A corpus-based study in the usage of connectors in between the dissertations of the native speakers of English and Turkish speakers of English

In this research, it is aimed to determine the use of connectors in the doctoral dissertations of Turkish speakers (TSs) of English and native speakers (NSs) of English. The present study will be limited to identifying the use of connectors in the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) dissertations written by the NSs of English and the TSs of English in the field of ELT; between the years of 2009-2018. It will also be limited to the abstract, the introduction, and the conclusion sections of the Ph.D. dissertations. Furthermore, it will be limited to 50 TSs dissertations and 50 NSs dissertations.In this study, with the help of Key Word In Context (KWIC) Concordance programme, the usage of connectors was analyzed according to their frequency per 1,000 words. Besides the frequency analysis, log-likelihood (LL) calculation was also used as a statistical analysis. At the end of the study, it was found out that the LL frequency of the connectors indicated an underuse in the abstract section, an overuse in the introduction section and again an overuse in the conclusion section for the Ph.D. dissertations of the Turkish speakers (TSs) of English and there was a significant difference in the frequency of the connectors between the dissertations of the TSs of English and the NSs of English.