Percentage Scores of L2 Learners from Saudi Arabia and the UK - Essay Example

TABLES INTRODUCTION The following tables show the article selection percentage in four different contexts: the Definite Count context, definite mass context, Indefinite Count context and indefinite mass context respectively. The percentage scores of NS (Native speakers) who served as the control group are recorded. Similarly, the percentage scores of L2 learners from Saudi Arabia and L2 learners from UK are also recorded. The former group is a case of classroom only instruction and the latter is a case of mixed immersion + classroom instruction. The scores of all these different groups are recorded separately for the use of the, a/an and Null article. All the functions of the definite, indefinite and null article are taken into consideration in the experiment. TABLE – I Table 1 Article selection (%) in definite count contexts   Definite count   Anaphoric   General Knowledge   Association   the a/an Ø   the a/an Ø   the a/an Ø NS 88 13 0   100 0 0   81 13 6 L2_SA 46 33 21   54 17 29   46 29 25 L2_UK 79 13 8   79 13 8   79 8 13 OBSERVATIONS: A -1. Performance of Native speakers (Anaphoric) There is 88% use of definite article the. There is only 13% use of indefinite articles a/an. Score of null article in definite count context is zero. A – 2. Performance of L2_ SA learners (Anaphoric) Less than half, that is, only 46% use of definite article is seen. Use of indefinite articles is one -third, that is 33%. The null article is also used in 21% cases. A – 3. Performance of L2_UK learners (Anaphoric) Most of the learners (79%) use the definite article ‘the’. Only 13% use of a/an is observed. Article use is omitted in very few cases ( 8% ) ANALYSIS: Most native speakers use the definite article ‘the’ correctly in count contexts. Only few have used the indefinite article and they have not used the null article anywhere. The L2_SA learners show only 46% correct use of the definite article, that is almost 50% less than that of the native speakers. These learners have used the indefinite article in one-third cases. They also show a tendency to omit the use of any article in a considerable number of instances. The performance of this group can be compared to the performance of L2_UK learners. This is a mixed immersion + Classroom instruction group.. The scores of this group almost match the scores of the control group of NS. They exhibit similar scores in the use of definite and indefinite articles. Only in negligible cases, the null article is used by this group. B 1. Performance of NS (General Knowledge) Where ‘the’ is used to express definiteness of a unique entity that is known to the speakers from general knowledge, the control group of native speakers shows 100% correct us. They have not used either the indefinite articles (a/an) or the null article anywhere. B-2. Performance of L2_ SA learners (general knowledge): This group shows 54% correct responses, that is almost half those of the control group. However, 13% use of indefinite article is also observed. Use of null articles is negligible, only 8%. B 3. Performance of L2_UK learners (general Knowledge): Majority responses (79%) are correct. Few instances of indefinite article (13%) and very little use of null article is seen. ANALYSIS: use of definite article ‘the’ for unique entities is clear for native speakers. Transfer of knowledge of al- is observed in case of both learner groups, particularly the L2_UK group. But both learner groups have used the indefinite and null articles for unique entities, unlike the native speakers. The difference between the scores of learner groups and control group is not very significant. C 1. Performance of NS - (association): Expression of definiteness of a NP that has not been mentioned before, but which is characteristically associated with another NP which may be indefinite, seems to be the most difficult to understand on the whole. 81% use of definite articles is observed in case of native speakers. At the same time, 13% use of indefinite article and 8% use of null article is also there. C 2. Performance of L2_SA learners (association): Only 46% use of definite articles is there. There is significant use of indefinite articles (29%) and also that of null article ( 21% ). C 3. Performance of L2_UK learners (association): This group matches the performance of the NS. There is very little difference between the two (81-79= 3). The use of indefinite articles is only 8%, that is, even less than that of the control group, which is 13%. However, 13% use of null article is also observed. ANALYSIS: The difference in the scores of control group and L2_Sa learners is quite significant. The scores of control group and L2_UK group are almost similar and they have performed better than the NS in case of use of indefinite article in the association category. CONCLUSION: Except in case of use of definite article ‘the’ to express definiteness of unique entities, even native speakers show a tendency to use the indefinite or null article instead of ‘the’. Although half the responses of L2_SA learners is the choice of definite article in all three categories, considerable use of indefinite article