An Investigation into Undergraduates’Errors in the use of the Indefinite Article at Omar Al-Mukhtar University

Oct 15, 2026

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This study examines how English articles are used by undergraduates at Omar Al-Mukhtar University and the errors they make when applying the indefinite article in written composition. Objectives include identifying error types and sources and determining which major types occur most frequently. A qualitative approach is implemented through an essay-writing composition task on an assigned learning-English prompt, with errors organized into categories and analyzed using descriptive statistics of counts and percentages. Results include composition word totals across university levels and suggest a significant, negative impact from English article use.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages6

Reading Time15 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction and Background

Problem Statement

Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 Vol. 6 No. 6; December 2015 Australian International Academic Centre, Australia | | | | | --- | --- | --- | | | | | | Flourishing Creativity & Literacy | | | An Investigation into Undergraduates’Errors in the use of the Indefinite Article at Omar Al-Mukhtar University Ahmed Gaibani Department of English Language, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Omar Al-Mukhtar University, Libya [E-mail: dr.ahmed.Gaibani@gmail.com](E-mail: dr.ahmed.Gaibani@gmail.com) Doi:10 .7575/aiac.alls.v.6n.6p.195 URL: [http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.6n.6p.195](http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.6n.6p.195) Received: 08/08/2015 Accepted: 12/10/2015 Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine the use of English articles as well the errors made by the students at Omar AlMukhtar University. The research objectives consists of : To identify the types and sources of errors made by Libyan EFL Undergraduates at Omar Al-Mukhtar University in the use of the indefinite article during their written composition, To determine the major types of errors in which larger numbers of errors have been committed by the students in their written composition. Based on previous studies, a qualitative method of data collection represented by an essay-writing composition is implemented in this study. Moreover, they were asked to write essay writing composition of the following topics "Discuss The Problems You Face In Learning English Language?" The results provide of this study, reporting the information collected from Compositions and analyzed by using descriptive statistical percentages in terms of errors numbers and percentages of errors occurrences under their major types, which enabled the researchers to put these in an order of their occurrences. In other words, data were organized using categories given to each of these errors. Regarding the length of compositions, a total of (2194) English words were written by the students across their university levels. Freshmen wrote a total of (1193) words which represents (54 . 37%) whereas sophomores wrote (1001) words which represents (40 . 62%) . These research also suggest that there is a significant and negative impact of the use of English Articles. Since majority of students agreed that the English Articles are important, and we should look at the importance of English language as well as how students improve their proficiency in English articles towards mastering the use of English language. Keywords: Writing, English language, Articles, Morpheme, communication, Language Acquisition, Grammar 1. Introduction and Background The English article system is said to be considered one of the most difficult structural elements for ESL/EFL learners, especially for those whose mother tongues do not employ articles or article-like morphemes. The idea is strongly emphasized by different researchers such as Master (2002) who attributes the difficulty of using the indefinite articles to three facts: (a) Articles are among the most frequent function words in English (Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman, 1999), which make constant rule application difficult over an extended stretch of discourse; (b) normally, function words are unstressed and thus, they are difficult for non-native speakers to recognize, which consequently affects the available input in the spoken form; and (c) the article system has multiple functions onto a single morpheme, which constitutes a considerable burden for the learners who often look for a one-to-one correspondence between form and function, especially in the case of the early stages of language learning (Master, 2002) . Although articles are generally unstressed, they are considered as hardly crucial communication devices; this gives the reason why they are dropped in telegraphic exchanges (Bataineh, 2005) . Moreover, articles are said to be acquired at late stages of learning as it has been pinpointed by Brow

FAQs

What is the reported effect of English article use on learners?

The findings suggest a significant and negative impact associated with the use of English articles, alongside the need to improve proficiency in using them to master English language use.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Terk