On The Framework Of The Two English Articles In Second Language Acquisition Research

The present study attempts to look into the problem of resetting parameter values in article choice of Chinese L2 learners of English. We use forced elicitation tasks to test the reliability of Ionin et al.'s (2004) framework and as a more detailed analysis of the acquisition of English article, we test the reliability of Ko et al.'s (2006) framework.Put under Ionin et al.'s (2004) Fluctuation Hypothesis, Ionin et al.'s (2004) framework is concerned with the semantic parameters of definiteness and specificity. Ko et al.'s (2006) framework is concerned with the semantic parameters of partitivity and specificity in indefinite contexts.Statistics in the present paper show that Chinese L2 learners fluctuate between definiteness and specificity. The article choice parameters have not yet been correctly set by Chinese L2 learners. Ionin et al.'s (2004) framework is supported by our study. Statistics in the present paper show that Chinese L2 learners do not fluctuate between partitivity and specificity in indefinite contexts. They tend to rely on specificity to decide the use of a, the reasons of which may include L1 transfer. Thus, Ko et al.'s (2006) framework is not supported by our study.In the discussion chapter, we discuss the relationship between the semantic factors and the two frameworks. The underlying relationship of presupposition, shared set and the semantic factors is also discussed. Most importantly, we discuss the factors which may influence English article choice among Chinese L2 learners, including the L1 transfer effect. The effect of relative clause modification is also discussed in this chapter.