Morphosyntactic variation of tenses in students'academic texts
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Date
2024-07
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National University of Lesotho
Abstract
This study set out to explore the morphosyntactic variation of tenses in students’ academic texts
at the target higher-learning institution in Lesotho. Premised on the qualitative paradigm, the study
used the sociolinguistic interviews and documentary sources as data collection methods in order
to answer the research questions and achieve the research objectives. Drawing from the
methodology, findings and evaluation sections datasets of the academic texts, the study revealed
the systematic and salient use of the simple past tense over the simple present tense. Further, the
study found the sporadic use of the present perfect tense. Based on the findings, the study
concludes that while morphosyntactic variation particularly on tenses, has been noted across the
texts, the phenomenon seems to pose some challenges on the clarity and objective of the texts thus
necessitating measures such as a need for contextualised learning of tenses. Thus, this study could
contribute towards the corpus of morphosyntactic studies.
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Keywords
Morphosyntax, tense, variation, academic texts, variationist sociolinguistics, cognition, World Englishes