Lexico-Grammatical Features in MA Dissertation Introductions

A Corpus Analysis of Moroccan EFL Students’ Writing

Abstract

This study is an inductive, qualitative corpus analysis of MA dissertation introductions written by Moroccan students. Guided by the Systemic Functional Linguistics framework, it examines 105 texts from the academic years 2022–2023 and 2023–2024, focusing on three key lexico-grammatical components: lexical bundles, type-token ratio, and lexical density. The findings reveal low lexical density (41%–50%), limited lexical richness (≈0.170), and a dominance of the lexical bundle ‘noun phrase + of,’ indicating challenges in meeting academic writing conventions. The findings of this study provide pedagogical implications for EFL Moroccan instructors and learners to consider lexicogrammar as a key component in their instruction and learning processes.