Jeyaseelan Gnanaseelan
English Language Teaching Unit, Vavuniya campus of
the University of Jaffna, Park Road, Vavuniya, Sri Lanka
Abstract
This paper investigates the errors in
the use of articles in business letter writing in English. It is a case study
of the Business Management Students of Vavuniya Campus, University of Jaffna in
Sri Lanka. The study classifies the errors and analyzes the implications in the
linguistic and discourse structures of the genre in relation to the mental
schema acquired in the past. The written texts were collected from a systematic
examination. The qualitative analysis dominates the methodology with some
relevant quantitative data. It contributes to the explanation of the errors of Sri
Lankan students.
Key
words: article,
error, sequence, absence, addition
Introduction
In Sri Lanka, the appropriate or
acceptable use of articles in English writing or in business English writing
has not been well-organized. The importance given to information has brought
the importance given to language to a secondary position. Due to the gradual expansion
of the corporate sector, Sri Lankan business communication is becoming more international.
Depending exclusively on the use of a native language or the native languages
for business communication has delimited the business opportunities and
investments within the country and abroad. Realizing this inevitable need for business
communication in English, all the universities in Sri Lanka conducting degree
courses in Management, Commerce, Finance and Accountancy, have incorporated
English for business communication and Business English as a credit course,
integral to their Degree programme. The Faculty of Business Studies of the
Vavuniya Campus of the University of Jaffna also conducts English for Business
Communication for the second year students of the Bachelor of Business Management
programme (BBM) consecutively for two semesters allocating 30 hours per
semester. Business letter writing is one of the key genres in training their
business English writing skills. Therefore, a proper understanding of the language
structure of business English is necessary, especially of the use of
articles.
Researches by Sri Lankan
scholars identified a vacuum for proper letter writing skills active in
practice. The indifference towards the proper use of articles in letter writing
is another drawback. This study may contribute to the ideational, textual,
inter-textual and interpersonal understanding of the errors under analysis. It
is highly imperative to investigate the use of articles in the discourse of
business communication. This paper relates the use of articles to the writing
of the Sri Lankan university students in improving the writing skill.
Theoretical Background
Sri Lankan students, like all other writers of English as second language,
make mistakes or errors in three key aspects in the writing in English: the
choice of tense and aspect, the subject and verb agreements, and the use of
articles (Miller, 2005). The use of articles has become the most problematic
matter (García
mayo, 2008, cited in Isabelli-García and
Slough, 2012) and the causes have been studied (Trenkic, 2007, cited
in Isabelli-García and Slough, 2012). Articles are among the five most common words in the English language
(Master, 2002, p.332). So the errors in this area are highly noticeable to the native
speakers (Miller, 2005). According to Miller, many from Asian countries
consider it as their most frequent language problem. It is really challenging
to our students because this system is not available in the native languages.
The efficient use of articles in English definitely proves the mastery of
the language but the native speakers may not realize the complexities of the
system because of their natural acquisition and unconscious use. According
to Hewson (1972, p.132, cited in Miller, 2005), the English article
system is a “psychomechanism”. The errors
in the use of articles do not disrupt intelligibility so many learners may feel
it as a matter of secondary importance (Master, 1997, p.216). But it is not so
in academic or business writing which demands the use of correct article. The
poor use may give the impression to the readers that the writer is not only
competent in the use of language but of the subject matter as well. Learners
“use articles almost randomly” (Butler, 2002, p.452).
Definiteness, Particularity and countability of the nouns determine the
article use. However, there are some challenges or exceptions to the rules. In
the native languages, some nouns may be made plural but not in English. In
Tamil, thahavalhal (informations ?) is plural. According to Quirk and
Greenbaum, a noun can be made countable by using it in a classificatory sense
(1973, p.61).
The native language, Tamil contain definiteness but this is not conveyed by
the use of articles, as it is in English but by other determiners, pronouns and
demonstratives. The definite article refers the object or person or entity as a
member of a ‘shared set’ and instructs him/her to find the right set and relate
the referent to it” (Hawkins, 1978, p.130). Bickerton explains definiteness as
“presumed known to the listener” and “indefiniteness as presumed unknown to the
listener” (1981, p.147). The indefinite article, a or an, is
slightly less problematic, determined by singular, countable nouns. They are
used with nouns not been mentioned before, and with generic nouns. Master
suggests that it may also be used with uncountable nouns for a
“boundary-creating effect”, as in “a high-grade steel” (a kind of steel which
is of good quality). Students find it difficult to identify a noun as countable
and its use in a countable or uncountable sense (Master, 1997, p.218-225). At
the beginning of the learning process, students may ‘overuse the definite
article, even following instruction on its use, but that this will eventually
be remedied (Liu and Gleason, 2002, p.16). The use of the may be generic
or non-generic. Some functional uses of the definite article are comparatively
more difficult (Master, 1995). The categorizations of the non-generic definite
article are
identified with the four categories: cultural, situation, structural, and
textual (Isabelli-García and Slough, 2012). The latter uses are the most
difficult due to their “cultural use” (ibid. p.5).
