before citing something from the coursebooks. Overgeneralized rules were also
mentioned by some participants. Sharing her true experience in using English articles,
student interviewee S4 admitted that she used to make mistakes by using indefinite
article a for a noun mentioned for the first time and then she put the for the next
appearances of its. The answers were later marked incorrect by her teacher without
explanation. Notably, what student S4 applied could be found in the courebook of
Longman on page 82 with the rule in bold.
In general, the coursebooks which were being used at EF, USSH carried quite
enough fundamental information about English articles. Despite the fact that both
coursebooks did not teach the theory of article classification, they organized the
lessons in a logical order. The test was a highlight of two coursebooks which turned
the theory into the applicable situations. On the other side, the books were blamed for
giving too many rules which were obviously an impossible task for students to learn
by heart every single one. At this point, some may argue that the reason came from
the complex nature of English articles. But it could not be denied that the role of the
coursebooks was to systemize all pieces of knowledge in a useful and memorable
way. Moreover, some mistakes were also pointed out by teachers and students when
they applied in authentic circumstances.

67

4.1.1.2 Teaching methodology

Alongside with the coursebooks, the teaching methodology plays a very
important role in any kind of teaching. This session was, therefore, separated into
three small parts. The first was about the methods chosen by different EF teachers
while the second part targeted to the teachers beliefs towards the role of English
articles. The last part revealed the efficiency of the teaching methods applied for the
Advanced Grammar course under the judgment of both teacher and student
participants.
As a part of grammar teaching, the system of English articles was taught by EF
teachers with the use of three most common current methods: grammar translation,
communicative approach and cognitive approach. The teacher participants all said
that they followed the aforementioned methods although two of them implied that
sometimes task-based learning was used in particular cases. Talking about grammar
translation, teacher T3 and T4 tended to apply this method when they wanted to
emphasize the differences among three article types. They both revealed that grammar
translation was very useful in helping students to distinguish the definite and
indefinite articles. Especially, teacher T3 added that sometimes, she preferred
grammar translation because she could make some interesting comparisons with
students mother tongue, i.e. Vietnamese. To be honest, grammar translation method
tends to be helpful once I can differentiate some discrepancies between the two
languages, shared by teacher T3. Communicative approach, on the other hand, was
employed by all five teachers. This could be inferred that some teachers mixed two or
three approaches together rather than use a fixed one. Teacher T2 stated that by using
communicative approach, she could engrave the knowledge into students mind.
Since teacher T3 and T5 believed that students at EF had a high level of English
proficiency, they employed communicative approach together with some problem
solving activities. As claimed by teacher T5 I am quite flexible that sometimes I
preferred the combination of communicative approach with problem solving method
rather than keep telling rules from the books. Cognitive approach, however, was
68

applied only by teacher T1 who later revealed that in fact she was very flexible and
almost conducted all teaching methods depending on each particular lesson.
It is quite common today to mention 5teachers beliefs. Thus, question TQ3 in
the interview was to find out what EF teachers thought about the role of English
articles. It is worth noticing that there existed two main opposite beliefs among
teachers at EF. The first three teachers stressed that articles were an indispensable part
of English grammar and students, therefore, needed to master them no matter they
were produced in spoken or written form. They also noted that those juniors were all
English-major students and mistakes were not acceptable under any circumstance.
Teacher T3 revealed that her teaching philosophy focused not only on fluency but
also on accuracy. She insisted The accurate use of English articles is important, not
only when communicate with foreigners but also when the students apply in their
work, no matter what kind of career they choose. Teacher T4 and T5, on the
contrary, held a different belief when they claimed that the communications aim was
the true purpose of teaching. Articles were function words and that explained why
they tended to pay a slightly less attention on those words. As long as the goal in
communication could be reached, both teachers did not mind if an inappropriate
article was used by the students. Teacher T4 explained that Articles rarely change the
message in daily conversation; therefore, it would still be OK if we dont pay much
attention. This might somehow lead to an unfavorable effect on the teaching of
English articles. Since teachers beliefs were widely regarded as a key factor to
improve the educational process, the tendency to neglect articles at EF, USSH should
be considered seriously. According to Borg, M. (2001), the belief of the teachers
directly influenced the teaching strategies, the learning environment and in turn
shaped the motivation as well as the achievement for their learners. Hence, in this
case, some students at EF, USSH might follow a negative belief on the importance of
English articles and that would subsequently result in their poor performance.
Discussing the effectiveness of the current teaching methodology conducted in
Advanced Grammar courses, nearly all teachers felt confident of their teaching
69

methods despite the fact that not everyone employed the same methodology. Among
all 5 interviewees, only teacher T2 was not very sure if she had applied the most
suitable one for her students and thus she hoped her current method would be
useful. But there appeared to be an inconsistence from teacher T1 that when being
asked about the root of students difficulties in mastering English articles, she shared
that her teaching method may also be the cause for such difficulties. Data collected
from the 127 students in the questionnaire revealed that more than a half of student
participants understood everything their teachers told them about English articles (see
table 4.2). Although this could confirm the teaching quality at USSH, that students
understood everything the teachers taught did not assure that the teachers have taught
them everything about English articles. The amount of knowledge shared by the
teachers would later be discussed in the part related to learners errors. It is worth
mentioning that of all 127 participants, 39 were willing to drop few lines in the
candidate-supplied response sharing their idea about the way English articles were
taught at EF, USSH. 28 of them expressed a negative opinion, leaving the rest 11
participants with a neutral or positive one. Comparing the data from the questionnaire
and the idea shared by students, it could be inferred that not all teachers could please
their students by giving a suitable teaching methodology. Most of the unfavorable
comments focused on the pressure their teachers put on them by giving a lot of rules.
As claimed by 15 among 28 students with negative responses, their teachers failed to
support them with a useful method to master the complicated system of English
articles. Besides, some suggested that more exercises should be given rather than
teachers just tell rules. To some extents, the students could read rules in the books by
themselves. The role of teachers, indeed, was to convey the knowledge from the
coursebooks to students mind effectively.
The analysis of the data above presented some evidence for the limited
conclusions on how well the articles were being taught at EF, USSH. The overall
feedback proved that the methodologies used to teach English articles at EF, USSH
was quite effective. Or at least, the majority of students could understand what they
70

have been taught. Few teachers, however, failed to conduct a useful method which
caused a certain obstacles to their students. In one way or another, teachers at EF,
USSH chiefly applied the two most popular methods namely grammar translation and
communicative approach. Although, no one could deny the efficiency of those
methods, the complex system of English articles might require some other ways. The
outcome of the study showed that there was still a gap between learners level of
understanding and their performance in terms of English articles. Therefore, it would
be worth for EF teachers trying to use some other ways such as cognitive method
whose effectiveness has been proved in teaching English articles in some countries
(Dimitrijevi 2013).

4.1.2 The learning of English articles

A true picture of the English articles acquisition at EF, USSH would be
unveiled in the current session which focused on the real learning issues of the
juniors. In hope of giving a detailed analysis, the session would be divided into three
smaller parts. Firstly, learners perception was aimed to find out what students have in
their minds concerning (i) their ability, (ii) the similarity between English articles and
Vietnamese counterparts and (iii) the importance of using articles correctly. Secondly,
learners errors were highlighted from the proficiency test with the use of SPSS and
some other techniques mentioned in the previous chapter. Lastly, the possible
explanations for EF students errors were also given based on logical evidence and
results from other studies on the related topic.
4.1.2.1 Learners perception on English articles
In order to examine the students cognition towards the system of English
articles, item A1 to A4 in the questionnaire aimed directly to EF students perception
on various aspects of articles. The following table showed how student participants
from different groups expressed what they knew and what they believed concerning
the system of English articles.
71

Table 4.3: Statistic of Students Perception on English articles

Group

A
(N=13)

B
(N=66)

C
(N=44)

D
(N=4)

Mean

Item A1

3.15

3.06

2.93

2.75

3.02

Item A2

2.53

2.42

2.27

2.25

2.38

Item A3

2.46

2.69

2.50

3.20

2.62

Item A4

1.78

2.68

2.70

3.00

2.61

Level of confidence in using English articles

The role of self-confidence should not be underestimated for it is believed to
be the foundation that allowed students to think and to behave actively and efficiently
as well. The lack of confidence, in contrast, may hinder the process of language
acquisition. From the statistic above, there seemed to be a tendency that students with
higher level of proficiency would feel more confident of their ability in using English
articles. Similarly, when being asked if they might make mistakes with articles, those
participants from low ability group showed less confidence in themselves. This can be
considered as EF students recognized quite well their level of proficiency. However,
the overall mean score pointed out that the majority of students believed that they
tended to make mistakes when using English articles. Even in group A where students
gained at least 8.0 in their general English courses in the last semester, the average
score for item A2 was just 2.53. It was also worth noticing that with the overall mean
score of 2.38, item A3 became the least agreed item in the questionnaire. Or in other
words, there was a trend to negate students ability in using articles correctly. This
fact can be explained as no matter how well students were at English, they were rather
unconfident about the system of English articles. In one way or another, students
awareness of their poor performance might come from the previous tests at university
or from what they have encountered in real life cases. However, the thing here was
that most of the students admitted their weakness but no specific concentration
72

seemed to be paid to the issue. And that led to another matter which targeted at
students opinions about the importance of articles.

The role of English articles

Students perception towards the role of English articles can explain for their
learning attitude and the effort they put on the issue. The more they appreciate the
importance of English articles, the harder they will struggle to overcome their
weaknesses. To begin with, the teacher participants were asked for their perception on
the role of English articles and results showed that there were two opposite directions.
One of which appeared to emphasize on the role of articles while the other slightly
paid less attention to the issue. When student participants were given the same
question, i.e. item A4 in the questionnaire, most of them disagreed with the tendency
to disregard the importance of articles. Holding the mean score of 2.61, item A4
denied the negative attitude from students during the learning process of English
articles. However, a comparison among four groups of participants might bring some
plausible explanation. As observed, the mean score for item A4 increased gradually
from group A to group D. Thus, there was an inverse proportionality between
students English competence and their attitude of looking down on articles. Or to put
it bluntly, students with higher level of proficiency appeared to appreciate the role of
articles rather than those with poor English ability. Obviously, there was an
unexpected two-way impact that students who were not very good in using English
might ignore English articles in some cases. And by doing that, their ability in using
correct articles would decrease with time. This problematic trend was later clarified
by the personal interviews with student participants. Three per four interviewees
stated that it was not truly necessary to master the system of English articles. Student
S4 explained that both in spoken and written English, the wrong use of articles hardly
changed the meaning of the speakers or the writers. I believe articles cannot blend
the message between two speakers, she honestly shared. Student S3 made a further
comment that she has never been misunderstood due to her incorrect use of articles
73

and on the contrary, she has never gotten the wrong idea for not understanding the
speakers use of articles. In short, the overall number indicated that the majority of
students cared much about the role of articles; still, data collected from some
respondents revealed that few students seemed to disregard English articles. Those
students favored the communication goal rather than the perfection in using articles.

