© 1991 by Oxford University Press
Articles |
Re-articulating the articles
working as a teacher, trainer, and lecturer in EFL since 1972 in France, Britain, Yugoslavia, China, Poland, and most recently Czechoslovakia. The title of his PhD thesis was Teaching the English Articles: an Exercise in Pedagogic Grammar. His major interests are teacher training (especially with non-native teachers of English), the use of games in language teaching, and pedagogic grammar. He is currently working in Hungary.
The English articles can cause problems for learners from any L1 background, but they are especially difficult when the mother tongue has no equivalents. This paper is an attempt to help teachers working in such a situation. It first discusses whether a and the should be taught; then it looks at a description which may provide a relevant starting-point for a reappraisal. It next examines existing pedagogic accounts and materials and finds them largely wanting. It concludes with a set of exercises designed by the author which attempt to show how such considerations can be realized in teaching materials.