Acquisition of the English Article System by Speakers of Polish in ESL and EFL Settings

Abstract

This paper examines the second language (L2) developmental sequence of article acquisition by adult language learners in two different environments: English as a Second Language (ESL), and English as a Foreign Language (EFL). On the basis of an existing classification of English articles (a, the, zero), data on article usage were obtained from adult learners who were native speakers of Polish, a language that has no articles or article-like morphemes. Data analyses led to some limited conclusions about the order of acquisition of the English article system, and may contribute to a more detailed understanding of the nature of interlanguage representations.