大学生英语冠词误用研究毕业论文
2022-06-11 09:06
论文总字数：22193字
摘 要
冠词是英语语言系统中不可缺少的组成部分，是区别于汉语等其他语种的特点之一。冠词的正确使用对于第二语言学习者来说难度较大。本文旨在通过研究南京工业大学英语1102班24名学生样本在冠词单项选择测试中的表现，利用合理的数据采集和分析手段，探究南京工业大学英语专业学生存在英语冠词误用情况、原因以及提升冠词使用正确率的方法。实验将以24名学生的TEM-4 成绩作为重要参考，将学生分为英语能力高、低 两组，并在各组内分实验组和对照组，对样本进行接受专项训练前后的对比分析，探寻英语能力水平与冠词掌握精度之间的关系；专项训练是否有助于大学生掌握冠词运用；以及学生英语水平和是否接受专项训练之间是否有交互效应这三个主要问题。最终期待给学生和教师提供有效地建议，帮助大学生更好地掌握冠词运用。
关键词：大学生、冠词误用、分析研究
1. Introduction
Articles consist of the definite article “the” , indefinite article “a(n)”，and the zero(or null)article “/ ”．In grammar，they are function words meaning “to link” or “to joint”. Article is not an easy point for EFL learners to command; even there is no exception for the most advanced non-native speakers. Moreover, another obvious issue is learners may be affected by their mother tongue, which lacks articles. So do Chinese English learners．
- Need for the study
It has been a long time since articles were systematically studied by scholars in the field of linguistics. However, studies about the use of Articles haven’t been done in depth. Therefore, these studies lack an all-round understanding of higher learners’ command of Articles. Furthermore, despite some Chinese scholars have done some studies about it, most of them would rather pay too much attention to claim how to use articles than analyze or explain it in details. Recently，some scholars in China are interested in studying the acquisition of Articles in English．For example, Li and Cai(2001) a corpus-based method to search Chinese EFL learners’ article use．Zhu(2002) also applied the theory of Parameter setting to the structure of English grammar with the acquisition of English articles． The limitations of all studies above are illuminating in number amp; scale of the empirical researches．
1.2 Research purpose
The purpose of the study is to investigate how the certain Chinese EFL learners command the English articles and how to improve their accuracies. Then based on the results of the data analysis, some practical advice may be put forward to teachers and learners, and hope the suggestions we provide may help them polish their English in Articles.
2. Literature Review
In this chapter, we will review the theoretical structure of the study and compare some similar studies in general. In addition, we are going to quote some definitions of key concepts concerned to the study. Also some other information will be presented to provide background about the study for a better understanding of it．
2.1 Theoretical foundations
2.1.1 Definitions of Key Concepts
The aim of the study is to work out the misuse of Articles by students in institutions of higher learning. Before the study, there is a necessity to explain the definitions of some key terms．
Article, which consists of definite article(the) and indefinite articles(a，an) , is a concept from traditional and structural grammar. These are grouped with determiners and a／an quantifiers.
2.2．Definition and Category of English Articles
The term "article” is a translation from the Latin word articulus．And the English article system includes at least two kinds of article: the definite article “the” and the indefinite article “a/an”．The definite article , “the” is a weak form of the numeral one．In general, “A” and “one” can be replaced by each other．The definite article comes from that．And today we still cannot tell so many differences between “the” and “that”.
The Encyclopedia of Linguistic definites that：
“Article is a type of function word. ’’ They function as(central)determiners in noun phrases．’’ “zero article’’ sometimes refers to noun phrases with no expressed determiner e.g. indefinite nouns in the plural. The Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics gives us explanation: “Article is a word which is used before a noun, and which shows whether the noun refers to something definite or something indefinite.”
Zero(or null) Article means “the” and “a” re missed or do not appear before proper nouns，material nouns，abstract nouns，and plural countable nouns． A few scholars hold the view that the omission of “article” in all these four cases should be zero—article. In this case, on the anther hand, some others, they consider no article is before proper nouns；while there is a kind of article: zero-article in the other three cases that articles don’t appear at all．The debates on the definitions of the category and functions of English articles have been lasting for quite a long time and we reach some agreements in terminology.
