USING DEFINITE ARTICLE IN TEACHING BULGARIAN AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE TO STUDENTS OF MEDICINE, DENTISTRY AND PHARMACY

Abstract

Acquiring the skills for correct usage of definite article in Bulgarian language constitutes a serious grammatical problem and a source of errors throughout language education of foreign students of medicine, dentistry and pharmacy. Foreign students have certain background knowledge about the category of definiteness in their mother tongue. This is the foundation which is used in teaching the specificity of using definite article in Bulgarian in all its aspects – morphological, phonetic, semantic and syntactic. With the morphological and phonetic aspects of definiteness the approach which is recommended to present the defining morphemes is such as to ensure an easy understanding of their gender and number variety. The semantic and syntactic aspects are exemplified by indicating certain positions within the sentence which require defined or undefined forms. An attempt has been made to compare the principles of definiteness in Bulgarian with those in English and Greek languages.
Without unnecessary theory input and with purely practical objective the article presents certain rules for using definite article which are introduced in a clear and attainable way. The main positions requiring usage/non usage of definite article are outlined as well as the most frequent and easily recognizable usage forms of definiteness in medical texts – both narrative and conversational ones (communication in clinical practice – with patients and medical staff). Thus a consciously acquired skill to correctly use definite and indefinite forms is believed to be gradually developed with the tutees.
In teaching Bulgarian as a foreign language, students are offered a short definition, based on a concept accepted in the grammars of many European languages: Articulation is a means of expressing definiteness and indefiniteness of nouns. The proposed aim of the exercises is to form expertise in the characteristics of the definite article in Bulgarian language, obtain skills at an early stage of Bulgarian language learning (A1 – A2) in order to use it communicatively. The exercises’ aim is to create awareness of the definite article both in theory and practice. This key knowledge ensures a later improvement during the tuition process which adds new specifics related to the usage of definite article in Bulgarian language.
Our expectations are that this approach will be effective for mastering the category of definiteness by the foreign students which will minimize their errors in communication.