Difficulties in teaching English Determiners. English Articles: A/ An/ The/ ϴ Article

Abstract

This paper deals with the problem of helping learners develop accuracy in the target language in the context of a seemingly insignificant category that is determiners, specifically article. I have chosen Romanian students but this can be applied to many international students with their L1 system difficult to be compared to English. The purpose of this short study is to “touch” the source of the article errors and to find doable, effective activities that can increase students’ abilities to choose correctly between a/ an/ the or zero article. I expect not to exhaust all the questions, because it would be impossible, but to display a highly personal method that probably can act as a useful teaching tool.