A research paper entitled by the L2 acquisition of English articles by Arabic speakers of Libya

Abstract EN

Introduction This paper will discuss the reasons why Libyan learners of English have difficulties with articles in English as well as the kinds of errors they make with articles.

The English article system is widely used in the English language.

It consists of the definite, the indefinite article and the zero article.

The Arabic language in contrast has only a definite article which is al- (أل).

This disparity leads to error making for Libyan second language learners of English.

Articles (a, an, the, and zero) in English are used frequently as function words (Celce-Murcia & Larsen-Freeman, 1999).

Function words according to Kharma and Hajjaj (1989) are words that are used more than lexical words to point to the elements in language or to the speakers and hearers’ role, less often to refer to things and actions in the actual world.

Swan (2005, p.

51) defines articles as ‘‘small words that are often used at the beginning of noun phrases’’.

He adds that the exact usage of the articles is considered to be the most problematic points in English grammar.

Arab learners face difficulties when using articles in English and make several errors (Kharma, Hajjaj, 1989).

Examples as: *The philosophy is not a science.

*All men fear the death (Kharma, Hajjaj, 1989).

Arab learners commit such errors with articles due to some reasons.

Swan and Smith (2001) justify that there is no indefinite article in Arabic, and the definite article has a wide range of uses which is unlike the uses found in English.

The indefinite article is the cause for many problems because it is widely dropped out when used with singular and plural countables as in,