A corpus-based analysis: The types of transition markers in the MA theses of the native speakers of English and the Turkish speakers of English

Abstract

This study has been conducted to evaluate the transition marker (TM) types in the MA theses written by the native speakers (NSs) of English and the Turkish speakers (TSs) of English. The purpose is to compare the most salient transition types in the introduction, results and discussion, and conclusion sections by both groups’ randomly selected MA theses in the field of ELT between the years 2010 and 2014. The WordSmith Tools 5.0 software was used in order to analyze the data. TM types were analyzed in terms of percentages,frequencies per 1,000 words and they were interpreted by calculating the log-likelihood (LL) value whether there was a significant difference in their usage. The results indicated that the frequencies, and frequencies per 1,000 words of the most salient transition type usage in the sections which were investigated of the MA theses were different.