Introduction 9

Chapter 1
Articles: Descriptive approaches 15
1.1. Introduction 15
1.2. The classification of articles as parts of speech and sentences 16
1.3. The indefinite article . 19
1.4. The definite article 22
1.5. The zero article / bare noun phrase . 26
1.6. Conclusions 29

Chapter 2
Key concepts in the study of articles 31
2.1. Introduction 31
2.2. Reference . 31
2.3. Information flow 34
2.4. Countability 35
2.4.1. The count / non-count distinction 35
2.4.2. Implications for L2 acquisition  40
2.4.3. Some uses of articles are very difficult to explain 41
2.5. Definiteness 44
2.6. Conclusions 47

Chapter 3
Other approaches to articles 49
3.1. Introduction 49
3.2. Socio-pragmatic approaches . 49
3.3. Cognitive accounts of definite article use 51
3.4. The generative tradition . 56
3.5. Corpus-based perspectives 58
3.6. Conclusions 60

Chapter 4
Articles as a source of difficulty in SLA 63
4.1. Introduction 63
4.2. Theoretical approaches to difficulty 64
4.2.1. Difficulty as cognitive complexity 66
4.2.2. Feature-related difficulty 68
4.2.3. Context-related difficulty 68
4.2.4. Learner-related difficulty 69
4.2.5. Some final words on objectivity . 70
4.2.6. Articles and feature-related difficulty . 71
4.2.7. Salience 73
4.2.8. Context- and learner-related difficulty 76
4.2.9. Language patterns versus metalinguistic propositions and rule difficulty . 78
4.3. Implicit versus explicit learning and knowledge 79
4.4. Conclusions 86
4.4.1. High difficulty level 87
4.4.2. Implicit learning 87
4.4.3. Limited usefulness of metalinguistic propositions . 88

Chapter 5
Articles in SLA research  91
5.1. Introduction 91
5.2. Crosslinguistic aspects 92
5.3. Semantic universals and the acquisition of articles 94
5.4. The sequence of acquisition of articles in L1 and L2 English 99
5.5. Studies on countability 103
5.6. Abstractness 105
5.7. Articles and learners’ interim rules 106
5.8. Type of task 107
5.9. Lexical chunks . 108
5.10. Conclusions 109

Chapter 6
Articles and ESL teaching 111
6.1. Introduction 111
6.2. Articles and the efficacy of corrective feedback 112
6.3. Other treatments and recommendations concerning the teaching of articles . 117
6.4. The treatment of articles in teaching materials and pedagogical grammars . 123
6.5. Conclusions 126

Chapter 7
Formulaicity 129
7.1 Introduction 129
7.2 Speaker-external formulaicity 132
7.3 Speaker-internal formulaicity 136
7.3.1 The idiom principle 136
7.3.2 Theoretical support for the formulaic nature of language processing 140
7.3.3 Empirical evidence supporting the formulaic nature of language processing in native speakers 142
7.4 Formulaicity, frequency and recent trends in linguistics . 147
7.5 Formulaic language in L2 speakers . 150
7.5.1 Speaker-external aspects 150
7.5.2 Speaker-internal aspects 151
7.6 Formulaicity and second language teaching: A brief history 159
7.7 Articles and formulaicity . 160
7.8 Conclusions 162

Chapter 8
Investigating article use by advanced Polish learners of EFL: The role of formulaicity 165
8.1 Introduction 165
8.1.1 Purpose and rationale . 166
8.1.2 Approach . 168
8.2 Study 1 168
8.2.1 Participants 168
8.2.2 Instrument and procedure 169
8.2.3 Analysis, results and discussion . 174
8.3 Study 2 180
8.3.1 Participants 180
8.3.2 Instrument and procedure 180
8.3.3 Results and discussion . 190

Conclusion . 197

References . 201

Appendix 1 221

Appendix 2 . 223

Appendix 3 . 227