1 1 The linguistic phenomenon the L2 and the issue In this report I am going to explore a learner's development over fifteen years by observing and analysing the acquisition of English articles in the second language learning of a native Italian speaker 1 2 The learner and the L1 This report will focus on Monica Bellucci an Italian actress and fashion model She has lived in Italy her whole life but has travelled to many different countries including England to appear in films including Spectre in the James Bond film series Bellucci s initial exposure to English was from the age of five learning English in primary school Aged sixteen she was exposed to the target language more frequently in England receiving active input from the community 1 3 The research question I am going to investigate Bellucci s acquisition of the English article system and the difficulties she faces This longitudinal development study will allow me to observe if Bellucci s proficiency of the English article system improves over time 2 Background 2 1 The linguistic phenomenon in the L1 and the L2 Both the English and Italian article systems have the definite and indefinite articles however they are used differently Leech and Svartvik 1994 claim that English has the definite article the the indefinite articles an and a and the zero article when a noun does not requires an article Dissimilarly the Italian article system consists of ten articles which indicate gender and number 2 2 Finding from key publications on the issue Lado 1957 claims that second language learners transfer parts of their native language to the L2 suggesting a native Italian learner of English would transfer their linguistic knowledge of Italian articles to their English grammar Moreover a range of L2 studies show L2 development is linked to the amount of exposure to utterances in the target language Myles 2005
