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This study examined the second language (L2) acquisitional patterns of the English article system by adult ESL learners with two contrasting first languages: Spanish, a language which has an article system, and Korean which does not have articles or article-like morphemes. Data were collected from 43 participants via means of a fill-in-the-article test consisting of 46 items. Results revealed that the different semantic uses of a, the, and zero article presented different levels of difficulty for the two groups of learners, and that they did not appear to be acquired at the same time. The results also indicated that both groups of learners seemed to follow roughly the same path of acquisition regardless of the differences in their first language. This study concludes with a discussion of different theoretical explanations regarding the observed development of the English article system.