Methodology
The
methodology is qualitative and quantitative. It is a textual analytical
approach under applied linguistics. It analyzes a business letter writing
exercise in English by the second year students of the BBM programme of the
Faculty of Business Studies of the Vavuniya Campus.
During a Business English test, as a part of the test,
the students were asked to write “a letter of complaint to the Branch Manager of the Ceylon
Electricity Board of their district regarding power cuts. As a customer and
consumer of electricity power supply in their respective area, over the last
three months, they have experienced severe, unscheduled, sudden and prolonged
power cuts which have caused immense difficulties in managing day to day life
in the area”.
The
primary data were the written works of these students in response to a single
question on business letter writing in English. The texts from 84 students were
collected in the corpus which had been written in an examination.
They were
referred for authentic structural, textual and linguistic errors on the
specified issues. An error analysis of the use of articles in
the discourse of business letters was conducted. The extracts have been given
in their original, authentic forms with all the errors the students made.
Results and Discussions
Error
Analysis
The
errors in the use of articles have been listed below. There are six types
identified. The codes have been assigned for each error type for the analysis. The number code given within the
brackets at the end of each extracted sentence refers the student who made the
error.
The
error types, Article Adverb
Combination Error [AACE], Definite Article Use Error [DAUE] and Article Quantifier
Sequence Error [AQSE] were made by less than 5% of the students.
1) Article - Adverb
Combination Error [AACE]
e.g. In a shortly we
have experienced immense difficulties in managing day to day life in the area. (22)
In the extract
(22) given above, the writer intends to synthesize or inductively conclude, in
brief, the power cut has caused us immense difficulties in managing day to day
life in the area. Though the analyst distinguishes only one type of error,
AACE, here the errors are multiple and embedded. Strangely, in this extract, a
combined sequence of preposition-article-adverb is used for the standard
transition forms, for instance, a preposition-noun sequence (in brief)
or a singly adverb form (briefly) or a preposition-article-noun
sequence, in a few words or an adverb-present participial combination
form (briefly speaking). Therefore it is inferred that the student might
have felt confused about the schema s/he had in the mind about the first three
standard forms s/he had been exposed to in the past and came up with the error
form, in a shortly.
2) Definite Article Use
Error [DAUE]
e.g. we
meet the more difficulties. (17)
This error is
very common among the students. Sri Lankan students often make errors in the
use of the definite article, the generally. The native languages do not
have this distinct closed grammatical word form but they make use of the other determiners
and demonstratives as substitutes. However, the native languages have the substitutes
for the indefinite form, a or an.
In English, the formation of the noun phrases, the difficulties
(article-noun), more difficulties (comparative form-noun) and the
most difficulties (article-superlative form-noun) are possible. Therefore,
again, it is inferred that the student might have felt confused about the
schema s/he had in the mind about these three standard forms s/he had been
exposed to in the past and came up with the error form, the more
difficulties (article-comparative form-noun).
3) Article - Quantifier
Sequence Error [AQSE]
e.g. The
situation has reduced the activities of the all people. (07)
This error is
very common among the students. Though Sri Lankan students are familiar with
the noun phrase, all the people (quantifier or universal determiner-article-noun),
there is always the possibility among the beginners of English language writing
to make this type of sequence error which reveals their ambiguity in defining
the functional use of the two descriptive or modifying forms in proper sequence
resulting in the all people.
The errors,
Article Addition Error [AAE] and Indefinite Article Choice Error [IACE] were
made by around 6% of the students.
4) Article Addition Error
[AAE]
e.g. Day
to day, our area faces the many problems. (24)
e.g. please
consider this situation and I think you will find out the this situation.
(36)
e.g. We request kindly
please consider the this complaint and resolve the our area problem.
(54)
In
English, articles, demonstratives, and possessive
determiners cannot co-occur in the same phrase. The writer No. 24 has unnecessarily
used the article, the, in the noun phrase, the many problems (article-quantifier
or degree determiner or pronoun-noun). The students are familiar with many problems or the problems but the schema related to these two forms
have caused the confusion to combine them as such. Perhaps the writer might
have felt to assert both functions: particularity and multiplicity because No.
