Punctuation errors in the writings of Abetifi Presbyterian Senior High School students, Abetifi-Kwahu

Abstract

This research was designed to examine the punctuation errors in the writings of SHS 2 student of Abetifi Presbyterian Senior High School. Although a number of students in the Senior High School can express themselves in oral and written English, they have problems in punctuating their writings well to communicate effectively. The research sought to identify how the errors occur in students‟ work with the use of punctuation marks so that appropriate measures can be put in place to curb the problem. The researcher considered activities such as class test, class exercise to observe how the various texts in the said materials have been punctuated. The result indicated that students used some punctuation marks such as the comma, semi-colon at the expense of others such as colon and the apostrophe. Also, the result is an indication that teachers of English Language do not treat punctuation as a main topic in grammar from the findings, the researcher recommended that teachers of English as well as curriculum developers should attach much attention to punctuation when preparing the syllabus and other related teaching materials