A Research on the Use of Articles in Writings of English Major Students in China

The misuse of articles has long been a subject that has attracted the attention of many researchers from the field of pedagogy. Although articles play a significant part in English learning, the related researches in China are not thorough enough. By means of tests and case analysis, this study confirms the existence of the misuse of articles among third-year English major students in China and investigates the most common type of their mistakes. The result shows that the causes of students misuse of English articles can be summarized into these three categories: redundancy, numerical consistency, and confusion. Among them, redundancy is the most common mistake made by all levels of students, while numerical inconsistency is more frequently seen among students from high score group. It is also proved that there is a correlation between recognizing the right articles in tests and using articles correctly in writings, which sets higher requirements for teachers in their article-related class.