An Error Analysis on the Punctuation Marks of the Grade 11 Students in Dr. Maria D. Pastrana National High School

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Punctuation marks are a necessity in language. It shows how the sentence should be read and it makes the meaning clear. Although teachers assist students in improving the fundamental aspects of their writing skills, students still make some errors in using punctuations in their written works. Punctuation marks have always been challenging for students. Majority of the students are confused in using punctuation marks properly. This lead to the researcher to identify the demographic profile of the respondents in terms of gender, to identify the particular punctuation mark (full stop, comma, apostrophe, and quotation marks) errors were most frequently made, and the significant difference between the male and female responses.

METHODS

This study used the descriptive method of research. Forty-three students from Grade 11 were selected at random to serve as the study's respondents. The researcher used a 20-item test. The respondents were instructed to supply appropriate punctuations selected among the full stop, comma, apostrophe, and quotation mark. Then, the researcher tabulated, analyzed, and interpreted the data.

RESULTS

This study revealed that females got a higher percentage on supplying the appropriate punctuations on the 20-item test having 58.14% while the males got 41.87%. Most of the errors committed were in misusing the comma, having 40% for the female respondents and 27.83% for the male respondents. There is no significant difference between male and female responses.

DISCUSSIONS

The results showed that errors incurred for the following punctuation marks were: for a full stop, 84.35%; quotation marks, 64.45%; apostrophe, 40.87%; and comma, 46.00% among the female respondents. As for the male respondents, errors incurred were the following: for a full stop, 77.00%; quotation marks, 42.00%; apostrophe, 37.00%; and comma, 32.00%. 58.92% of the total female population used the appropriate punctuation marks while 47% of the total male population used the appropriate punctuation marks.