| This dissertation explores the ways in which adult second language (L2) acquirers handle conceptual distinctions, such as definiteness and its basic instantiation in the form of articles. The research is motivated by previous studies of L2 acquisition of English articles which report difficulty with article use across L2 learners from different native language (L1) backgrounds, but especially from article-lacking L1s.;Drawing on insights that grammatical meaning can be the source of difficulty behind target-like form-meaning connections, this study specifically investigated if and how L1 speakers of article-lacking languages express definiteness and its meanings, primarily when they use articles in L2 English. The study employed a mixed-methods research design. The participants were 63 adult ESL learners, native speakers of Slavic languages that do not employ articles. To assess the process of establishing form-meaning connections in L2 English, the study utilized a battery of written tasks involving expression of meaning at a discourse level and adopted a differentiated view of articles in order to go beyond the simple distinction between the definite the and the indefinite a/an with a view of considering the complex meanings of articles. The study also provided a learner-internal perspective through the use of qualitative methods such as verbal protocols and discourse analysis.;The results from multi-faceted Rasch measurement, frequency analysis, and retrospective data analysis revealed that different article uses posed unequal challenge to the participants. Most notably, first mention specific contexts were shown to be particularly problematic in terms of article use in view of the dynamic feature of what is assumed to be known to the hearer/reader in English. The results indicated that the participants' article use was often driven by speaker-specific assumptions.;The findings from the present study imply that the notion of familiarity, understood as the assessment of what is known to the hearer, may need to be isolated as one of the potential suspects responsible for the difficulty that English articles pose for L1 Slavic learners. These findings lend support to the view that full acquisition of grammatical elements, such as English articles, hinges on conceptual restructuring from the L1 to the L2. |