and null article is observed in their case. L2_UK group is comparatively the better of the two learner groups. In the third category, their performance is better than that of the NS. Hence, we can say that definiteness is successfully transferred to L2 grammatically b7y both the groups, L2_SA and L2_UK. Immersion + classroom instruction has proved to be a better environment because L2_UK group almost matches the performance of NS in every category. Difference from NS in treatment of indefinites is not very significant, particularly in case of L2_UK group. Table 2 Article selection (%) in definite mass contexts Definite mass   Anaphoric   General Knowledge   Association   the a/an Ø   the a/an Ø   the a/an Ø NS 88 0 13   100 0 0   100 0 0 L2_SA 58 21 21   33 33 33   54 29 17 L2_UK 63 13 25   75 13 13   63 17 21 OBSERVATIONS: D 1. Performance of NS (anaphoric): There is 88% use of definite article. The indefinite article is not used in mass context. In 13% cases, omission of article is observed. D 2. Performance of L2_SA learners (anaphoric): Only 58% use of ‘the’ is observed. The score of indefinite articles and null article is equal, that is, 215. D 3. Performance of L2_Uk learners (anaphoric): We see 63% use of ‘the’. There is 13% use of a/an. Use of null article is 25%. ANALYSIS: The indefinite article is not used in the mass context by native speakers. Correct use of definite article ‘the’ is substantial but in some cases, the null article is also used. A vast difference is observed in the performance of L2_Sa learners and NS in the use of definite articles in mass context. Choice of indefinite article and null article is also significant in both categories. E 1. Performance of NS (general knowledge): In mass context, 100% use of definite article is observed. The native speakers have not used the indefinite article at all. The articles are not omitted anywhere, E 3. Performance of L2_SA (general knowledge): We observe equal distribution of percentage scores for definite, indefinite and null articles (33% in each case). E 4. Performance of L2_UK (general knowledge): 75% use of definite article ‘the’ is observed. There is equal choice of indefinite and null articles (13%). ANALYSIS: Perfectly correct results are obtained by native speakers. They have confidently used definite article ‘the’ wherever necessary in definite mass contexts. L2_SA learners have used as many definite articles as indefinite and null articles. Performance of L2_UK learners is promising. 75% use of ‘the’ leads to a difference of 25 when compared with native speakers. Equal instances of use of indefinite and null articles are also observed. F 1. Performance of NS (Association): There is 100% use of definite article ‘the’. There is no use of indefinite and null articles. F 2. Performance of L2_SA learners (association): There is 54% use of definite article ‘the’. There is 29% use of indefinite articles a/an. Use of null article is 17%. F 3. Performance of L2_UK learners (association): We see 63% use of definite article ‘the’. There is only 17% use of a/an. Use of null article is 21%. ANALYSIS: Correct use of definite article ‘the’ in definite mass contexts when there is no prior reference but the NP is associated with another indefinite NP, is evident from the table. The score of L2_SA learners in this case is almost half that of the native speakers. There is greater tendency to select the indefinite article a/an than the null article. The difference in the score of L2_UK learners and NS is quite significant. Unlike the L2_SA learners, the L2_UK learners prefer the use of null article more than the indefinite articles a/an. COMPARISON OF TABLE- I AND TABLE –II: The native speakers have a similar score (88%) in the anaphoric use of definite article ‘the’. in both the contexts, count and mass. But in case of count context, they have never used the null article and in case of mass context, they have never used the indefinite article. They have used the indefinite articles few times in count context and the null article few times in mass context. The native speakers have shown 100% correct use of definite article ‘the’ in both contexts, mass and count., when definiteness is known by general knowledge. Also, when definiteness can be traced to association, their use of ‘the’ is correct in mass context. However, they have sometimes used the indefinite articles in this case, in count context. The L2_SA learners show maximum variation in all cases, compared to the native speakers. In case of anaphoric use of definite article, the difference is greater in count context (88-46=42) than in mass context (88-58=30). Where general knowledge is concerned, their performance is average in count context. Although the definite article has been used in greater number of cases, the use of indefinite and null articles is also considerable. They seem to show the poorest performance in mass context, where the score is similar for all the articles. Again, the use of definite article by association is more or less similar to their performance in use by general knowledge. In this case however, they show a greater score in use of indefinite article than null article. CONCLUSION: Native speakers