The determiner phrases in East Asian learner English

Abstract

This paper aims to assist trainee or novice ESL teachers who have some knowledge of linguistic theory but little or no knowledge about the grammar of discourse- or topic-oriented languages with no article and null pronouns, including Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Proposing an activation model for DP in these Asian languages, the properties between English determiner phrases (DP), including articles, pronouns, demonstratives, and (alienable) possessives, are compared with those in the East Asian languages. The conscious awareness of explicit knowledge about the grammar of DP in two typologically distinct languages will provide additional benefits to the teachers’ teaching in Asian contexts.

Keywords: Determiner phrase, explicit knowledge, East Asian language learners, English as second language