The influence of mother tongue

The link between language acquisition and learners L1 interference has been
confirmed in quite many grammar points among the linguistics community. So as to
test the hypothesis that learners errors might be caused by the influence of learners
mother tongue, item A3 asked for learners belief whether there existed a similarity
between the system of English articles and Vietnamese counterparts, i.e. mt, nhng/
cc, ci and zero article. The purpose of this item was not to test the students
knowledge so there would be no right or wrong answer. The tendency to apply the
similarity from Vietnamese, indeed, was the true function of item A3. Previous
studies showed that speakers from many countries where their native language was
article-less often adapted the counterparts of English articles in their mother tongue.
However, the mean score of 2.62 demonstrated that to a certain extent, students at EF,
USSH seemed not to apply their background knowledge when they felt confused in
choosing articles. Comparing the mean score for item A3 among four groups of
participants, there were evidence to confirm that students with poor English
proficiency were more likely to believe that there had some kinds of similarities
between English articles and their counterparts in Vietnamese. This hypothesis was
approved by the interview with student S2 whose mean score for English subjects was
5.8 in the last semester. She insisted that there were quite a lot similarities between
the system of articles in the two languages. Consequently, sometimes, she applied
grammar translation to decide the confusing cases. To prove her words, she added that
her teacher also told the whole class that a/an in English can be used as an alternative
for mt in Vietnamese.
74

Classification of English articles

Last but not least, students perception about the classification of English
articles was also a target of the study. Understanding the role and the usage of each
article was clearly a prerequisite for mastering English articles. For this reason, item
SQ1 in the interview asked student participants to categorize the English articles
according to their understanding. It was surprising that all four interviewees claimed
that there were only two types of articles in English: definite article the and indefinite
articles with a or an. The researcher then raised a question that whether zero article
was a kind of article and which type should zero article belong to. At this stage, the
issue became even more complicated to the students. Student S1 and S3 stated that
zero article was a kind of article but somehow they forgot to list it. Concerning the
question about its type, student S1 put zero article as definite article while his friend,
student S3 considered zero article as an indefinite one. On the contrary, both student
S2 and S4 argued that zero article was not actually an article, or to be more exactly,
student S2 used the word nothing to describe zero article. Furthermore, when being
asked if they have ever been heard about the concept of specificity, none of the
students said yes. In general, there seemed to be a big gap between learners
understanding and the true nature of English articles. Thus, there was a possibility that
due to the misunderstanding of the articles classification, students encountered many
difficulties in using articles.
So as to find the plausible causes for learners misunderstanding of the English
articles system, the case was brought to their teachers. From the interview, all teachers
showed no surprise that the students at EF, USSH only listed the and a/an as articles.
While the first four teachers agreed that students should be blamed for this mistake,
teacher T5, who has been teaching for over 20 years, implied that it would not be
wrong not listing zero article as an article. She explained that students may consider
the absence of article was not a kind of articles or to make it short, students thought
that some noun phrases did not require an article. When being asked about their
teaching methodology, 100% of teacher participants revealed that they followed the
75

classification from the coursebooks in which zero article received the same attention
as for the and a/an. Teacher T4 suggested that the problem may root from what the
students have learnt at their secondary schools. And because for years, it has been
repeated that English had two types of articles, it became a part of students
perception. To a certain extent, the ignorance of English article is very dangerous.
Despite the fact that no literature has mentioned this issue, it is quite apparent that
without the acknowledgement of zero article students can hardly apply perfectly
English articles in all situations.
Another problem was that the students at EF, USSH felt totally strange with
the concept of specificity. It is widely accepted that basing only on definiteness can
not always decide the suitable article. Thus, the students had better be familiar with
the concept of specificity. To explore the reason for this shortcoming, a closer look on
the coursebooks was given. In the coursebook Longman English Grammar Practice
(2004), the units were given the name of The indefinite article: A/an and The
definite article: The while zero article was referred in a unit of the same name The
zero article. First, students may misunderstand that zero article was something
neither definite nor indefinite. And this can explain for the students responses in the
aforementioned paragraph. Second, the trend to use definiteness to describe articles
somehow created a wrong belief that definiteness was the only thing needed to
recognize and classify an article. Nonetheless, specificity did not receive the same
attention although its role was considered as important as definiteness in many
literatures on English articles.
As a conclusion, the students at EF, USSH were aware of their poor
competence in using English articles. Most of them admitted that errors related to
articles happened with their awareness. Besides, student participants also expressed
that they did not see much relevance between English articles and Vietnamese
counterparts. As the result, they might not often try to solve the confusing cases by
translating from Vietnamese language. It was, however, common that students with
low scores on English tended to lean on Vietnamese background knowledge.
76

Similarly, the overall mean score indicated that at EF, students recognized the
importance of using article correctly. But there was quite a big gap between the
perception of students with higher score and those who performed poorly in English.
It could be concluded that the better a student was, the more attention he paid to the
role of English articles. Most significantly, the majority of students at EF was bearing
in mind a wrong belief on the nature and the classification of English articles. They
either viewed zero article as a situation that existed outside the notion of definiteness
or put zero article as to either one group of definite article or indefinite one. The
possible explanation could be given that the concept of specificity was not introduced
explicitly and its role was ignored as well. Some teachers at EF blamed it for the
education system at secondary school and high school where the teachers
competence was limited. In addition, there was sound evidence to prove that the
coursebooks played a major role in creating the false perception into learners minds.
4.1.2.2 Learners errors in using English articles
The main objective of this study is to find out what types of errors learners
often make and the possible causes of such errors. This section, therefore, directly
analyzed common errors made by students at EF, USSH. The main tool was the
proficiency test adapted from other valuable studies of famous researchers (Nguyen
2005, Master 1994, nen 2007 and Suk-fun 2010). The Cronbachs Alpha for the test
was 0.731 which proved the reliability of this study.
Table 4.4: Reliability Statistics of the Proficiency Test

77

4.1.2.2.1 Learners errors based on article types

The results of the proficiency test are shown in the table 4.4. The frequency
and SOC index for each group of students are included in the table.
Table 4.5: Accuracy in Article Uses among 4 Groups of Participants
Group

Number of
correct answers

Number of
participant

SOC

479

13

73.7%

2237

66

67.8%

1433

44

65.1%

133

66.5%

Total

4282

127

67.4%

The overall result showed that students performance was not satisfying. Even
with the highest group, the SOC score was just 73.7% which means there was a big
distance between EF students competence and the perfection in using English article.
Although there appeared to be a relationship between students level of proficiency
and their performance, the range from the lowest ability group to highest ability group
is just 8.6%. Or in other words, students from the highest group had only 4 more
correct answers than those from the lowest one. The correlation in table 4.5 was not
clear enough to prove that with higher grade, students will perform better with
articles. This finding was in line with results from Fangfang (2010) with Chinese
students and Ekiert (2004) with Polish students that students proficiency in English
did not actually reflect their ability in mastering English articles. It is worth noticing
that the best recorded score was 45 and the one with least correct answers got only 23
right choices per 50 items. The overall mean score of 67.4% seemed to correspond
with what students believed in their competence. But that could also be interpreted as
within 3 continuous noun phrases, students at EF would cause one error. Although in
real life, the distribution of 5 categories of [+/- HK] [+/- SR] and idioms might not be
78

as equal as in the designed test, results collected from relevant studies in China,
Korea, Taiwan, Poland with students whose native language was article-less showed
that the case at EF, USSH was among the worst groups (Ekiert 2004, Ionin et a.l
2004, Li & Yang 2010, Barrett & Chen 2011).
Table 4.6: Accuracy in Article Uses according to Article Types
Type of
Articles

SOC

TLU

UOC

The

61.1%

44%

95.5%

A/ An

75.4%

60.5%

93.9%

66.4%

49.7%

110.3%

The following section analyzes learners performance with three article types.
SOC was calculated due to the fact that the normal way of scoring at university
applied the same formula. TLU was then computed counting both the overuse and
underuse of a particular article and it was hoped to bring a more accurate result. The
appearance of UOC was to conclude whether an article was abused or underused in
the whole test. The SOC score with a/an (75.4%) was higher than the average score
for the whole test (67.4%) followed by zero article with 66.4% of correction leaving
the type the least accurate one with the SOC score of 61.1%. In general, students at
EF exhibited less problems with a/an than zero article and the. This result was similar
to the study of Nguyen (2005) in Vietnamese context. When the use of articles was
calculated counting also the underuse of overuse, TLU score demonstrated the alike
hierarchy. However, the scores from table 4.6 decreased dramatically from SOC to
TLU in which only the type of indefinite article a/an gained a score higher than 50%.
It could be concluded that the misuse of English articles appeared very often
throughout the proficiency test. Significantly, with the TLU score of just 44%, there
existed to be a big confusion for students when dealing with the application of the.
Last but not least, data from the UOC indicated that the and a/an was a little bit
79

underused while the participants were likely to oversupplied zero article in many
unnecessary situations. As a result, it might be inferred that there was a tendency of
choosing zero article in the blanks where students was not able to decide the required
ones.
4.1.2.2.2 Learners errors based on contexts
This section presents findings on learners errors within four semantics
contexts and the context with idiomatic use. At first, an overview will be given to set
the background for learners competence based on the five contexts. The accuracy
rate for each context of article use was collected and calculated with four different
groups of learner participants. Comparison among the proficiency groups would be
included as well. Next, the study would go into details, analyzing every specific type
of errors caused by the participants in each context. Further discussions and plausible
explanations could also be founded in this section.
The acquisition curve below illustrated the variances of learners accuracy
related to five different contexts.
90
80
70