exhibit correct use of definite article ‘the’ where definiteness is expressed as a result of general knowledge or where definiteness is not mentioned before but is associated with another indefinite NP. There is little confusion between use of anaphoric ‘the’ and null article. The L2_SA speakers have responded correctly in substantial number of instances, in case of first and third categories (anaphoric and association respectively). In anaphoric use, they have shown equal scores regarding use of a/an and null articles. They seem to be most confused in the general knowledge category. They have simply inserted all 3 types of articles in equal number of gaps. The reason cannot be traced to some deliberate choice on their part. It can only be due to lack of confidence. The L2_UK learners exhibit a slightly better performance. However, they show a greater tendency to select the null article, especially in case of first and third categories. The L2_UK group has clearly performed better. The difference between their scores and the scores of native speakers is least in all categories. Their performance is better indefinite count context. They have shown better performance than the native speakers in definite count context, where the indefinite article is used in case of association. TABLE –III Table 3 Article selection (%) in indefinite count contexts   Indefinite count   Specific   Non-specific   Quantific   the a/an Ø   the a/an Ø   the a/an Ø NS 0 100 0   0 100 0   6 94 0 L2_SA 38 46 17   50 29 21   33 38 29 L2_UK 54 33 13   46 50 4   33 58 8 OBSERVATIONS: G 1. Performance of NS (specific): There is 100% use of a/an when the NP is not mentioned before but is specific. The definite articles and null article are not used before nouns that are not mentioned previously, but which are specific. G 2. Performance of L2_SA learners (specific): Although 46% use of indefinite articles is exhibited, the definite article is also used to a great extent (38%). 17% cases of use of null article are also observed. G 3. Performance of L2_UK learners (specific): In a great number of instances (54%), definite article ‘the’ is used In one-third cases only (33%) the indefinite article is used. 13% use of null article is observed. ANALYSIS: The difference between the scores of L2_SA learners and that of control group is significant. Both the learner groups do show a tendency to use definite article in this category. Use of null article to a small degree is observed in learner groups unlike control group. H 1 Performance of NS (Non-specific): 100% correct use of indefinite articles a/an is seen in NS. There is no use of definite and null articles. H 2. Performance of L2_SA (non-specific): As much as 50% use of definite article ‘the’ is observed Out of the remaining 50%, use of indefinite article is 29% and that of null article is 21%. H 3. Performance of L2_UK (non-specific): 50% correct use of indefinite article is observed. However, in 46% cases, the definite article is used. The use of null article is only 4%. ANALYSIS: The native speakers have confidence in the use of indefinite article when it is not mentioned before and is non-specific for the speakers. L2_SA learners use definite article ‘the’ I half the instances, instead of the indefinite article. Out of the remaining half, three-fifths of the blanks are filled by the indefinite article and two-fifths by the null article. This shows a greater preference for the definite article on their part, and considerable use of null article also. Although the L2_UK learners are correct in use of indefinite article in 50% cases, most of the remaining half are definite articles. Use of null article is negligible. There is o significant difference in the choice of definite and indefinite articles. I 1 Performance of native speakers ( Quantific ): There is 94% use of indefinite article. Only 6% use of definite article is observed. Null article is not used at all. I 2. Performance of L2_SA learners ( quantific ): A vast difference (94-38= 56) is seen between the score of control group and L2_SA group in the use of indefinite article. Definite article is also used in one-third cases (33%). We see 29% use of null article. I 3. Performance of L2_UK ( quantific ): The difference in the score of control group and this group has decreased considerably. In this category.( 94-58=36 ) Yet, in one-third cases, (33%), the definite article is used. 8% use of null article is also there. ANALYSIS: The native speakers use the indefinite article correctly in majority of instances and a negligible quantity of the definite article. They do not use the null article. In case of L2_SA learners, the choice of all articles is distributed more or less equally. The L2_UK learners seem to have understood this use better. A substantial use of indefinite articles and negligible us of null article is seen. However, in as many as one0third cases, the definite article is selected. TABLE IV: Table 4 Article selection (%) in indefinite mass contexts Indefinite mass   Specific   Non-specific   Quantific   the a/an Ø   the a/an Ø   the a/an Ø NS 31 31 38   13 6 81   31 6 63 L2_SA 58 33 8   33 38 29   54 17 29 L2_UK 42 50 8   33 50 17   38 42 21 OBSERVATIONS: