ACQUISITION SEQUENCE OF FOUR CATEGORIES OF NON-GENERIC USE OF THE ENGLISH DEFINITE ARTICLE THE BY TURKISH SPEAKERS

In all languages there are linguistic forms that seem simple to acquire, but difficulty in their acquisition can be posed by their function, which might be too complex to understand. The definite article the in English is one example of this. When learning English as a second language, the acquisition of the functions of the definite article can present problems for speakers of Turkish, a language which does not possess a definite article and in which the function and meaning of the is determined by syntactic and pragmatic elements. This study investigates the non-generic use of the in four different categories by Turkish speakers at different levels of proficiency in English. Data were collected by administering a questionnaire originally developed by Liu and Gleason (2002), in which respondents were required to supply the definite article where necessary in 91 sentences. The findings indicate that proficiency in article use does not increase in a linear fashion in accordance with an increase in the general level of proficiency, and that the difficulty hierarchy of different categories of use for the varies with the proficiency level of participants. As the proficient use and comprehension of the definite article contributes to a fluent and exact expression of meaning, implications can be drawn with reference to instruction of and exposure to English as a foreign language in Turkey.