L2 Acquisition of English article choice by Dutch native speakers Cross-linguistic influence?

Some languages base their article choice on specificity (Samoan), others on definiteness (English: a vs. the). As for L2 article acquisition, Ionin, Zubizaretta, and Maldonado (2008) argue that definiteness-based article choice in the L1 (Spanish) enhances article-acquisition in a definiteness-based L2 (English). However, Deprez, Sleeman, and Guella (2008) show that Dutch learners of L2-French (both definiteness-based) perform poorly on French article choice, suggesting reliance on specificity, and refuting positive L1 influence.

The current study is a pilot investigation into L2-English article choice in 104 native Dutch speakers. The results show definite and indefinite article overuse in the primary, but not in the elementary-intermediate-proficiency groups. We propose that lexical-semantic proficiency is a necessary condition for cross-linguistic influence to be visible.