Generics
Referential definites

60

Referential indefinites
50

Non-referentials
Idioms

40
30
20
Group D

Group C

Group B

Group A

Figure 4.1: Accuracy of Article Uses according to Article Contexts

80

As is observed from the graph, the level of English proficiency slightly

affected their performance with English articles except for that data collected with
group D seemed not to be much in accordance with the rest. The reason might come
from the small sample of group D (N=4) which did not reflect correctly the ability of
participants from the group. Students best performance was with referential definites
which simply required article the. Moreover, the element of definiteness was acquired
quite perfectly by the majority of students at EF; thus, it was not very surprising that
context 2 of article use was handled easily with the peak from group A almost reached
85% of correct answers. Even at the lowest point, students from group C could make
it about 73%. The average correct answers gained by the participants within this
semantic context were the highest one 76.4%, and moreover it outscored the most
troublesome context which mean score was just 50%.
A similar pattern of accuracy can be found with context 4 or non-referentials.
However, there seemed to be a paradox in the graph of this context where the
performance of the lowest ability group (80.6%) almost equal to the highest ability
group (82.9%). The fluctuation of this graph brought a particular difficulty in finding
a trend for students proficiency in this context. Of course, it is always possible that
with a limited number of participants from group D, the graph could be affected by
the element of guessing, especially from those with poor language competence. It
should also be noted that only with non-referentials, the graph of group C, B and A
did not follow the increasing trend. The slightly difference between group B with
71.5% and group C with 72.2% showed that in some particular cases, the high
studying results was not what matter the most in dealing with articles.
A steady increase can be found with context 3 where the percentage of
accuracy for group D, C, B and A was 68,2%, 72%, 74% and 79% respectively. With
the mean score of 73.2%, students seemed not to meet many obstacles in the
environment of referential indefinites. Learners ability and their performance within
context 3 demonstrated the clearest correlation among all five contexts. Students from
higher ability group gained higher points. To sum up, together with the non81

referentials, the relative high score from referential indefinite proved that most
students at EF, USSH had an ease of recognizing articles in [-HK] context.
The graph from the generic uses of articles presented quite a different picture.
The height of this graph declined significantly with the average distance between
context 1 and the mean of context 2, 3, 4 was almost 10%, counting participants from
group A, B, C only. The situation for group D was even worst where students
performance was below average in comparison with over 80% of correct answers they
gained with non-referential articles. Furthermore, the setting appeared to have a major
variable with generic uses of articles. The gap between the best performed group and
the worst one was nearly 20% while the relevant mean range of all four other groups
was just a little higher than 10%. The sharpest increase can be found between group D
and group C where their accuracy was respectively 46.2% and 60.1%. Various studies
have proved that it was always challenging for students with article-less mother
tongue to master the meaning of generic senses. And the result of this study showed
that Vietnamese learners were not an exception, especially with those whose English
competence was limited.
The most important finding to appear from figure 4.1 was that learners at EF,
USSH appeared to fail to apply the idiomatic use of articles. In this context, the
highest peak did not exceed 60% whereas the lowest one could not even reach 50% of
correct responses. With the graph ranging around the axis of 50% accuracy, the
idiomatic use was separated with the rest four semantic contexts graphs. Although
the graph of context 5 tended to share the same shape with context 2, the distance
between two curves was approximate 30%. It was very tricky to remember all rules so
as to apply the articles perfectly in semantic contexts meanwhile only the most skillful
ones could score in all cases of English idioms. Students had to find out the most
suitable articles among three possible choices without any rules accept for their good
knowledge and memory. In general, the graph illustrated learners performance within
the idiomatic uses of English was intensively low. Therefore, students at EF were still

82

very far from using idioms containing English articles with the proficiency level
equivalent to the native speakers.
Table 4.7: Combination of Students Accuracy according to
Article Types and Article Contexts
Context 1

Context 2

Context 3

Context 4

[-SR] [+HK] [+SR] [+HK] [+SR] [-HK] [-SR] [-HK]

76.4%

Context 5
Idioms

The

28.9%

58.9%

A/ an

62.2%

87.6%

79.1%

53.5%

Zero article

85.7%

61.9%

61.4%

29.1%

Average

62.8%

73.5%

73.2%

50.1%

76.4%

Above is the table analyzing SOC index with 5 contexts and with 3 types of
articles. The crossed cells indicated the situations where a specific type of article can
not be applied for a particular context. For example, a and an were indefinite articles,
so they must not be used in the context 2, namely referential definites. There were
four crossed cells in total, leaving the rest 11 available categories. The average
percentages were calculated due to the ratio of appearance among the article types.
For instance, the average number of 73.2% for the [-SR][-HK] context was not a
mean score of 79.1% and 61.4%. Indeed, there were 6 items for the use of a/an in this
context while only 3 items of this context required the selection of zero article. Thus,
the formula would be 79.1% multiplied by 6 plus 61.4% multiplied by 3 and the result
would be then divided by 9.
Table 4.8, on the other hand, supported the detailed analysis of 50 test items.
All selections made by the student participants were measured. The frequency and
percentage of each article choice for every item were also computed. Moreover, the
codes of the items were given as well. The bold number indicated the percentage of
correct supplies for each item.
83

Table 4.8: Analysis of All Test Items

Frequency and percentage
Item

Frequency and percentage

Code

Item
The

A/ An

1ZA

3.1%

0.0%

4IA

22

17.3% 104 81.9%

1ZA

15

11.8%

0.0%

5DA

61

48.0%

2DA

61

48.0%

3IA

3.9%

2DA

115 90.6%

1DA

33

26.0%

1DA

20

15.7%

10

3IA

11

8.7%

11

2DA

123 96.9%

12

2DA

119 93.7%

13

5ZA

67

14

1ZA

15

Code
The

26

1IA

3.9%

59

46.5%

63

49.6%

27

4IA

3.9%

119 93.7%

2.4%

112 88.2%

28

2DA

97

76.4%

0.0%

30

23.6%

0.0%

66

52.0%

29

3ZA

69

54.3%

0.0%

58

45.7%

0.8%

65

51.2%

30

5ZA

100 78.7%

10

7.9%

17

13.4%

0.8%

31

1DA

74

58.3%

28

22.0%

25

19.7%

5.5%

3.9%

32

1DA

20

15.7%

1.6%

105 82.7%

7.1%

85

66.9%

33

4IA

3.1%

23

18.1%

84

66.1%

34

5DA

59

109 85.8%

5.5%

35

3IA

2.4%

0.8%

36

5.5%

0.8%

52.8%

2.4%

57

2.4%

1ZA

2.4%

16

4ZA

51

17

4IA

18
19

121 95.3%

123 96.9%

A/ An

0.8%

116 91.3%

5.5%

46.5%

13

10.2%

55

43.3%

6.3%

76

59.8%

43

33.9%

4ZA

6.3%

24

18.9%

95

74.8%

37

5IA

19

15.0% 100 78.7%

6.3%

44.9%

38

5DA

89

70.1%

3.9%

33

26.0%

0.0%

124 97.6%

39

3ZA

13

10.2%

5.5%

107 84.3%

0.0%

124 97.6%

40

3IA

0.0%

127 100.0%

0.0%

40.2%

0.0%

76

59.8%

41

3ZA

36

28.3%

12

9.4%

79

62.2%

77

60.6%

39

8.7%

42

1IA

23

18.1%

69

54.3%

35

27.6%

2DA

98

77.2%

28

22.0%

43

4ZA

4.7%

58

45.7%

63

49.6%

1IA

4.7%

109 85.8% 12

9.4%

44

3ZA

15

11.8%

1.6%

110 86.6%

30.7% 11
0.8%

84

Frequency and percentage

Item

Frequency and percentage

Code

Item
The

Code

A/ An

The

A/ An

20

3ZA

47

37.0%

74

58.3%

4.7%

45

1ZA

17

13.4%

0.8%

21

5IA

51

40.2%

36

28.3% 40

31.5%

46

1ZA

16

12.6%

50

39.4%

61

48.0%

22

4IA

14

11.0% 106 83.5%

5.5%

47

5DA

90

70.9%

19

15.0%

18

14.2%

23

3ZA

15

11.8%

0.0%

112 88.2%

48

2DA

95

74.8%

13

10.2%

19

15.0%

24

2DA

53

41.7%

0.8%

73

57.5%

49

2DA

112 88.2%

2.4%

12

9.4%

25

3IA

3.1%

0.0%

50

4IA

3.9%

123 96.9%

2.4%

109 85.8%

119 93.7%

Errors in [-SR][+HK] context Generics

It is quite clear from table 4.6 that students encountered many difficulties in
dealing with generic sense of articles. The average score from 127 participants within
context 1 was just 62.8%. Despite the fact that the overall score the students gained in
this context was still higher than in idiomatic context (50.1%), it was, in fact, the
lowest one within all 4 semantic contexts. To be more exact, the gap between context
1 and the mean score of 3 other semantic contexts was more than 10%.
A closer look on students ability in [-SR][+HK] context showed that generic
the was not acquired by EF students. The table revealed that just 28.9% of
participants answers were correct in this category. It was also the worst performance
among 11 categories. Within the generic context, the correct supplies of the were as
low as one third of zero article which almost reached 86%. With the lack of
knowledge on generic sense, the student participants always felt confused when they
encountered the element of genericity. Evidence from item 8, 9 and 32 in table 4.7
proved that zero article was overused in case generic the was required. Sentence like
The favorite food of 8________ jaguar is 9________ wild pig seemed to be tricky
with EF learners. All a/an, the and zero article sounded correct to EF students to be
85

filled in the two blanks above. Only 20% of participants could pick up the appropriate
answers. This finding, again, reaffirmed the hypothesis proposed by Nguyen (2005)
that definite article with generic sense was always complicated to Vietnamese
learners. In fact, to address something in general, English grammar allowed all three
possible selections of articles with a slightly different sense. Therefore, learners
whose did not acquire enough knowledge would consider all options correct answers.
As they could hardly distinguish the differences, zero articles were applied relatively
often. There are three possible explanations. The first possibility was that without the
appearance of an article, a noun phrase, in their opinion, may sound more general.
That theory could be confirmed by the overuse of zero article in the generic context.
The second one had something to do with L1 interference. Students at EF were more
likely to translate from Vietnamese language where, according to Cao (1999), most
noun phrases did not require an article (ibid.). The third possibility related to learners
tendency of leaving a blank whenever they could not solve the problem. The problem
here, however, was that both the teachers and the coursebooks failed to tell learners
that the singular countable nouns always require a visible article, either a/an or the.
The SOC score achieved by EF students with generic sense of indefinite article
a/an was higher than with generic the, or to be more detailed, students performed
twice better when a/an was required with generic sense. However, with just 62.2% of
correct responses, the ability of the student participants should be questioned. Data
from table 4.7 indicated that less than half of EF students (46.5%) succeeded in
choosing an indefinite article with item 26, leaving the other half with 49.6% filling
with zero article: Reading