36 and No. 54 have also used the same pattern, the this situation and the this complaint but the former could be a careless mistake
too since s/he has already written, this
situation. However, the
combination, the our area problem (article-possessive determiner or pronoun-noun-noun)
is not acceptable.
e.g. When we came home after
the finishing our work at the work place, there was suddenly power cut.
(50)
This
error has a different pattern in this expression, after the finishing our work (preposition -article-present
participial verb form or gerund-possessive determiner or pronoun-noun).
Generally, The –ing form can be used like
a noun, like an adjective or like a verb. When it is used like a noun, it may
or may not have an article before it. It
can also be part of a 'noun phrase',
finishing our work. In formal English, a
possessive with the –ing form can be used. In informal English, many people do
not, for example, I'm worried about her boycotting the meeting (preposition-possessive
determiner or pronoun- present
participial verb-noun phrase). As
an adjective, the –ing form can be used before a noun and an article, I was
met by a welcoming party at the school ((preposition -article-present participial verb-noun phrase). The
–ing form is used after prepositions, for example, Before leaving, you need
to speak to her but a combination of article-present
participial verb-possessive determiner or pronoun-noun is not possible.
e.g. please consider the
our problems and take a best solution very soon and I kindly request
to do the best solution and we hope you will create the best schedule
and reduce the sudden power cuts. (57)
Surprisingly this writer has used both the indefinite and definite
articles with the superlative adjectival forms:
a best solution, the best solution, and the best schedule. First, it should be reminded that these
expressions may not be classified as errors at all. Generally, the superlative can
only accept the definite article but using it with the indefinite article is
also possible and causes multiple interpretations. The noun phrase, a best solution, can
be claimed as ungrammatical too. What this implies is that there are a number of
excellent solutions of which the writer asks the reader to choose one. Sometimes
this does not seem as a superlative construction but as an intensifier or as an
‘absolute superlative’. One cannot say which is the most excellent; they are
all in the same degree. Therefore "a" is used instead of
"the". Whereas, the best solution, the ‘relative
superlative’, the usual form gives the comparative idea- the one and only, the
best. The second expression, the best schedule, gives the
same comparative idea of the relative superlative. The last expression, the sudden power cuts, indicates particularity.
e.g. As a last three
months, (we have experienced) electricity power supply cuts (in) our area.
(75)
This expression, as a last three months, intended as
an adverbial modifier, has a combined sequence of preposition-indefinite
article-cardinal numeral-noun. The students are familiar with for the last
three months or over the last three months (preposition-definite
article- cardinal numeral-noun) and at the same time, they are familiar with
the expressions, as a result, as a last resort, as a last attempt
and over a period of three months.
These forms in their mental schema might have caused the confusion to
produce this form of error. This writer has not only erred on the wrong use of
preposition, as, s/he has committed the number disagreement in a last three months (indefinite article-plural noun).
5) Indefinite Article Choice
Error [IACE]
e.g. I
hope you would consider about this letter and take a action to solving
this problems. (27)
e.g. I have a
internet café at my residence. (60)
e.g. Please
kindly take a action for this problem. (67)
The mother tongue
structure easily makes the students ignore the distinction between a and
an phonetically as well as
graphically. They are very significant in the English language facilitating consonantal
and vowel sound difference in speech. Sri Lankan students who make these
mistakes tend to make pause in between a and action or internet
so that they are able to articulate a action* or a internet*. If
they verbalize the expression at the natural pace, an action will be an
easier and smooth one because the consonant, n facilitates a
phonetically convenient verbalization between a and action or a
internet*.
e.g. I am the
consumer of (the) Ceylon Electricity (Board). (53)
e.g. I am the consumer
of Colombo 7 area of your company. (63)
The writer
introduces himself or herself as the consumer of Ceylon Electricity at the very
beginning of the letter. This expression may give the impression that s/he is
the only consumer of the Board. There are many customers the Ceylon Electricity Board so the writer can introduce himself or
herself as a consumer or one of the consumers.