Recently，some scholars in China are interested in studying the acquisition of Articles in English．For example, Li and Cai(2001), a corpus-based method to search Chinese EFL learners’ article use．Zhu(2002), also applied the theory of Parameter setting to the structure of English grammar with the acquisition of English articles． The limitations of all studies above are limited in number amp; scale of the empirical researches
3. Research Methodology
3.1 Research Questions
Getting some reference from Bickerton’s and Huebner’s researches on article system，this study investigated the misuse of English articles by certain Chinese EFL learners. Also, we absorbed some advantage from Huebner’s semantic classification for the English article system to solve the following research questions：
Question 1：Are there any relations between Chinese EFL learners’ English proficiency and their commands of articles?
Question 2: Do specific exercises training and teachers’ explanations help Chinese EFL learners correct errors when using the English articles?
Question 3：Do students differ significantly in their performance on this article test after specific exercises training and teachers’ explanations?
3.2. Variables and operational definitions
The participants are English majors in Nanjing Tech University. In this thesis an empirical research was conducted to collect data about the participants’ learning of English articles．The purpose of the study is to analyze how these learners do in using English articles and work out solutions to help them polish their English on article using． If time permitting, a longitudinal design is better. While without time permission, we prefer a cross-sectional research. 24 Participants in two levels of proficiencies were picked by chance , who are divided in 2 groups with 12 in each．
To meet the needs of the study , we decided to combine the quantitive study with qualitive study．Thus we can get all-round information about the problems occurred and the solutions which might be efficient. Quantitive data analysis is the major method we employed in this study, for that the answers of three main questions of the study should be objective and experimental. Thus the results we worked out may be more reliable and particularistic. On the other hand，the affected factors that participants select their choices cannot be fully explored by the analysis of quantitive data．Terefore, qualitative research is also a vital supplementary tool to illuminate the quantitative results．
3.3. Subjects
We collected Cross-sectional data from 24 Chinese learners of English in the study．The students were selected by chance with different levels of language proficiency according to their scores in TEM-4．(They were divided in low level and high level, in which scores below 60 were the Level 1(Low proficiency), scores over 70 were Level 2(High proficiency)). And each group will be divided into 2 smaller groups. A between-group post test will be given after a specific training on articles. (Students who got a post test marked 1, and the others marked 2.)
3.4 Data Analysis
The task employed multiple choices to collect data. Multiple Choices, a common form to test the practice use of articles is an efficient way to get data. The items were selected from the grammar books about TEM-4 and TEM-8．In the design of the multiple choice, items were picked under the guide of by Huebner’s classification and no idiomatic expressions and conventional usages were included. Thus it may decrease the effects caused by the subjects’ knowledge of the usages of English articles and finally increase the accuracy of the study result. In this test，there were 20 multiple choices. Each item counts 1 point, thus the whole part counts 20 points. That is, the full mark of the test is 20 points. The ANSWERS is the only judgment we use to evaluate the accuracy of participants’ answers. And a post test was employed after a specific training focusing on articles.
Total number of participants: 24
High proficiency: 12
Got training: 6
No training: 6
Low proficiency: 12
Got training: 6
No training: 6
score | Training | proficiency | |
1 | 17 | 1 | 1 |
2 | 18 | 1 | 1 |
3 | 19 | 1 | 1 |
4 | 17 | 1 | 1 |
5 | 16 | 1 | 1 |
6 | 18 | 1 | 1 |
7 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
8 | 13 | 2 | 1 |
9 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
10 | 12 | 2 | 1 |
11 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
12 | 10 | 2 | 1 |
13 | 7 | 1 | 2 |
14 | 8 | 1 | 2 |
15 | 9 | 1 | 2 |
16 | 8 | 1 | 2 |
17 | 10 | 1 | 2 |
18 | 8 | 1 | 2 |
19 | 6 | 2 | 2 |
20 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
21 | 6 | 2 | 2 |
22 | 5 | 2 | 2 |
23 | 6 | 2 | 2 |
24 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
We use a Two-Way –ANOVA to compare the differences between levels of between-groups factors. In the study, there are four groups of ESL learners who have got a multiple choices test on Articles. Half of the learners got a specific training on it; the other half didn’t. The learners also vary by language proficiency.
Independent variables: Training (1=yes, 2=no), language proficiency (1=high, 2=low)
Dependent variables: Test scores
Descriptive Statistics
Dependent variables: Test scores
Training taken Proficiency
1=yes,2=no 1=high,2=low | Mean | Std. Deviation | N |
1 1 2 Total | 17.50 8.33 12.92 | 1.049 1.033 4.889 | 6 6 12 |
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