26

________ novel is

27

________ good way to relax. As

explained before, zero article can not be put before singular countable noun; thus, it
would totally wrong leaving a blank with item 26. The might be grammatically correct
but it must followed that all hearers knew exactly what book was being mentioned.
Therefore, it would make no sense in this case. The use of a, on the other hand, might
be translated as any which seemed to be the most suitable choice. It is worth
mentioning that students failure to apply a/an or the with generic sense mostly
86

occurred when the noun phrase played the role of a subject in the sentence. On the
contrary, students did not misuse the required articles by zero article when the noun
phrases were the objects. Up to 85.8% of the students supplied item 19 with indefinite
article a I dont have 19________ clue. (=I dont know at all.). A similar case could
also be identified in item 31 with definite article. For no literature highlighted this
phenomenon, the ease with generic sense at objects positions needs further research
to bring up a possible explanation.
Last but not least, generic sense could be expressed by zero article as well. It
was, it fact, the most common generic article. According to a corpus study of Master
(1987), 54% of generic articles required zero article, followed by generic the with
38% leaving a/an the least frequent generic article (8%). This might be the most
reasonable explanation why there was a tendency of over usage of zero article in
[-SR][+HK] context. Reporting the participants SOC score with all three article types
would be not enough to bring up a thorough picture of participants linguistic
behavior within the generic context. The UOC index was, therefore, computed to
present the overuse and underuse of all article types as shown in table 4.8.
Table 4.9: UOC Score in Generic Context
The

A/an

Zero article

47%

110%

140%

By tabulating the mean scores from UOC index, a comparison among three
article types could provide an important insight to the study. As observed, zero
articles UOC number of 140% was really high, especially when being compared
with only 47% from generic the. Students at EF almost reached the highest level of
perfection with items required generic zero like item 1, 14, or 15 which SOC index
was 96.9%, 97.6% and 97.6% respectively. Accept for item 46, the rest 5 items of this
category had the accuracy rate not less than 85%, making it the second highest
performance within 11 categories. Students poor competence with generic definites
87

and generic indefinites together with the high result in zero article contexts made it
possible to conclude that the overuse of zero article with noun phrases carried generic
sense happened quite often at EF, USSH. Thus, the hidden reason may root from
some overgeneralization rules. With the mean SOC score of just 62.8%, only a bit
higher than the SOC score of idioms, the [-SR][+HK] context was truly a problem at
EF. Unlike the idioms, rules could be applied to decide the suitable article in semantic
contexts. The errors in [-SR][+HK] context, therefore, were not inevitable.
Consequently, it needs more attentions from the teachers, the students and the EF
faculty as well to overcome the situation.
Errors in [+SR][+HK] context Referential definites
There were 9 items designed for this context. Earning 76% of accurate
responses, students performances with referential definites was the best among all
five contexts. Some sentences were done with a very high ratio of correction as in
item 11 with 96.9% or 93.7% gained from item 12. Nearly half of the items in this
context occurred with more than 90% of accuracy. In contrast, the achievement of
item 5 and 24 were considerably below average which pulled the overall score of
[+SR][-HK] context down. To some extent, the mean score of 76% was not very
impressive for errors still happened with every four continuous items of this context.
The justification could be found by investigating into the most disappointed item.
You are imagining

23

________ things. All your fears are in

24

________ mind.

While 88.2% of the participants were very sensitive with the use of genericity in item
23 when choosing zero article, they misinterpreted that sense with item 24 where
57.5% preferred generic zero. At first, things was to refer the things in general that
were happening in the mind of the hearer. The noun mind later was defined by the
appearance of you, thus, mind was not a thing in general but it was, indeed,
defined and it referred to one specific mind of the hearer. As the result, the would
rather be selected instead of zero article. In short, students at EF were quite skillful
with the definiteness. They could easily distinguish if a noun phrase was mentioned
88

before as described in the coursebooks and if it was a unique noun phrase. However,
some errors prevented the participants from fully achieving all items in this context
which mostly related to the misunderstanding of genericity.
Errors in [+SR][-HK] context Referential Non-definites
The highest level of EF students accuracy was found in a category of this
context. With 87.6% of correction, students performance with indefinite article a/an
in [+SR][-HK] context was at the leading position and was three times higher than the
worst one. Significantly, item 40 from this context was the only item that no single
participant made a mistake. The high percentage for a/an in [+SR][-HK] context was
no doubt partly due to the perception of first mentioned which was proved in many
studies in Chinese, Korean and Japanese contexts (Robertson 2000, Ionin et al. 2004,
Ogawa 2008 among others). However, the case with zero article in this context was a
bit lower than expected which occurred 61.9% of the time. Roughly 24% of the
answers were misused by the which may be safe to conclude that students at EF were
not equipped with enough background information about the classification of
semantic feature concerning article use. Choosing the for sentences like We found
41

________ bottles of Vodka in every cupboard. might result from the

misunderstanding of the semantic features. For the noun phrase was plural, the
selection of a/an must be omitted. But by selecting the, students at EF exhibited their
weaknesses for not realizing that [-HK] context never allowed definite articles. Zero
article, indeed, had to be the chosen one for it indicated the specific bottles without
the acknowledgement from the hearers. A tentative conclusion may be drawn that
although it would sometimes be troublesome with zero article, there was almost no
difficulty for EF students to acquire the use of a/an with first mentioned noun
phrases. And this brought valuable evidence to state that university students have the
ability to acquire all semantic senses of English articles as long as some suitable
methods could be applied to bring those senses into students mind.

89

Errors in [-SR][-HK] context Non-referentials

In general, no major finding was identified within this context. The mean score
for students ability was relatively high with 73.2% of correction. With respect to the
requirement of a/an, the SOC number nearly reached 80%. In particular, 50% of the
items were done with more than 90% of correct answers. An obvious answer to this
phenomenon was the ease of identifying the indefinite context which most students at
EF were taught since their first days learning grammar at secondary school. However,
the misuse between a/an and the could also be spotted in item 17, This room has
17

________ length of 12 meters. It was possible that 60.6% of the participants based

on the element of familiarity that they assumed every room must has a length.
Therefore, item 17 required a definite article rather than an indefinite one. There was,
however, another rule that after there is/ are or have/has, indefinite articles were
preferred by native speakers with an indefinite sense (ibid.). Since the number of
items which were similar to this case was limited, the explanation above was just
suggestive until any further research might be conducted. In terms of zero article in
non-referential contexts, the mean score was roughly 60% which was a bit lower than
a/an category. The oversuppliance of the as well as a/an in this category happened
commonly. To deal with item 16 in the sentence 14________ love and

15

________

hate are 16________ two extremes., 40.2% of the participants pick up article the. This
happened due to the fact the students at EF in general were lack of knowledge
concerning the use of zero article. According to Berry (1993), this use of the nonreferentials was considered as irrealist scope. And thus, only a/an or zero article
could be used. While the former was to apply with singular countable noun phrases,
zero article had to be the only option for item 16.
Errors in idiomatic context Conventional uses
It was rather sad but true that from the data collected in the proficiency test,
half of the participants were not very successful in mastering the use of articles in
English idioms. The SOC score of 50.1% also indicated that within two idioms that
90

contained an article, students at EF would normally made one mistake. Unlike the
four semantic contexts in which mistakes may occur in case students entirely
confound among the given rules, the conventional use of English article could hardly
be explained based on semantic or even pragmatic rules. Still, as the worst
participants performance, EF students errors in this context were worth highlighting.
Of all 8 items aiming to the idiomatic uses of English article, the highest one could
not even reach 80% of accuracy. On the contrary, the most disappointed item was
done with merely 14% of correct responses. The highest frequency of precision
occurred with the requirement of the in which the SOC was 58.9%. It should be
noticed that even the best performance in this context could not be compared with the
worst performance in context [-HK] contexts. And the least expected number in table
4.6 happened to be the mean score of the category which zero article was required in
English idioms or conventional uses (29.1%). It has been recorded by Cooper (1998)
that idioms were used very often by native speakers with the ratio of three per every
minute. Thus, errors in this context needed to be considered seriously. Aside from the
semantic rules, the errors in some items, to some extent, proved that EF students
seemed to be in a shortage of some basic understandings of articles and idioms. With
some very common expressions like in the 1960s, all of a sudden or join the
army, errors had better be omitted. Still, the misuse of articles happened regularly in
those cases. It might be safe to put that without fully awareness of those conventional
uses, students at EF were likely to lean on their false perception of English articles
which resulted in a very poor performance. An analyzing on item 13 and item 30
would shed some light on the issue 12________ horse I bet on is still in 13________
front. Table 4.7 indicated that 52.8% of the supplies for item 13 were the choice of
the. On one side, the expression of in the front might be acceptable in some certain
cases. But on the other side, the context of this sentence was probably at a horse race.
Thus, the conventional use of in front would be more exact which referred to the
meaning of leading. It is possible that half of the students at EF did not recognize
the expression of in front; they, therefore, based on their awareness of article use
91

and picked up the most likely answer the. Likewise, item 30 in He is always on
30

________ edge. was filled with more than three quarter selections of the. The

correct use of zero article was dropped behind with only 13.4%. Due to the
appearance of the adverb always, the use of on the edge would make no sense. Or
in another words, it would totally be strange for someone to be on the rear of wall all
the time. However, if those students had acknowledged that the expression on
edge was similar to nervous, the SOC score would have increased intensively.
To sum up, either based on article types or article contexts, the learners errors
happened quite frequently (only 67.4% of accuracy) which was an alarm for the
teaching and learning of English articles at EF, USSH. In general, there was no big
difference among four groups of proficiency although students with higher level of
English competence tented to perform a bit better than those from other groups.
Another trend could be observed is that English articles followed the accuracy order
a/an > > the across the proficiency groups, which indicated that the use of a/an is
more targetlike than while the was least likely to be acquired by EF students. In
reference to the errors within 5 contexts, the data revealed that students performance
was rather high in [-HK] contexts and [+HK][-SR] context compared with generic
context and especially, contexts that related to idioms. All errors with misuse,
omission and oversuppliance of English articles occurred quite often in almost every
contexts. In general, the acquisition of English articles by EF students, to some
extents, lags behind the desirable proficiency level of the advanced learners.
4.1.2.3 Causes of learners errors in using English articles
In regard to the reasons that triggered errors in using English articles by EF
students, this session proposed four plausible causes. As demonstrated in the
framework, errors occurred at EF may originate from (i) the coursebooks, (ii) the
teaching methods, (iii) the complexity of English articles and (iv) the interference of
L1. Before any conclusions might be drawn from the current part, it is noted that the
following findings should be regarded with some precautions due to the limited
92

numbers of students responses in the questionnaire and especially the interviews with
teacher and student participants.