6) Article Omission Error [AOE]
The
error type, Article Omission
Error [AOE] was made by 26% of the students.
e.g. Most
of activities (are) bas(ed) on computer. (04)
In
general, most is used to refer about a large, general group, for
example, most teachers earn less than other professionals do. When a
smaller, more specific group is mentioned, most of is used, for example,
most of the students in this school are poor. Grammatically, most is
not followed by a determiner (a, the, this, etc.) but most of
does. The acceptable use is most of the activities.
e.g. Electricity
board (has been)give(-ing) good support to us. (04)
e.g. I
am customer in Ceylon electricity board. (29)
e.g. I
am Ponnaiya Kajan & consumer of electricity power supply in pampaimadu
area. (55)
It
is one of the typical errors students make. The writers have omitted the
article, the, in front of Electricity board, Ceylon electricity board, pampaimadu area
and also electricity, board and pampaimadu have not been capitalized. The definite
article is used before a place name or an institution if it consists of an
adjective followed by a noun, for example, the British Council. In the
second sentence, the writer introduces himself or herself as customer so
it should be a customer or one of the customers. Here, the
non-quantitative use of a is found in attributive predicative complement
indicating simple set membership. The writer belongs to the set denoted by the
noun customer but quantitative a expresses existential
quantification, e.g, she has bought a new computer. In the third
sentence (55), a consumer of the electricity power
supply in the Pampaimadu area is acceptable. Here electricity power supply also needs the definite
article as it particularizes a location.
e.g. That is vital problem
for us. (84)
Here, if the
writer introduces a problem, then it becomes a vital problem or if it is particularized, reminded and asserted, it becomes the
vital problem.
e.g. It
is great services to us if you make the power cut, immediately you
inform consumers. (04)
The whole
expression is erroneous. The acceptable form can be, it would be a great service. The writer has ignored the subject-verb-complement
agreement. Since the writer means the service of power supply, the pluralized
noun is unnecessary so the indefinite article, a, can join
with the singular noun, service.
e.g. we
hope quickly reply from you about this problem. (05)
The absence of the indefinite article, a, with the
use of an adverb as the adjective, causes this error. The writer is familiar
with the schema of an adverb-verb sequence in quickly reply. S/he has
substituted the adjective-noun sequence, quick reply, with the adverb-verb
sequence, quickly reply. Thus, the acceptable form is
a quick reply.
e.g. So
that area peoples are facing difficult(ies) by the events. (11)
The schematization of people as peoples
needs discussion. Many of our Sri Lankan students use peoples in their
sentences. Though the word already refers to several persons, it seems there is
no need to add an "s" but sometimes, the term peoples
is used. The difference between the two is that "peoples"
refers to several groups of people and each group shares a common
culture. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/peoples gives these
examples: (1) Archaeologists have found little direct evidence of
confrontation between the two peoples. (2) At heart, this is a
struggle of two peoples for the same patch of land. This usage
of peoples is relatively rare and, generally speaking, when a learner
of English says "peoples" instead of "people", they usually
and simply make a mistake. Here also, the writer means only one group of people
living in a particular area, not many groups in many areas so it should be the
area people.
e.g. Students
are reluctant to studying because of power cut. (12)
e.g. I
am stay(ing) at above address. (13)
e.g. I,
kastury, wish to inform you about power cut in our area. (20)
e.g. In
above address area, suddenly power cut. (25)
e.g. Please
kindly listen over problem. (26)
e.g. Anyway
sir you should decided this solution for problem. (38)
e.g. all
people of Nawala area suffered from these problem. (46)
e.g. That’s
a main problem in area people income. (73)
e.g. In
the area people very affected and faced many problems to the sudden
power cut. (78)
These errors
simply represent the ignorance of the students about the use of the definite
article, the, with nouns indicating particularity or
definiteness.
e.g. so
that the number of public face the many problem. (18)
Though the writer wants to say
‘many people’, s/he uses, public, for the public replacing ‘people’ and uses the definite article, the, for the indefinite article, a, before number which is a quantificational noun. Here we have this imprecise
quantificational sense which does not allow cardinal numerals, *two numbers of people. Though s/he intends indefiniteness, s/he uses
the article of definiteness. Normally the word, number does not go
with the word, the public. Therefore,
the noun phrase, a number of people, is appropriate.
Fernando (n.d) did ‘a preliminary study of the use of the definite article
‘the’ in the academic essays of twenty-one undergraduates following English as
a subject at the Department of English, Faculty of Arts of the University of
Colombo’ in Sri Lanka. The respondents were ‘of relatively high level of
English Proficiency’ in her study but my subjects did not have this level. She
came up with the findings that ‘the omission of ‘the’ being the most recurrent
difficulty’. She had covered the incorrect addition of ‘the’ and concluded that
it was also a considerable difficulty. My paper also discusses this issue. In
the use of ‘a/an’, my findings were similar to hers.
