Passive Voice Usage in Undergraduate STEM Textbooks

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Passive Voice Usage in Undergraduate STEM Textbooks University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2018 Passive Voice Usage in Undergraduate STEM Textbooks Huiyuan Luo University of Central Florida Part of the Language and Literacy Education Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STARS Citation Luo, Huiyuan, "Passive Voice Usage in Undergraduate STEM Textbooks" (2018). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 5894. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/5894 PASSIVE VOICE USAGE IN UNDERGRADUATE STEM TEXTBOOKS By Huiyuan “Tia” Luo B.A. Capital Normal University, 2011 M.A. University of Kansas, 2014 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Education and Human Performance at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Spring Term 2018 Major Professor: Florin Mihai 2018 Huiyuan “Tia” Luo ii ABSTRACT The present study, a corpus-based quantitative analysis, investigated the use of passive voice in terms of percentage (percentage of total passive usage), constructions (the most commonly used passive forms), and dispersion (the verbs that tended to be associated with passive usage) in college STEM textbooks, more specifically in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. The corpus consisted of twenty textbooks with over 1 million running words selected from the textbooks’ chapters. By identifying the main verbs and passive verbs used in the textbooks, the percentage of passive voice usage was calculated. The statistical difference of passive constructions between disciplines was examined by conducting a MANOVA test, and an instrument, the Compleat Lexical Tutor was used to generate a word list of the most commonly-used past participles in passive voice. Results showed that the overall percentage of passive voice usage is over 30%. The MANOVA test revealed a statistically significant difference of passive voice constructions across the four disciplines, i.e. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Implications for teaching suggest that passive voice was an important grammar feature that needs to be taught tor the English as a second/foreign language students who major in the STEM fields. Additionally, the use of passive constructions should be taught differently in reading and writing based on the needs of the four STEM disciplines, due to the significant difference of passive forms usage in these fields. Keywords: passive voice usage, passive constructions, past participles in passive voice, corpus linguistics, STEM, college textbooks iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Now looking back at my dissertation journey, my emotions were mixed, and the joy of accomplishment has now finally filled my heart over the anxiety of frustration. It was a lonely journey, yet I could not have finished this dissertation without the support of my committee members, family and friends. First and foremost, I would like to give my sincerest gratitude to my chair Dr. Florin Mihai, for his full support, guidance, and encouragement that truly walked me through this journey. His prompt responses to all my emails and messages, and his firm faith in my capabilities of finishing my dissertation truly gave me courage to keep up my work. In addition, I would like to send my appreciation to Dr. Keith Folse, Dr. Joyce Nutta, and Dr. Haiyan Bai for their contribution and their hard work. Dr. Folse were never tired of checking in with me to make sure I was still breathing, and I was keeping up the good work. His practical advice was not only valuable for writing my dissertation but also very useful for my future professional development. Dr. Nutta also encouraged me with her absolute faith for everything that I was about to accomplish, her feedback was truly helpful in structuring my dissertation and making it flow. Last but not least, I am very grateful for Dr. Bai’s constructive advice and feedback on the statistics problems I had. She was very patient, and the way she talked to me and gave me advice made me feel like I was loved by a mom. I know I will have no words to thank them enough for all they have done for me, and I would like them to know that this grateful feeling will last forever in my life. I must also express my greatest gratitude to my mom, Li Guozhen, who always supports me with her unconditional love. Her company and the comfort food she made while I was in my iv worst condition writing my dissertation truly consoled me and encouraged me to continue on doing my work. Finally, I would like to give special thanks to my friends, who blindly supported me with encouraging words, food, and gifts. Their earnest prayers also meant a lot to me, for I know that I could not have finished my work without these prayers. I am very grateful that I have these friends that I can grow my spiritual life with throughout this journey, and together we made a testimony. v TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... viii LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... ix LIST OF ACRONYMS .................................................................................................................. x CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 Rationale ..................................................................................................................................... 3 Research Questions ..................................................................................................................... 7 Methods Analysis ....................................................................................................................... 7 Significance of the Study ............................................................................................................ 8 Study Limitations ........................................................................................................................ 9 Organization of the Study ......................................................................................................... 10 Definitions of Terms for the Study ........................................................................................... 11 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ...................................................................................... 14 Defining Passive Voice ............................................................................................................. 16 Definition of Passive Voice .................................................................................................. 16 Passive Constructions ........................................................................................................... 17 Controversy on the Use of Passives .......................................................................................... 27 Shortcomings of Passive Voice ............................................................................................ 27 What Empirical Studies Have Found on Passive Uses ......................................................... 30 The Importance of Passive Voice in English Learning and Academic Study .......................... 37 The Importance of Passive Voice in Reading ....................................................................... 38 When is Passive Voice Used ................................................................................................ 43 In What Context is Passive Voice Used in Academic Writing ............................................ 48 The Importance of Passive Voice for NSs and L2 Learners ..................................................... 51 Why ELs Need to Particularly Learn Passive Voice ............................................................ 51 Corpus-based Passive Voice Studies ........................................................................................ 62 Corpus Linguistics ................................................................................................................ 62 Corpus-based Evidence of Common Passive Constructions ................................................ 66 Corpus-based Evidence of Lexical Associations of the Passive Forms ............................... 68 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 72 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .......................................................................... 74 Orientation to Research Design ................................................................................................ 75 Sampling Procedures ................................................................................................................ 77 Sample Size Determinations ................................................................................................. 77 Recruitment of Subjects ............................................................................................................ 78 Selected
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