Causes related to the coursebooks

Four among nine participants agreed that there was something wrong with the
coursebooks. Consequently that prevented the students from fully acquire the system
of English articles. 100% of the critics were about the system of rules which seems
not to be well-organized. Data from the questionnaire shared the same finding that the
mean score for item B2 was just 2.88. Or this can be interpreted as there tended to be
a slightly disagreement with ways rules are introduced in the coursebooks. However,
when being asked about the errors in the coursebooks, only one teacher participant
could point out that some pieces of information were not correct in a few certain
cases. Although she did not name those errors, they were often considered as
overgeneralization rules. It cannot be denied that some rules in the coursebooks
were quite vague which may mislead learners into the wrong use of articles. For
example, in the grammar book from Longman, it was written in section 3.2A that a/an
is used for the first time we mention a person or thing and after that first reference, the
must be used. But in many cases, things did not always follow that rule. Another
remarkable cause was the short-coming in the articles description. A combination of
data collected from the interviews and the proficiency test brought some insight into
the findings. About 25% of participants overused a/an and zero article in
[+HK][[+SR] context as well as nearly 30% of participants pick up the in [-SR]
context proved that the basic knowledge of articles was not acquired properly by EF
students. These findings were, indeed, in line with 100% responses of student
participants from the interviews. Notably, none of them could give an accurate
classification for the system of English articles. Moreover, zero article was not
considered as a type of article and the notion of specificity sound totally strange to all
of them. Hence, it might be safe to point out that due to the lack of information the

93

coursebooks mentioned specificity as well as the mistreat to zero article, there is no

complete acquisition of English articles at EF, USSH.

Causes related to the teaching methods

Of all four possible causes, the current teaching methods were the one that
received the highest number of positive feedback. The top mean scores in the
questionnaire were found mostly in the field of the teaching methods. Bearing the best
score with 3.21, item C3 showed that the majority of students at EF understood
everything their teachers shared, also they tended to take a neutral stand that the
teaching method was effective. Data from the personal interviews brought no
significant difference. On one side, the teachers at EF were not blamed for their
pedagogy methods. But on the other side, students poor performance was not simply
the consequence of the uncertain learning progress because even the highest
proficiency group could not reach more three quarters of accuracy in the test. It was
highlighted by Nguyen (2005) that so far, no teaching method has appeared to
succeed in narrowing the gap between students performance and the desirable level
of article proficiency. The grammar translation method failed to help students to
remember all rules while the communicative approach could not overcome the
mistakes for articles were not considered as an important element in communication.
In the candidate-supplied response question, nearly 10 participants recommended new
teaching methods to be applied at EF. They shared that sometimes the teachers just
followed the courebooks steps by steps but what they needed was a hint to learn the
system of articles effectively. One student concluded that rules given by the teachers
were easy to understand but learning by heart was another problem. Therefore, at
least, it would be worth trying another method like cognitive approach as suggested
by Nguyen (2005). And most importantly, teachers at EF should take the
responsibility because after years applying the traditional methods, the students
performance in terms of English articles was still disappointing.

94

Causes related to the complexity of English articles

There always seems to be a consensus on the complication of the system of
English articles. Especially, all the subjects of the study speak an article-less language
which may prevent them from mastering English articles. Responses from 5 teacher
participants showed that teachers at EF felt it relatively difficult for their students to
learn this grammar piece. Teacher T2 even admitted that sometimes the teachers were
also confused about the article system. She believed that the native speakers, without
enough grammar education, could make errors when using articles as well. On the
same line, teacher T4 confessed that when it came to details, she failed to
acknowledge the differences among three types of articles. The interview with student
S4 occurred after she finished the proficiency test. She shared that it was extremely
hard to identify the required article for every items. Later she was allowed to use the
coursebooks to re-do the test; still, she claimed that there were 6 cases that she could
not decide which article to be used. Her paper was then scored 43/50 although her
mean score for English courses in the last semester was higher than 8.0. Despite the
fact that it was not new to blame the complexity of English articles for the slow
acquisition of article-less L1 learners (ibid.), it would totally be logical to consider
this obstacle as a reason that induced the poor performance of EF students.

Causes related to L1 interference

As claimed by many researchers, students tended to base on their mother
tongue to find the similarities with English articles when they got stuck in choosing an
appropriate one. Besides, Han et al. (2006) also put that the majority of studies on
article selection were conducted using handcrafted rules for translation (p.117). And
students at EF were not an exception. All 5 teacher participants concurred about the
impact of Vietnamese language on learners choices for English articles. Of all four
possible explanations, the interference of L1 received the highest consensus that all
interviewees emphasized the negative language transfer. Teacher T1 and T5 appeared
to follow the same trace that they believed without a system of article in Vietnamese,
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students at EF failed to realize the nature of English article. Aside from that, teacher
T4 drew out that students often considered a/an as mt (one) in Vietnamese while
the was not able to be acquired because the notion of definiteness did not exist in
Vietnamese language. Nearly 33% of the-context in the proficiency test were
substituted by zero article. The following examples may illustrate the translation
process from L1: *in 1960s, *protests against Vietnam war, * evening sky. To
make it simple, students at EF barely thought in Vietnamese and then applied wordto-word translation which resulted in a lot of omission errors within the-contexts.
Likewise, it sounded very strange in Vietnamese to say *mt chiu di ca 12 mt;
therefore, less than one third (30%) of the participants succeed in putting a length of
12m for item 17. Furthermore, data collected from the questionnaire revealed that it
was very common for students with poor English competence to lean on Vietnamese
grammar when deciding a suitable article. The upshot of all this is most noun phrases
in Vietnamese language did not require any real article; thus, EF students preferred
zero article in case they could not supply the necessary ones. Besides, without the
notion of definiteness and specificity in Vietnamese grammar, errors with English
articles caused by the participants were an inevitable stepping stone.
4.2 MAJOR FINDINGS
In an effort to arrive at the answers for two research questions in section 1.4,
the study now presents the major findings in response to RQ1 and RQ2. The
following summaries were hoped to satisfy the demanding tasks proposed in the very
research questions.

4.2.1 Answers to research question RQ1

What are the current teaching practices of English articles at EF, USSH?
Firstly, the coursebooks used at EF seemed to supply learners with required
information about English articles but errors could also be found in those books. On
the one hand, the Advanced Grammar in Use (2002) and Longman English Grammar
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Practice (2004) contained almost every single use of articles, from the general rules to
the very detailed ones. A highlight of both coursebooks was the exercises which were
very well-designed and applicable. The rules for article choices, on the other hand,
were not introduced in an effective way. They were, indeed, listed without an easy-toremember order. As a result, students felt overwhelmed with over 50 small rules
which made it almost impossible for EF learners to learner by heart. Moreover, due to
the fact that the classification of English articles was not included in the courebooks,
they failed to bring the learners an overview of the features and functions for each
type of articles.
The teaching methodologies received quite many possible feedback from the
students for the ease of comprehension. However, the fact that students could
understand whatever their professors taught did not assure that teachers at EF
instructed enough knowledge concerning the article system. Currently, the grammar
translation method and the communicative approach were the two most common
pedagogical techniques being employed at EF. Although the overall result revealed
that EF teachers conducted suitable methods, upon a closer analysis, it was found that
they failed to overcome the students weaknesses. It should also be noticed that few
teachers favored the communication aim rather than the accuracy in applying English
articles. Thus, the teachers attitude that disregarded the role of articles may lead to
some unexpected implications on their students.

4.2.2 Answers to research question RQ2

What is the current situation of learning English articles at EF, USSH?
As the most important factor that affected the learning process, EF students
became the subjects to test for their common belief towards English articles and their
ability. Data from the questionnaire revealed that the majority of EF students is aware
of their limited ability in dealing with articles. Similarity, they also appreciated the
role of articles both in written and spoken form. But when it turned to comparing the
similarities between the system of English articles and Vietnamese counterparts, there
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seems to be a variation between different groups of proficiency in which those with

