Frequency of Selected Linguistic Features Used in Certain Parts of Teacher Education Students‟ Theses

Writing is one of the macro-skills that can be developed through practice and enough exposures of individuals to the field of their interests. This skill can also be identified in the so-called theses as outputs presented by the authors—either students or practitioners of any field. According to Bitchener [1], “Writing an empirically based thesis requires a clear understanding of what is expected or required for each part or section” (p.1). However, there are still some unpublished theses under criticism as manifested in the negative feedback or reactions of both general and specialized audience based on the quality in general, and on the clarity of thoughts in particular. In thesis, a good facility of the English language is indeed significant which makes the individual reader easily understand the flow of the ideas of any topic covered in the study. This paper aims to determine and analyze the linguistic features frequently used in theses of teacher education students at Batangas State University-JPLPC Campus, Malvar, Batangas in the academic year 2013-2014. The linguistic features used in any of the parts of theses have been observed to determine its clarity in terms of form, use, and meaning, namely: present and past tenses, present perfect tense, passive and active voices, citations and qualifications, and commentary have been the main focus of this study. Based on the analysis and interpretation of the data coded and classified, results reveal that almost all of the concepts in the introduction of theses are certainly lifted and copied as indicated in the authors’ incorrect and improper citations. Theses read and coded appear to be a little more one percent use of qualifications which denotes discredits of points regarding the issue or concepts reviewed as reflected in the students’ strong claim for the said concepts. There is also a little amount of commentary to the theories or concepts and even to some findings reviewed. Therefore, the theses read and reviewed based on the sections can be improved and edited for clarity and viability, if possible for publication purposes.

Keywords – Linguistic features, and theses