The Relationship between EFL Learners’ Proficiency Level and Their Performance on a Test of English Articles

Abolfazl Mosaffa Jahromi¹ and Mahmoud Mobaraki^1,

¹Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Humanities, Jahrom University, Iran, Jahrom, P.O. Box: 74135111

Cite this paper:
Abolfazl Mosaffa Jahromi and Mahmoud Mobaraki. The Relationship between EFL Learners’ Proficiency Level and Their Performance on a Test of English Articles. Journal of Linguistics and Literature. 2019; 3(2):39-44. doi: 10.12691/jll-3-2-1

Abstract

This study was attempted to investigate the relationship between the learners’ level of proficiency and their use of articles. Only definite and indefinite articles have been selected for investigation among the numerous types of articles in English language. The present study also examined the use of articles across the factor of gender. Participants were asked to report their used definite and indefinite articles, after which they were asked to provide answers to the TOEFL test. The results of the participants’ performance on the proficiency test were correlated with their use of definite and indefinite articles. The results of the Correlation Coefficient indicated that there were strong, positive, and significant correlations between article use and the level of proficiency of the learners. To examine whether or not differences exist in male and female students’ article use, an Independent-samples t-test was computed. The results showed that the preferences for the definite and indefinite articles differed regarding their gender.

Keywords:
proficiency gender definite article indefinite article

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