poor language competence claimed that they found quite a tight relationship between
the two language systems while the high proficiency group realized that not many
significant similarities could be observed.
The data yielded by this study provides convincing evidence that learners at EF
are bearing a false perception towards the structure of the English article system.
100% of the student participants failed to identify the notion of specificity proving
that definiteness was the only concept that they based on to construct the system of
English article. It would totally strange to them to mention genericity as well. More
surprisingly, zero article was not considered as a part of the system by EF students. It
happened like a natural reaction that all students quickly named definite article the
and indefinite article a/an to classify the English articles. Even after being reminded
of the existence of zero article, none of the interviewee succeeded in putting it into a
category. It has been warned that without the good foundation on the theory, errors
would occur frequently in the practice. And in this case, it was much likely to be a
grounded answer for learners inability in using English article perfectly.
Concerning learners performance, the mean score from 127 EF participants on
the standard English article test was really low with the correction percentage of
67.4%. There was no big gap among the scores of four different groups of
proficiency. Or in other words, errors related to articles occurred with all students at
EF, USSH despite their language competence. To some extent, it might be concluded
that the poor performance was not totally rooted from students English ability. The
acquisition of English articles at EF reflected the following order a/an > zero article >
the. Although the SOC score did not report any big differences among three article
types, it was demonstrated by the TLU index that a/an was applied quite skillfully by
the participants in comparison with zero aricle and the. However, no matter which
index was calculated, the results upset the expectation of the study. The highest score
was about 75% or it can be interpreted that with the most familiar use of articles, EF
students still made mistakes with a ratio of one per four continuous articles. To
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account for the underuse of overuse of each article type, the UOC was computed.
Results showed that students at EF had a habit of providing zero article in most
situations whereas a/an was sometimes omitted and the suppliance of the was almost
equal to the required number (95.5%). However the average SOC score of 61.1%
proved that the was misused with a rather high frequency.
Results from measuring learners acquisition of English articles based on 5
contexts, i.e. 4 semantic contexts of [+/-HK][+/-SR] and idiomatic context brought
some valuable insights to the study. EF students showed their best ability when
dealing with context 2 which is [+HK][+SR]. Their accuracy tended to decrease with
two contexts of [-HK] making the mean score of the three best performed contexts
merely 75%. There was a dramatic downfall trend with generic context where
students caused a lot of errors. This might be the result of the teaching process that
favored the notion of definiteness rather than the concept of specificity and genericity.
Without the functional equivalent structures of English articles in Vietnamese
language, EF students, by no mean, could perform well in generic contexts. The least
expected result could be found with the context for idioms in which EF students made
a mistake related to articles within two noun phrases. Aside from that, an in-depth
analysis demonstrated that the participants behaved fluently with categories that
required indefinite article a/an in [-HK] context thanks to the ease of recognized the
first mention noun phrases or equative noun phrases. In reference to generic sense,
the category of zero article was acquired three times better than the due to the fact
that Vietnamese language never needs an article before a noun phrase to refer to a
whole set with generic sense.
Last but not least, four expected reasons that might cause EF students errors in
using English articles were later confirmed with various levels of consensus. While
the majority of the participants were less likely to accuse the teaching methodologies
for causing their errors, the result from the proficiency tests as well as the finding of
previous related studies proved that there was something wrong in the current
pedagogical methods at EF. They either failed to present the classification of English
99

articles or shape learners awareness of the differences among three article types and
five article contexts in English language. The coursebooks, on the other hand, seemed
not to display all the important notions that built up the English articles. Besides, a lot
of the participants blamed the complicated structure of English articles for causing EF
students errors. No fixed rule could be applied to decide the required article whereas
sometimes, students had to base on both semantic and pragmatic features to be able to
recognize the sense of definiteness, specificity and genericity of a noun phrase. The
negative transfer from learners mother tongue was also considered as a main cause.
For Vietnamese language did not require any system of article to define a noun
phrase, EF students made quite a lot of errors by translating from Vietnamese
grammar. This, perhaps, was the explanation for learners tendency to overuse zero
article with generic sense and the overuse of the with English idioms. In short, the EF
students poor performance on English articles was the result of many factors taking
part in the teaching and learning process at EF, USSH.
4.3 SUMMARY
Chapter 4 of the study reported and discussed the findings of the error analysis
as well as the contrastive analysis. The teaching progress was examined based on the
data collected from the questionnaire, the interviews and the coursebooks analysis.
Results showed that both the coursebooks and teaching methods have just reached the
basic requirement for articles teaching. To some degree, there should be some
considerable changes in terms of the contents and the methodologies in order to boost
the teaching quality at EF, USSH. That learners perception has been highlighted
shaped a clear picture of their behavior and performance on the English articles. A
large amount of tables, figures and numbers were to demonstrate the fundamental
learners types of errors which were exhibited due to an inadequate understanding on
the nature of articles. Finally, the chapter also sought for plausible explanations of the
aforementioned errors by using the collected data and the major findings of the
relevant studies.
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CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSION
Chapter 5 attempts not only to serve as a concluding part for the whole thesis
but it would also suggest some implications and applicable teaching techniques based
on the support of the theoretical background and learners weaknesses as figured out
from the findings of chapter 4. Moreover, the chapter suggests some fruitful issues
which might contribute to the future studies on the related topic.

5.1 CONCLUSION
The study done for and reported in this thesis was inspired by the previous
studies of Nguyen (2005) and Han et al. (2006) concerning the English articles
acquisition by L2 learners. The primary purpose of the thesis is to investigate how
English articles are dealt at EF, USSH by doing a survey on the teaching and learning
process. A wide range of literature on English articles and Vietnamese counterparts
was restated in hopes that some valuable knowledge could benefit other researchers.
The current teaching practice at EF, USSH, according to the findings, seemed
not to be very concordant to the expectation on the students at advanced level of
English proficiency. The pedagogies being applied at EF were relatively easy for the
students to understand, yet, the amount of the knowledge was not equivalent to the
requirement. EF students exhibited quite a large number of errors due to the lack of
awareness concerning the notions that created the sense of specificity and genericity.
Few teachers tended to disregard the role of English articles which was truly an alarm
at EF, USSH. Besides, some deficiencies found in the current coursebooks demanded
a remedial teaching method.
EF students performance on the system of English articles was, to a certain
extent, disappointing. With the overall mean score of 67.4% collected from 127
proficiency test papers, it was safe to conclude that no complete acquisition of English
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articles could be confirmed at EF, USSH. Common errors with article uses like
overuse, underuse and misuse happened within all three article types and all five
article contexts. Also, the difficulties occurred with all groups of language
competences in which there was no big gap between the scores of the best group and
the accuracy of the least proficiency one. In most cases, EF students proved to have
troubles with generic sense and idiomatic use of English articles. Besides, the
confusion between the and zero article was spotted out with a relatively high ratio.
The finding also indicated that the students devoted quite a lot of effort to master the
article system; however, some certain reasons prevented their progress. To some
extent, the students errors stemmed from four main sources but the rigorous rules of
English articles together with the divergence between English articles system and
their counterparts in students first language were admitted as the major obstacles.

5.2 PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS

Due to some limitations that the current teaching methods at EF, the authors
would like to propose the three following issues based upon the findings of the study:
(i) the conceptualization of specificity and genericity, (ii) the emphasis on zero article
and (iii) the ease in learning rules and idioms.
First, the stereotype to classify the and a/an as two main pillars that build up
the English article system should be excluded if EF teachers desire for a perfect
performance from their students. Instead of considering zero article as a state where
no article is required, the teachers had better explain that some noun phrases
demanded a special kind of article which was symbolized as . It would also be
useful if the amount of exercises concerning zero article can be equal with the
counterparts for the and a/an. Although it sounds simple, the suggestions above can
change the students attitude that they would appreciate zero article as much as the
other two article types.
Second, for the misuse of articles occurred with a noticeable frequency, the
students needed to be supplied with a simple instruction that included all the article
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usages within 4 semantic contexts. The misperception on article classification was

proved to be a major reason that led EF students into causing systematic mistakes.
Therefore, it is indispensable that an overview for the English articles construction
should be given at the very beginning of the lesson. Any tardiness might result in
fossilized errors which will later become a part in their false consciousness. The
following table was drawn based on the famous semantic wheel of Huebner (1983).
Table 5.1: Articles Types within Four Semantic Contexts
+ Definite

- Definite

+ Specific

the

a/ an
zero article

- Specific

the
a/an
zero article

a/an
zero article

Third, while the coursebooks being used at EF seemed to leave aside the
notions of specificity and genericity, most of the literatures on English articles tended
to consider the two aforementioned concepts and definiteness as the foundations of
the English article system. In one way or another, due to the tendency to favor only
definiteness, EF students performed not very well in generic contexts. Consequently,
the teachers should, first and foremost, amend this shortage of knowledge supplied by
the coursebooks. According to Master (1988), generic sense should only be given
after the learners had fully been aware of definiteness. In this case, EF teachers are
working with the juniors of an English faculty; thus, no delay should be made upon
those students. In reference to learners errors with genericity, it should be noted that
English grammar allowed all three types of articles to be conducted with a generic
sense. This might add a new layer to the already complex use of English articles,
especially to L2 learners where their mother tongue lacked of an equivalent system.
Most of the current teaching methodologies, nonetheless, could not cultivate the
perception of genericity into learners mind. Nguyen (2005), therefore, suggested a
new approach based on the cognitive method. According to his explanation, unlike the
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traditional methods, cognitive approach allowed teachers to transmit the insight of

how generic senses are construed. Besides, it required very few principles to draw up
a full picture of generic usages. The distinction among the generic senses implied by
three article types was illustrated in the following figure copied from Nguyen (2005).

Figure 5.1: Differences in Generic Sense under the View of

Cognitive Grammar by Nguyen (2005)
The benefit of the cognitive approach has been discussed in the literature review.
However, it is worth reminding that Jourdenais (2001) believed that the effectiveness
of the cognitive approach was mainly to deal with problem solving and memory
skills. This would totally meet the demanding task of systemizing the complicated set
of rules that governed the application of English articles as well as giving the students
some hints to decide the suitable articles. The detailed procedure to apply cognitive
method should be instructed via the periodic workshops or seminars on English
teaching at EF, USSH.
Fourth, the teachers are recommended that comparisons with Vietnamese
grammar should be reduced to a limited extent for not many similarities could be
highlighted within the article system of the two languages. By doing that, they might
also dissolve a misperception of EF learners that using Vietnamese counterparts could
lead them to a correct article choice. There was a strong claim among the linguistic
community that the sequences of acquisition between [+Art] and [-Art] languages
were not the same. The transference from learners mother tongue, therefore, might

104

not be helpful in this case and should be intervened by the teachers. Instead, extensive
reading should be required so as to develop the students English language sense.
Last but not least, practice makes success. EF teachers are advised to get the
students acquainted with the habit of doing exercises. The errors should then be
treated properly by some remedial methods which can erase the students
miscomprehension. Moreover, as suggested by many educators, the acquisition
procedure could also be done by repetition and practicing with homework as an
applicable tool. Since there are quite many fixed phrases with articles, learners effort
to rehearse will finally boost their performance on the English articles. Especially, the
poor result within idiomatic context will be overcome if the students are encouraged
to follow a steady progress.

5.3 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER STUDIES

It can not be denied that the current study has some certain limits in sampling
and comprehensiveness. Thus, further studies are hoped to be conducted within a
larger size or within a different context. To some extent, the thesis merely rings an
alarm for the lack of attention on English articles system in such an academic
environment. The equal distribution of test items among 5 contexts might not truly
reflect real life situations. A corpus study, however, can measure exactly the students
ability when it comes to authentic performance. Moreover, a grammaticality judgment
test could benefit the investigation on the relationship between student participants
judgment and their own errors when applying the system of English articles.

