Explicit Article Instruction in Definiteness, Specificity, Genericity and Perception

Article Pedagogy: Encouraging Links between Linguistic Theory and Teaching Practice

“…are not caused by parametric differences (Ionin et al, 2009). Snape and Yusa (2013) found no effect for instruction on definiteness, specificity, and genericity, though the participants did improve on their perception. They conclude that articles are very complex, compared to other properties of grammar, and the instruction period was too short.…”

“…Just one study found a short-term improvement following instruction on genericity (Snape et al, 2016;Umeda et al, under review) with highly proficient learners who received a large quantity of instruction that, arguably, would not be replicable in real classrooms. Three other intervention studies (Snape and Yusa, 2013;Sabir, 2015;Lopez, under review) found no such benefit for instruction on specificity. It appears that instruction on specificity does not improve learners' article knowledge.…”

“…They conclude that articles are very complex, compared to other properties of grammar, and the instruction period was too short. For genericity, Snape and Yusa (2013) added that learners may be basing article choice on noun countability rather than genericity, and suggested that instruction should focus on the difference between indefinite generics and definite generics. note that the instruction group improved significantly on three post-tests targeting genericity (at 3 weeks, 9 weeks, and 12 weeks).…”

“…12. The difference between NPGs and SLGs and the restrictions on article use with each type of generic.Some recent intervention studies(Snape and Yusa, 2013; Author B, 2015;Snape et al, 2016; Author A, under review; Umeda et al, under review) have applied this theoretical information to classroom instruction, as discussed next.Recent research in article pedagogyThe resurgence of interest in article acquisition in the last decade, arguably prompted byIonin et al's (2004) seminal theoretical work, coincides with a corresponding resurgence of interest in article pedagogy. Several intervention studies have explored alternative methods of teaching articles in the hope of overcoming the well-attested difficulties experienced by English L2 learners.Snape and Yusa's (2013) pilot study provides one such example.…”

“…The experimental group received two 70-minute instruction sessions on article semantics (one on definiteness/specificity and another on genericity) and a third 70-minute session on the perception of articles, over a period of three weeks. The control group received no instruction.In their instruction,Snape and Yusa (2013) focused on how definiteness and specificity function in English. Their instruction associated specificity with speaker knowledge, and whether they have a particular individual in mind.…”