Is it possible to master use of "the"?

Learning to use the definite article in English is one of the things students find most difficult. Added to this, some students, yours truly included, come across articles/theses such as the one below and wonder if it is really possible for an ESL teacher to describe the usage of the article “the” in any satisfactory way in the context of the ESL classroom.

What do you think?

swarthmore.edu/SocSci/Lingui … ge_ben.pdf