Grammar and the Chinese ESL Learner: A Longitudinal Study on the ...

6. What are the general features of noun phrases in the IL of a Chinese ESL learner?

7. What syntactic locations are associated with the correct use of different types of articles?

8. What types of article errors are committed by a Chinese ESL learner?

9. What syntactic locations are associated with the misuse of different types of articles?

10. What semantic functions of articles are used by a Chinese ESL learner?

11. What is the general relation between articles, article-related determiners, and other types of determiners?

12. What is the ratio of articles to noun phrases?

13. What is the specific relation between different types of articles and their respectively related determiners?

14. What strategies might a Chinese ESL learner use in the acquisition of the English article system?

15. How might L1 influence L2 in the acquisition of articles?

Definition of the Terms

Acquisition: A continuum ranging from the first appearance of a specific feature to the accurate use of that feature shown in the participant’s performance data.

Acquisition sequence: The stages of acquisition through which a learner passes in acquiring specific grammatical structures. In this study, this term has the same meaning as “developmental pattern” (R. Ellis, 1994), which includes “developmental order” (R. Ellis) or “acquisition order” (Larsen-Freeman & Long, 1991) and “developmental sequence” (R. Ellis; Larsen-Freeman & Long).

Article system: A linguistic system consisting of the definite article the, the indefinite articles a and an, and the zero articleØ.