Acquisition sequence of four categories of non-generic use of the English definite article the by Turkish speakers

Bütün dillerde edinilmesi kolay görünen dilsel yapılar vardır, fakat edinimlerindeki zorluk işlevlerinde yatmaktadır, bunun da anlaşılması karmaşık olabilir. İngilizce’deki the artikeli bunun bir örneğidir. İkinci dil olarak İngilizce öğrenirken, the artikelinin işlevlerinin edinilmesi, Türkçe’de the artikelinin karşılığı bulunmaması ve the artikelinin anlamı ve işlevinin yapısal ve pragmatik öğelerle belirlenmesinden dolayı, ana dili Türkçe olanlar için problem yaratabilir. Bu çalışma, İngilizce yeterlilikleri farklı seviyelerinde bulunan Türk öğrencilerin genelleyici olmayan (non-generic) the artikel kullanımını 4 farklı kategoride araştırmaktadır. Veriler, Liu ve Gleason’un (2002) geliştirdiği anket kullanılarak toplanmıştır. Ankette, öğrencilerden 91 cümlede gerekli yere the artikelini yerleştirmesi istenmiştir. Bulgular, the artikelinin kullanımında yeterliliğin genel dil seviyesine göre artan bir mod izlemediği ve the’nın farklı kullanım kategorilerinin zorluk hiyerarşisinin katılımcıların yeterlilik seviyelerine göre değiştiğini göstermektedir. The artikelinin yetkin kullanımı ve anlaşılması, anlamın akıcı ve eksiksiz ifade edilmesine katkıda bulunacağından, Türkiye’de yabancı dil olarak İngilizceye maruz kalma ve İngilizcenin öğretilmesine ilişkin sonuçlar elde edilebilir.

In all languages there are linguistic forms that seem simple to acquire, but difficulty in their acquisition can be posed by their function, which might be too complex to understand. The definite article the in English is one example of this. When learning English as a second language, the acquisition of the functions of the definite article can present problems for speakers of Turkish, a language which does not possess a definite article and in which the function and meaning of the is determined by syntactic and pragmatic elements. This study investigates the non-generic use of the in four different categories by Turkish speakers at different levels of proficiency in English. Data were collected by administering a questionnaire originally developed by Liu and Gleason (2002), in which respondents were required to supply the definite article where necessary in 91 sentences. The findings indicate that proficiency in article use does not increase in a linear fashion in accordance with an increase in the general level of proficiency, and that the difficulty hierarchy of different categories of use for the varies with the proficiency level of participants. As the proficient use and comprehension of the definite article contributes to a fluent and exact expression of meaning, implications can be drawn with reference to instruction of and exposure to English as a foreign language in Turkey.

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