Register competence in academic writing: a case study of Third-Level English Students at the University of Venda, Limpopo Province

Abstract

The use of unsuitable registers has been a critical concern with students at universities, colleges, and in English Second Language (ESL) contexts. While the appropriate use of registers is essential for coherent spoken and written discourses. However, students in ESL contexts seem to encounter difficulties in the use of appropriate registers due to various factors. The purpose of this study was to explore register competence among third-level students specialising in English Didactics at the University of Venda. The participants were 15 third-level students in the academic year of 2020. This study employed a case study design with a focus on the qualitative research method and a critical discourse and thematic analysis were employed as methods of data analysis. This study adopts a prescriptive grammar in the evaluation of the register competence. The findings of this study reveal that the register knowledge and its suitable usage among the selected third year-level student educators appeared to be an obstacle to their academic writing due to the variations in the use of the five distinct registers, namely, static, casual, intimate, informal, and formal. Furthermore, the following features were present in student educators’ written work, namely, passive voice, lack of parallel structure, colloquialism, slang, use of personal pronouns, and phrasal verbs which are mostly considered inappropriate features for academic writing. Academic writing should be given extensive attention in English curriculum content such that the students master the appropriate writing style and register usage. The pedagogical implications from this study are that the lecturers teaching English second language should enlighten the student educators with appropriate knowledge to enable them to use registers appropriately and advance students’ understanding of differences in the English language registers. This would pave the way for possible research arenas, and strategies to mitigate the inappropriate use of registers.