PUNCTUATION ERRORS IN THE ESSAYS OF ADAMU D/A JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL PUPILS

ABSTRACT The ultimate aim of this study is to find out the punctuation errors in the essays of Adamu D/A Junior High School pupils; to ascertain why the pupils commit punctuation errors in their essays and come out with solutions that will help solve the situation. The research design used is participatory action research. Eighteen pupils and two teachers of English were sampled through purposive and simple random sampling technique. Questionnaire, interview, observation and class test were the research instruments employed to collect the data. The results of the findings revealed that the pupils’ commonest punctuations errors were overgeneralization, omission and wrong placing of the said marks. The implications of this study to teachers of English are that English teachers need to devote more time to the teaching of punctuations and also need to encourage the pupils to read more story books. In addition, teachers of English in should endeavor to insert the correct punctuation marks at where they ought to be during the marking for the pupils to know how to place them correctly. Lastly, more exercises on punctuations and essay writing should be given to the pupils to practice frequently, for practice they say leads to perfection.