105

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113

APPENDIX 1: Syllabus for Advanced Grammar course

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HCM
UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES
FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE
EF- SYLLABUS-1-A

COURSE SYLLABUS
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.

VI.

Course Title: ADVANCE GRAMMAR

Course Code: NVA003
Course Credits: 3 credits (Theory: 2 credits, Practice: 1 credit)
Course Prerequisites: Students are required to fulfill all the Language Skills courses
Course Overview
_ Systematic examination all sentence types in English
_ Recognition and classify English nouns
_ Examine all the complicated uses of English articles, explain and practice the use of articles in
all kinds of texts
_ Examine all the forms of pro-forms and practice the use of pro-forms suitable with the grammar
_ Compare the use of personal pronouns and reflexive pronouns
_ Recognize and classify adjectives, acquire all the rules about fixed and unfixed positions of
adjectives to express the proposition
_ Recognize the adverbs, examine the meaning and function of all the adverbs and the position of
adverbs in texts
_ Distinguish different kinds of prepositions and adverb particles, recognize all the forms of
phrasal verbs, emphasize practice to use prepositions and phrasal verbs skillfully
_ Distinguish between the two notions tenses and aspects, clearly aware of some aspects
related to verbs such as performative, durative to decide the appropriate tenses
_ Distinguish between full verbs and auxiliary verbs
_ Examine all the complex and diversified ways of expressing meaning by using Modals
Course Content
Chapter

Topic of the chapter

The sentence
1.1
Sentence word order
1.2
The simple sentence: verbs with and without objects
1.3
The simple sentence: direct and indirect objects
1.4
The compound sentence
1.5
The complex sentence: noun clauses
1.6
The complex sentence: relative pronouns and clauses
1.7
The complex sentence: whose; defining/non-defining clauses
1.8
The complex sentence: time, place, manner
1.9
The complex sentence: reason and contrast
1.10 The complex sentence: purpose, result and comparison
1.11 The complex sentence: present participle, constructions
1.12 The complex sentence: perfect/ past participle constructions

114

Nouns
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
2.6
2.7
2.8

One-word nouns
Compound nouns
Countable and uncountable nouns (1)
Countable and uncountable nouns (2)
Number (singular and plural) (1)
Number (singular and plural) (2)
Gender
The genitive

Articles
3.1
The indefinite article: a/an (1)
3.2
The indefinite article: a/an (2)
3.3
The definite article: the (1)
3.4
The definite article: the (2)
3.5
The zero article (1)
3.6
The zero article (2)
Pronouns
4.1
Personal pronouns
4.2
One
4.3
It and one/some/any/more
4.4
Possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns (my/mine)
4.5
Reflective pronouns (myself)
4.6
Demonstrative adjs/prons (this); some/any/no compounds (someone)
Pronouns
5.1
Quantifiers + countable and uncountable nouns
5.2
General and specific references to quantity
5.3
Uses of some, any, no and none
5.4
Much, many, a lot of, (a) few, (a) little, fewer, less
5.5
Both and all
5.6
All (the), (a/the) whole, each and every
5.7
Another, (the) other(s), either, neither, each (one of)
Adjectives
6.1
Formation of adjectives
6.2
Position of adjectives
6.3
Adjectives that behave like nouns; -ed/-ing endings
6.4
Adjectives after be, seem, etc; word order of adjectives
6.5
The comparison of adjectives
Adverbs
7.1
Adverbs of manner
7.2
Adverbs of time
7.3
Adverbial phrases of duration

115

7.4
7.5
7.6
7.7
7.8

10

11

Adverbs of frequency
Adverbs of degree
Intensifiers
Focus adverbs
Viewpoint adverbs, concerning adverbs and inversion

Prepositions, adverb particles and phrasal verbs

8.1
Prepositions, adverb particles and conjunctions
8.2
Prepositions of movement and position; preposition of time
8.3
Particle prepositions, particles: contrasts (1)
8.4
Particle prepositions, particles: contrasts (2)
8.5
Particle prepositions, particles: contrasts (3)
8.6
Phrasal verbs: Type 1, verb + preposition (transitive)
8.7
Phrasal verbs: Type 2, verb + particle (transitive)
8.8
Phrasal verbs: Type 3, verb + particle (intransitive)
Phrasal verbs: Type 4, verb + particle + preposition (transitive)
Verbs, verb tenses and imperatives
9.1
The simple present and present progressive tenses (1)
9.2
The simple present and present progressive tenses (2)
9.3
The simple past tense
9.4
The simple past and past progressive tenses
9.5
The simple present perfect and present perfect progressive
9.6
The simple past perfect and past perfect progressive tenses
9.7
The simple future tense
9.8
The simple future, the future progressive, the future perfect
9.9
Going to and other ways of expressing the future
9.10 The imperative
Be, Have, Do
10.1 Be as a full verb (1)
10.2 Be as a full verb (2)
10.3 There + be
10.4 Verbs related in meaning to be
10.5 Have as a full verb = possess, have got = possess
10.6 Have as a full verb meaning eat, enjoy, etc
10.7 Do as a full verb
Modal auxiliaries and related verbs
11.1 The two uses of modal verbs
11.2 Uses of modals (etc.) to express ability and inability
11.3 Uses of modals (etc.) to express permission and prohibition
11.4 Uses of modals (etc.) to express certainty and possibility
11.5 Uses of modals (etc.) to express deduction
11.6 Uses of modals (etc.) for others, requests and suggestions
11.7 Expressing wishes, etc.: I wish, if only, its (high) time

116

11.8
11.9
11.10
11.11
11.12
11.13

12

13

14

15

16

Expressing preferences: would rather and would sooner

Its advisable/ Its necessary
It isnt advisable/ It isnt necessary/ Its forbidden
Modals to express habit: used to, will and would
Need and dare as modals and as full verbs
Would/ wouldnt; thatshould, there + modal

The passive and the causative

12.1 General information about form
12.2 Uses of the passive
12.3 Form and use of the causative
Questions, answers and negatives
13.1 Yes/ No questions, negative statements, Yes/ No answers
13.2 Alternative negative forms and negative questions
13.3 Tag questions and echo tags
13.4 Additional and responses
13.5 Question-word questions (1): Who(m)? What?
13.6 Question-word questions (2): When?, Where?, Which?, Whose?
13.7 Question-word questions (3): Why?, How?
13.8 Subject-questions: Who?, What?, Which?, Whose?
Conditional sentences
14.1 Type 1 conditionals
14.2 Type 2 conditionals
14.3 Type 3 conditionals
14.4 Mixed conditionals; unless/ ifnot, etc.
Direct and Indirect speech
15.1 Direct speech
15.2 Say, tell and ask
15.3 Indirect statements with tense changes
15.4 Indirect questions with tense changes
15.5 Uses of the to-infinitive in indirect speech
15.6 When we use indirect speech
The Infinitive and the -ing form
16.1
The bare infinitive and the to-infinitive
16.2 The bare infinitive or the -ing form; the to-infinitive
16.3 Verb (+noun/ pronoun) + to-infinitive
16.4 Adjectives and nouns + to-infinitive
16.5 The -ing form
16.6 Verb + the -ing form
16.7 Adjectives, nouns and preposition + -ing
16.8 The to-infinitive or the -ing form?

117

VII.

Texts and Materials

Require texts and materials
_ Alexander L.G. (1992), Longman English Grammar, OUP
_ Workbook: Alexander L.G. (1992), Longman English Grammar Practice, OUP
Supplementary texts and materials
_ East Wood (1994), Oxford Guide to English Grammar, OUP
_ Swan, M. (2005), Practice English Usage, OUP
_ William Collins Sons (1990) Collins Cobuild English Grammar, Rupa Co.

VIII.

Basis for Final Grade

Assessment
Criteria

Percent

Score

Percent of Final Note

Grade

Midterm exam

100%
100%

Midterm score

30%

To be computed by the
University Admission Office

Final score

70%

To be computed by the
University Admission Office

Participantion & others 30%

Final exam
70%
100%

100%
Passing grade: 5/10
Exam Information
Time: 90 minutes, without the use of materials and all kinds of dictionaries

IX.

Multiple choice (20 questions): Choose the option that best complete the sentence.
Error recognition (20 questions): Identify the incorrect underlined part among the four.
Blank filling (20 questions): Complete a short passage with the appropriate parts of speech.
Verb forms (20 questions): Complete a short passage/ some sentences with the appropriate
forms of the verbs given.
Sentence transformation/ building (20 sentences): Rewrite sentences with given words.

Course Policies
A. Grades
Grade Policy: All Grades are public and transparent to all students. You should keep all your
quizzes and tests as proof for grade complaints (if any).
Group Work Policy: Everyone must take part in a group oral presentation and/or written project.
All member of a group will receive the same score; that is, the project is assessed and everyone
receives this score. Once formed, groups cannot be altered or switched, except for reasons of
extended hospitalization.
B. Technology and Media
Students are encouraged to contact with lecturer via email beside class hours. Email address will
be provided at the beginning of the course.

118

X.