Quantitative
Use
Determiners are
used in front of nouns to indicate whether you are referring to something
specific or something of a particular type. In other
words determiners are noun-modifiers that express the
reference of a noun or noun-phrase in the context. This function is performed
by determiners which are: articles, demonstratives, possessive
determiners or quantifiers. However, when the letters of the first 26 students
were analyzed for the quantitative use of pronouns, articles, and other
determiners such as demonstratives, possessive determiners or quantifiers,
nobody has used the indefinite article, an in their letters.
Table.1
The quantitative use of the Determiners and Pronouns in the Letter
|
Times
|
Number of students using ‘an’ out of 26
|
Number of students using ‘a’ out of 26
|
Number of students using ‘the’ out of 26
|
Number of students using other determiners out of
26
|
Number of students using pronouns out of 26
|
|
1-3
|
*
|
10
|
14
|
10
|
*
|
|
1-4
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
3
|
|
4-5
|
*
|
*
|
6
|
*
|
*
|
|
6-7
|
*
|
*
|
4
|
*
|
*
|
|
6-8
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
5
|
*
|
|
7-9
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
11
|
|
10-11
|
*
|
*
|
1
|
2
|
*
|
|
10-15
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
8
|
|
16-23
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
4
|
It shows that the students generally do not pay
serious attention to the phonetic distinction between a and an
within the indefinite articles. Ten students used the indefinite
definite article, a, 1-3 times so
the use of the indefinite article is very less but the use of the definite
article is comparatively higher and significant. Fourteen students used
the definite article, the, 1-3 times.
Six students used the definite article, the, 4-5 times. Four
students used the definite article, the, 6-7 times whereas only one
student used the definite article, the, 11 times. On the whole, it is
understandable that even the use of other determiners too is average or
moderate. Ten students used other determiners 1-3 times. Eight students used
them 4-5 times. Five students used them, 6-8 times whereas only two students
used them 10 times but the use of pronoun is very high in numbers. Eleven
students used them 7-9 times. Eight students used them, 10-15 times whereas
four students used them 16-23 times. Only three students used pronouns 1-4
times. The pronouns are easier to use than the determiners so the students
learn to use the pronouns better and earlier than the determiners.
Suggestions and Recommendations
ESP (English for Specific
Purposes) teachers need to pay more attention to the use of article and other
determiners in business English sessions, especially in tackling the
categorizations of the non-generic definite article identified with the four
categories: cultural, situation, structural, and textual. They pose many
challenges to our Sri Lankan students. They relate to social features and interactional
aspects of the language and direct the learners to use the social sub-skills
and pragmatic elements in their business letters.
As Fernando
(n.d) suggested, my study also suggests that ‘Sri Lankans should be
familiarized with the rules pertaining to the rules of the definite article: cataphoric
reference, proper nouns, anaphoric reference, institutional reference, the
logical use of ‘the’ etc. Further, she did not fail to reveal that the
mechanisms used in the Sri Lankan languages versus the English language on the
concept of definiteness should be investigated.
The
finding can contribute to the understanding and critical and creative appraisal
and judgment of the competence and performance of the Sri Lankan students on
the discourse construction, contribution and consumption of the genre of
business letter. The output can contribute to the Sri Lankan business
communication discourse.
Conclusion
This paper reinforces the importance of the use of articles and other
determiners in business English and the realization to instill the notion of
countability, definiteness and particularity. With greater use of learners’
dictionaries, students could more correctly identify when nouns are used
countably or uncountably. The concept of definiteness is, however, more
problematic. Nevertheless, it is possible, as Master (1997, p.216) claims, for
teachers to make a positive contribution to learners’ knowledge in this
important area. The errors of combination, sequence, addition, omission, and
choice have been analyzed and explained in detail. The teachers can plan their
methodology appropriate to correct these errors and improve their writing. The
main objective of this paper is to analyze and identify the linguistic and
discourse processes of the error construction. It is a linguistic and discourse
analysis. It does not aim to find the proper teaching methodology to tackle
these errors. A research can be conducted in future to find the methodology as
well.
This research creates an
awareness of the linguistic and pragmatic errors in general, made by the Sri
Lankan students and the possibility of challenging the assumptions about the
linguistic, structural and contextual norms of business letter writing in the
countries where English is the native language. It provides a consistent
presentation of the levels of the performance of the students appropriate to or
inappropriate to the Sri Lankan situation and suggests the ways of teaching,
learning, training, evaluating and researching the discourse of business
letters in English in Sri Lanka and the consequent implications and improvement
in the process and product. It clarifies many misunderstandings and prejudices
of both the students and teachers on the issue analyzed.
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