Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Goals 1.2 Research Questions 1.3 Significance of the Study 1.4 Framework Chapter 2 Language Transfer and Markedness Theory 2.1 Language Transfer in SLA 2.2 Markedness Chapter 3 Studies on L2 Acquisition of English Articles 3.1 The Nominal Domain of Articles 3.2 Linguistic Studies of English Article Acquisition 3.3 Cognitive Studies of English Article Acquisition 3.4 The Study of Language Transfer and Markedness in Article Acquisition Chapter 4 Experiment 1 : The Multiple-choice Task 4.1 Research Questions 4.2 Research Method 4.3 Results 4.4 Data Analysis 4.5 Discussion Chapter 5 Experiment 2: The Blank-filling Task 5.1 Research Questions 5.2 Research Method 5.3 Results 5.4 Data Analysis 5.5 Discussion Chapter 6 The Interviews 6.1 Research Questions 6.2 Research Method 6.3 Results 6.4 Data Analysis 6.5 Discussion Chapter 7 General Discussion and Conclusion 7.1 Major Findings 7.2 Implications 7.3 Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research Appendix A The Multiple-choice Task Appendix B The Blank-filling Task Appendix C Transcription Notation Bibliography Acknowledgements