C. Student Expectations
Attendance will be checked in every class either in terms of short quizzes, activity
participation or roll calling. Those students who are absent more than 20% of the class
meetings will be forbidden from the final examination.
Penalty for lateness or skipping some periods will be announced by lecturers.
Absence should be informed to lecturers before or after the day. You are responsible for
getting the information you missed. There are no make-ups for in-class writing, quizzes,
the midterms, or the final exam.
Use of mobile phone and/or laptop for personal purposes without lecturers agreement is
forbidden during class time.
Cheating and plagiarism will be seriously punished.
Schedule

Sessions
1

Content
The Sentence
1.1 1.12

Students studying scheme

Periods
5

_ Refer to all the related grammar book, present

and explain all different notions about the
sentences

Periods
10

_ Define the meaning in use of each sentence type

_ Write a short paragraph using all the sentences
types that we have learned
2

Nouns

_ Compare the meaning and uses of all forms of

noun- phrases (compound nouns/ the genitive)

10

_ Make sentences demonstrating the nouns such

as count nouns and noncount nouns (experience
vs experiences)
_ Refer to Hewings (2006) Advanced Grammar
in Use (Unit 40-43), present all the new notions
about agreement compared to traditional grammar
3

Articles

_ Refer to Michael Swan (2005) Practical English

Usage, noted the special uses of article

10

_ All the groups collect different types of texts

contain instances of different uses of article to
discuss and/or edit the use of articles in the text
delivered by the teachers
4

Pronouns
4.1 4.6

_ Refer to grammar materials, paying attention to

instances of the use of pronouns in 4.3 in the
material

119

10

_ Distinguish notion such as determiners and

quantifiers, try to make a graph illustrating the
detailed use of quantifiers

Quantity
5.1 5.7

Adjective
6.1 6.5

_ Refer to Collins Cobuild (1990) English

Grammar (2.1 2.144), grasp all the ways of
uses of adjectives. Besides, students must
explore:

10

_ Gradable adjs vs Non-gradable adjs, list all the

popular non-gradable adjectives
_ Prepare a topic about adjectives to discuss in
class
6

Adverbs
7.1 7.8

Prepositions,
adverb pariticles
& phrasal verbs
8.1 8.8

_ Refer to Collins Cobuild (1990) English

Grammar (5.69 6.127), define the meaning and
acquire the uses of adverbs, prepositions and
adverb particles & phrasal verbs

10

_ Write a short paragraph using all the grammar

points mentioned above
_ Compare and contrast the uses of article in
English and Vietnamese

Verbs, verbs
tenses,
imperatives
9.1 9.10

_ Systemize all the tenses which have been

learned, at the same time explore related notions
such as time and aspects, verbs of action,
state, perception, performative verbs

10

_ Collect all the texts with the abnormal use of

tenses to discuss in class
8

Be, Have, Do
10.1 10.7

_ Try to draft a profile illustrating the use of

modals to express all the proposition in English

10

_ Distinguish different notions such as modals,

auxiliaries and defective verbs
_ Work in groups, collect and analyze the
meaning of instances of use typical of modals
which are mentioned in the materials
9

Modals,
Auxiliaries &
related verbs
11.7 11.13

_ List all the form to express the subjunctives,

compare the forms to express the subjunctives in
British English and American English
_ Systemize and acquire the uses of different
forms of modals

120

10

10

11

12

The passive and

the causative
12.1 12.3
Questions,
answers,
negatives
13.1 13.19

Conditional
sentences
14.1 14.4
Direct and
indirect speech
15.1 15.6

The Infinitive
and the ingform

_ Explore and analyze the reason why passive

voice was employed in different types of texts

10

_ Briefly describe all the instances in which

passive voice was not used in English (compare
with Vietnamese

_ Refer to Collins Cobuild (1990) English

Grammar (8.25 8.42), illustrating all the cases
in which If-Clause was not used to express
conditional, obtain the use of mixed
conditionals

10

_ Analyze the instances in which backshift does

not apply to, practice skillfully all the forms of
reporting verbs and the forms replacing thatclause
_ Skillfully use all the structures and verbs
followed by V-ing or infinitives
_ Compare the meaning of verbs followed by
both V-ing forms and infinitives

Note: The Schedule is subject to revision

Designed by
Department of English Language Skills

121

10

APPENDIX 2: Questionnaire

QUESTIONNAIRE
This questionnaire collects data for a research entitled A Survey into the Teaching
and Learning of English articles at University of Social Sciences and Humanities.
Please take a few minutes to read and answer the following questions. Your responses
will be completely anonymous and will not be used for any other purposes. I truly
appreciate your contributions to the success of this research.
Personal Information
Age:
Gender:

Male

Female

Other

What was your average score in English for the last semester?
5.0 5.9

6.0 - 6.9

7.0 - 7.9

8.0 10.0

Research Questions
Each of the statements below refers to the issues which can occur during your process
of learning the system of English articles. Please mark the answer which best describes
your experience (1= Strongly disagree, 2= Disagree, 3= Neutral, 4= Agree, 5=
Strongly agree).
Questions

A1. I am confident of my knowledge of English articles.

A2. I dont make mistakes when using English articles.
A3. I believe there are a lot of similarities between the system of English
articles and Vietnamese counterparts (mt, nhng/ cc, and zero article).
A4. I dont care about my mistakes in using English articles as long as I can
reach my goal in communication.

122

B1. The coursebooks supply me with necessary information about English

articles that I can use in all cases.
B2. Rules about English articles given by the coursebooks are easy to
remember.
B3. I make no mistake related to English articles when I apply the
knowledge from my coursebooks.
C1. I understand everything my teachers tell about English articles.
C2. My teachers use an effective method to teach English articles.
C3. My teachers always correct my mistakes in using English articles.
C4. My teachers always give explanation for my mistakes in using English
articles.

Do you have any opinions to share about the way English articles are taught at USSH?

Thanks a lot for your time and your help!

123

APPENDIX 3: Proficiency Test

Choose the correct article a/an, the, or zero article () for the following sentences:
1

1. ________ language is 2________ great invention of 3________ humankind.

2. In 4________ 1960s, there were lots of protests against 5________ Vietnam War.
3. I saw 6________ strange man standing at 7________ gate.
4. The favorite food of 8________ jaguar is 9________ wild pig.
5. Last month we went to 10________ wedding. 11________ bride was beautiful.
6. 12________ horse I bet on is still in 13________ front.
7. 14________ love and 15________ hate are 16________ two extremes.
8. This room has 17________ length of 12 meters.
9. 18________ evening sky was really beautiful.
10. I dont have 19________ clue. (=I dont know at all.)
11. Dr. Engelbeg, 20________ physician to Marilyn Monroe, would not comment on her death.
12. All of 21________ sudden, he woke up from his comma.
13. Do you have 22________ can opener?
14. You are imagining 23________ things. All your fears are in 24________ mind.
15. I ordered 25________ bottle of wine for us.
16. Reading 26________ novel is 27________ good way to relax.
17. Id love to travel down 28________ Nile as far as 29________ Luxor.
18. He is always on 30________ edge.
19. I live in 31________ neighborhood. (=I live around here.)
20 32________ telephone is 33________ very useful invention.
21. Im in 34________ mood to eat 35________ hamburger.
22. Writing 36________ letters is 37________ pain in 38________ neck for me.
23. I keep sending 39________ messages to him.
24. I have 40________ new computer. It costs me $8000.
25. We found 41________ bottles of Vodka in every cupboard.
26. 42________ spider has eight legs.
27. Have you just had 43________ orange juice?
28. I like to read 44________ books about 45________ philosophy.
29. Is your brother 46________ man enough to join 47________ army?
30. Tina has just gone to 48________ supermarket and she will be back in an hour.
31. What is 49________ sex of your baby? Its 50________ boy.

124

APPENDIX 4: Interview

Interview with Teacher Participants

TQ1. Do you think that the knowledge of English articles from the coursebooks was
introduced clearly, systematically and easy for students to remember?
TQ2. Do you realize any mistakes from the coursebooks concerning the system of
English articles?
TQ3. Do you think that it is necessary to use the articles correctly? Or is the
communicative aim more important?
TQ4. What teaching methods have you applied so far to teach English articles at EF,
USSH?
TQ5. Do you think that method is effective?
TQ6. What do you often do when you find your students making errors with English
articles? If they make those errors in other courses (not Advanced Grammar), would
you do the same?
TQ7. Do you think that it is easy for students at EF, USSH to master the system of
English articles?
TQ8. In your opinion, what is the main cause for students difficulties in learning the
English articles? (The reasons come from the coursebooks? No suitable teaching
method? The complexity of the system of English articles? Or L1 interference?

----------------------------Interview with Student Participants

SQ1. According to your understanding, how many types of articles are there in
English language? Please classify them.
SQ2. What do you think about the importance of using correct articles in real life?
SQ3. What is your biggest obstacle in mastering the system of English articles?
SQ4. Do you think that the coursebooks or your teachers have helped you to
overcome that obstacle?
125

APPENDIX 5: Answer keys for the Proficiency Test

1. language is a great invention of humankind.
1

[1ZA]

[4IA]

[1ZA]

2. In the 1960s, there were lots of protests against the Vietnam War.
4

[5DA]

[2DA]

3. I saw a strange man standing at the gate.

6

[3IA]

[2DA]

4. The favorite food of the jaguar is the wild pig.

8

[1DA]

[1DA]

5. Last month we went to a wedding. The Bride was beautiful.

10

[3IA]

11

[2DA]

6. The horse I bet on is still in front.

12

13

[2DA]

[5ZA]

7. love and hate are two extremes.

14

15

[1ZA]

[1ZA]

16

[4ZA]

8. This room has a length of 12 meters.

17

[4IA]

9. The evening sky was really beautiful.

18

[2DA]

10. I dont have a clue. (= I dont know at all.)

19

[1IA]

11. Dr. Engelbeg, physician to Marilyn Monroe, would not comment on her death.
20

[3ZA]

12. All of a sudden, he woke up from his comma.

21

[5IA]

13. Do you have a can opener?

22

[4IA]

14. You are imagining things. All your fears are in the mind.
23

24

[3ZA]

15. I ordered a bottle of wine for us.

25

[3IA]

126

[2DA]

16. Reading a novel is a good way to relax.

26

27

[1IA]

[4IA]

17. Id love to travel down the Nile as far as Luxor.

28

29

[2DA]

[3ZA]

18. He is always on edge.

30

[5ZA]

19. I live in the neighborhood. (=I live around here.)

31

[1DA]

20. The telephone is a very useful invention.

32

33

[1DA]

[4IA]

21. Im in the mood to eat a hamburger.

34

35

[5DA]

[3IA]

22. Writing letters is a pain in the neck for me.

36

37

[4ZA]

[5IA]

38

[5DA]

23. I keep sending messages to him.

39

[3ZA]

24. I have a new computer. It costs me $8,000.

40

[3IA]

25. We found bottles of Volka in every cupboard.

41

[3ZA]

26. A spider has eight legs.

42

[1IA]

27. Have you just had orange juice?

43

[4ZA]

28. I like to read books about philosophy.

44

45

[3ZA]

[1ZA]

29. Is your brother man enough to join the army?

46

47

[1ZA]

[5DA]

30. Tina has just gone to the supermarket and she will be back in an hour.
48

[2DA]

31. What is the sex of your baby? Its a boy.

49

[2DA]

50

[4IA]

127