Which example illustrates negative language transfer related to article usage?

Which example illustrates negative language transfer related to article usage?

• A. A Korean student omits articles in sentences because Korean has no articles.
• B. A Spanish speaker rolls Rs when pronouncing the R sound in English.
• C. A Spanish speaker uses borrow and lend as equivalent words because in Spanish there is only one word for both.
• D. A Chinese speaker uses tone to convey emphasis.

Answer: (A)

This question tests negative language transfer in article usage. When a learner’s first language doesn’t mark articles, they often transfer that pattern to English, leading to omitting articles like a, an, and the in English sentences. Korean has no articles, so a Korean learner may leave out these determiners, producing sentences that sound natural in their L1 but are incorrect in English. This is a direct example of L1 features shaping L2 behavior, hence negative transfer specifically in how articles are used. The other scenarios illustrate different kinds of transfer—pronunciation differences (phonological transfer), using words with mismatched meanings due to lexical gaps (vocabulary transfer), or relying on tone for emphasis (prosodic or pragmatic transfer)—not article usage, so they don’t address the specific issue of article transfer.

This question tests negative language transfer in article usage. When a learner’s first language doesn’t mark articles, they often transfer that pattern to English, leading to omitting articles like a, an, and the in English sentences. Korean has no articles, so a Korean learner may leave out these determiners, producing sentences that sound natural in their L1 but are incorrect in English. This is a direct example of L1 features shaping L2 behavior, hence negative transfer specifically in how articles are used.

The other scenarios illustrate different kinds of transfer—pronunciation differences (phonological transfer), using words with mismatched meanings due to lexical gaps (vocabulary transfer), or relying on tone for emphasis (prosodic or pragmatic transfer)—not article usage, so they don’t address the specific issue of article transfer.