J 1. Performance of NS (specific) When mass is indefinite, the article is omitted in 38% cases. The choice of definite and indefinite articles is equal. J 2. Performance of L2_SA learners (specific): A major choice of definite article is observed ( 58% ) Use of indefinite article is only 33%. Use of null article is very little (8%). J.3. Performance of L2_UK learners (specific): 50% choice of indefinite article is there. Out of the remaining 50-%, a majority (42%) choice of definite article s observed. There is very little use of null article. ANALYSIS: Performance of L2_UK learners is better than that of native speakers in the use of a/an in indefinite mass context. There is excessive choice of definite article in most cases of SA and UK learners. Even the native speakers exhibit considerable choice of definite article ‘the’. While the native speakers avoid the use of null article in many instances, use of null article by both SA and UK learners is not very significant. K 1. Performance of NS (non-specific): In 81% instances, the article is omitted. There is only 6% use of indefinite article. There is 13% use of definite article. K 2. Performance of L2_SA learners (non-specific): There is one-third use of definite article. 38% use of indefinite article is seen. The null article is used in 29% cases. K 3. Performance of L2_UK (non-specific): There is 50% use of indefinite article. Out of the remaining 50%, choice of definite article is 33%. Null article use is 17%. ANALYSIS: Native speakers void the use of any article in indefinite mass context when the NP is not mentioned previously, and when it is non-specific. There is sparse use of definite article and negligible us of indefinite article. Almost equal distribution of scores across all three types of articles is seen I case of L2_SA speakers. Greater understanding of the use of indefinite non-specific article n mass context is seen in case of L2_UK learners. Yet, the choice of definite article is also significant. L 1. Performance of NS ( quantific ): There is a tendency to avoid the use of article. (63%). Greater choice of (31%) definite article and negligible choice of indefinite article is seen. L 2 Performance of L2_SA learners ( quantific): 54% that is over-use of definite article is seen. There is very little, only 17% use of indefinite article. In 29% cases, use of article is avoided. L 3. Performance of L2_UK learners ( quantific ): Almost half (42%) blanks are filled by indefinite articles. 38%, that is, considerable use of definite article is seen. There is 21% use of null article. ANALYSIS: Most native speakers seem to avoid the use of articles in indefinite mass contexts when it acts as a quantifier across a set of items. If at all they use an article, they use a definite article rather than indefinite article. The L2_SA learners use the definite article in excessive instances because if there is a blank to be filled, they prefer the definite article. The indefinite article is hardly used by the. Otherwise, they do not use any article. The L2_UK learners show greater preference for the indefinite article. But the choice of definite article is also significant and so is the choice of null article. COMPARISON BETWEEN TABLE-III AND TABLE-IV: In case of indefinite articles, the learners have no chance to transfer knowledge from L1 to L2. All that can be said is, that use of indefinite article ij indefinite count contexts is easier to understand for the learners than use in mass context. CONCLUSION: Since the indefinite article does not exist in L1_SA, there is no transfer of knowledge of indefinite article. A vast difference is observed in the scores of the control group and both the learner groups. Use of definite articles is observed in maximum number of instances. In the light of the hypotheses, we can conclude that: 1. Both groups have successfully used English definite articles appropriately in non-generic contexts, because they have transferred the properties of ‘al-‘to their knowledge of ‘the’. 2. Both groups of learners differ considerably from native speakers in their treatment of indefinites and generics. 3. The L2_SA ( classroom only) learners differ more from the native speakers than L2_UK ( mixed immersion + classroom instruction ) PT: Oxford Placement Tests (OPT) (OPT) Saudi Students in (U.K) L2_UK Saudi Students in (S.A) L2_SA Participants Results Participants Results 1 27 1 20 2 24 2 25 3 37 3 24 4 18 4 32 5 21 5 25 6 14 6 24 OBSERVATIONS: The general scores of L2_UK are greater than the scores of L2_SA. Only one student in the latter group has scored 32 while the others are either at 24 or 25. One student has scored 20 in this group. Greater variation is observed in the scores of L2_UK learners. One has a high score of 37 and one is too low (14). The remaining 4 have scored 18, 21, 24 and 27. ANALYSIS: The L2_SA group is the classroom only instruction group in the experiment. In spite of their comparatively poor performance in the experiment, most learners have got average score in OPT. Although the L2_UK group almost matches the performance of the control group, 2 learners have scored poorly in the OPT while the others are average. One is above average. Read More