A Study on Article Errors: Teaching Articles Through Translated Writing Method

Articles are taught at the very beginning of English acquisition with simple exercise drills. Since the acquisition was not based in relation to an extended discourse, students make article errors when extended writing compositions were given to them. Students were given a task to compose by translated writing method and were given a self reflective survey on the errors made in relation to the translated method. The relationship between translated method was investigated to find which variables could reduce the article errors when composing. Study found that translated writing method helped the students think more in English and the more they did, the less ‘the’ article errors were made. Students who thought translated method was easier and who thought more of the overall structure than article errors considerably made more ‘a’ article errors in their composition. These finding could be applied to classroom setting by teaching the students not to directly translate one Korean word by one English word but by thinking one Korean word in relation to an extended vocabulary with the articles.