Investigating the Misuse of English Articles among EFL Sudanese University Students

Abstract

Abstract This research investigates the misuse of English articles among Alneelain EFL students; the subjects of the study are 50 students of linglish language, Faculty of Arts at Alneelain University. The aim of the study is to find out whether there is a problem of using article or not. lt also finds out the reasons for the misuse of articles with regard to the students ol Alneelain University. The study also tries to produce and provide suitable strategies for the students to help them use articles correctly. The researcher has adopted the descriptive and analytical approach to accomplish the aims of the research. The researcher has collected the data of the study through a test. The results of the study reveal that first year students face problems of choosing the correct article when they produce pieces of writing in English. Another problem is that students have more problems of using the indefinite articles; i.e. when there are words that begin with "u" as we can see in words such as (unity), they use the indefinite (an).[Their claim is that the letter ’u’ is a vowel letter]. The student‘s misuse of English articles is also due to mother tongue interferences; since Arabic has only one article (dl =the indefinite article) and the (zero article) is the indefinite article. E.g. “There was sand everywhere“.The study recommends students to practice a number ol articles (reading and listening) to be aware of their use. It also recommends teachers to give more attention and effort on how tackle the roots of the problem of articles and show they differ in Arabic and English.