University of Nigeria

Research Publications
Author

ASOGWA, Patricia N.

PG/MA/04/35691
Error Analysis of Punctuation Problems in the Use of
Title

English Among Mechanical Engineering Students of

University of Nigeria, Nsukka
Faculty

Arts
Department

Linguistics Igbo and Other Nigerian Languages

Date

April, 2008
Signature
 ERROR ANALYSIS OF PUNCTUATION
PROBLEMS IN THE USE QFENGLISHAMONG
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING STUDENTS
OF UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA

ASOGWA, PATRICIA N.
~G/MA/O4/35691

. ,, .
*I.d. .I?-

DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS, IGBO AND

OTHER NIGERIAN LANGUAGES
UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA

APRIL, 2008
 ...
111 '

*I
CERTlli'lCATION

Asogwa, Patricia N., a postgraduate student in the Department of

Linguistics and Nigerian langi~ages with the Registration Ni~ml:,cr

PG/MA/04/35691 has sat is lac to^-ily completed the requirement Sor rcscarcll
 L

r
I
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
1

\
This work has not been single handedly done by the researcher. It has

been a brainwork with the support of my supervisor, my lecturers, friends,

classmates, and so on. I, therefore, wish to express my great gratitude to iny

supervisor, Dr. B.M.O. Mbah Esq, a inan of diligence, who in spite of his

academic coininitinents always finds time to go through this work as quickly

as a machine. He has been patient enough and has always given me advice
I

.with meekness. Infact, that this work1 is completed at this time. is due to his
\
enco u~agement.

1 also want to appreciate the kind help of Mr. B. N. Anasiudu, w170

gave me a number of books that helped me a lot. I appreciate the fatherly

advice and guidance of Professor B.O. Olukpe and his wife Dr. Mrs. E. N.

' Oluilpe.

I
I acknowledge t h e - . + a n t t i help of my lectures Professors C.

'Ikekeonwu, P ' A . Nwachultwu, Dr. ~kebalama,Dr. Inno Nwadi/te, Dr. Mrs.

G. I. Nwaozuzu, Dr. Chris Agbedo, Mr. B. N. Anasindu, and many others. I

,

appreciate the help of my husband Pastor Chieltezie John. He was

financially behind this work to see to its success. I appreciate the help of

Mrs. Innoina of the department of "The Use of English". She gave me the

students' exam scripts used for this work.

I

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

\
Title page. . . ... ... i
 2.4 Punctuation as An Error Type ... ...
2.5 Summary and Conclusion.. .
CHAPTER THREE Research Methodology.. . . . .
3.0 , Preamble ...
3.1 Design of the Study.. . ...
I 3.2 Area of the Study ..
,
3.3 Population of the Study ...
Instrumentation ... ...

Sainple and Sampling Procedure. ..

Description and Administration of Instruments

3.7 Method of Data Analysis ...

CHAPTER. FOUR DATA ANALYSIS ...

I 4.0 Preamble... ...

4.1 ResearchQuestion T , .* .

4.2 Research Question 11.. . ...

4.3 Research Question 111... ...
.,,, . ,>' .
4 wq. \.I? .
4.4 Hypothesis One.. .
4.5 Hypothesis Two. ..
4.6 Summary of findings .... . . . . ...
CHAPTER FIVE
L

5.1 Discussion of the findings.. . ...

I
5.2 Observation of the Research Findings ...
I

5.3 Conclusion ... ...

5.4 Recoizzmendatioi~for further studies ...
References. .. ...
 ix
,

ABSTRACT
rr.
This study attempts to Gnd out the colnpetellce level in the use of

punctuation marks in cornposition writing of the Mecl~~uical

Engineering

first year students (200512006 session), who offered the course: Use of

English Language. This study attempts to find out the influence of such

variables as sex and age o11their competence. A total of 111 students were

i~sedfor the study. They consliiuied a semi~lasgroup and were tlierefore an

intact-class. The Use of English 2005/2006 second semester examination

qoestioos were used. The marked examination scripts revealed that a total of

402' punctuation errors manifested themselves. Error in the use of the conmma

has the highest occurrence of 46.52% followed by the errors in the use of

full stop 17.41%. Concenli~~g

the variables, it is discovered that th; male

students committed more pi~rlctuationerrors that the female studeuts. Also

I

the students between the ages of 17-21 co~n~nitted

more punctuaticxi errors
" , , , . * " I .,t- . % < I + .
than the students between the ages of 22 and above. This study reveals that

the students' punctuatioii errors result in f'mlty over-use of punctuation

~nasks,ignorance of the rule sesiricl'ions in purlctuation, and incomplete

application of the rules governing the use of punctuation marks.

 1

CHAPTER ONE: 1NTRODUCTlON

1.1 Background of the Study

Language teaching and learning in the 1950 and 1960 were

I

I
influeliced by the teachings of the ,structuralist linguists who adopted the
\
\

tenets of behaviourism. Language was seen as a human activity whose

of hahitc o n the
learning was achieved by the formation arid perfol-~iia~ice

basis of stimulus response chains. Failure to respond correctly to any

stimuli resuks in error. Corder (1973) notes that "all learners make

mistaltes." Dulay and Burt (1974) assert that "you can't learn without
L

goofing." Bell (1987) notes that errors indicate faulty knowledge of the
I
grammar of the L (second language). This explain the fact that the L
I

\
learner has not mastered the code of the target language. To him,

therefore, only L2 learners coimait errors, while L I (first language)

learners make only niistakes.

The Sturctural-kinguists* view though it contributed greatly to

, language learning has a number of shortcomings, which stood as a

question inark against it. Some of these shortcoinings are

,I ...
I 1. The process of learning by habit formation limited the 'learners only
I

to creating and recognizing novel utterances that edeeded the

'
boundary of the model sentences practised.

2. Habit formed through drills do not explain how well a learner

behaved. This is because most errors, which are predicted to have

 resulted from the dillcrences bctween the I.,\ and L2are not J'ouncl in
tllc language of thc lcnrncrs (13~11:l987), rather new sets of errors thal

are not related to L1 are l'ound Lo have occurred (Dulay, I1.1.C, and

Burt M.k. (1974). '['lic above shortcomings gavc rise to the cognitive

psychological approach to l a n g ~ ~ a gteaching

e and Icarning. ' 1 ' 1 ~

cognitive psychologists bclicvc that lallg~iilgecannot only hc Icarnccl

through a, stimulus-response chain b ~ l tthat the 11~1rnan

being Ilas the

innate tendency to acquire or learn language, l m g u a g e acquisition

follows a developmcntnl schedule. The cognitive psychologists also,, ,

propagate the view that languagc is recursive in nature. Ih-omincnt in

Lhis view is Chomsl;y (1057). 'l'his appl-oacli camc LIPwith a riurnl~cr

oC rules, which they said arc recursive in nature. The hilure to apply

these rules correctly by any learner resillts in error. Over the years,

the l'ocus of learning tl~coricsand theorists has been to Iind out;

1. h o ~ va Icarncr Ic,os:ns.a l,ang~iagc

2. . what hc lanocvs bcforc learning a lunguagc

3. how his I.rnowlcdge can be measured.

It I ..
Error analysi s is a pocvcrl'ul tool to answer thc above questions Cortler

(1 973) notes that error analysis is important to the rcscarcher b c c a ~ ~ s c ,

the study of errors is part of the psycholinguistic i

search for thc universal processes oS scconcl- P
I
languagc Icarning. 1 lc notcs hrthcl- tlwt "Sroni the
study uS the leal-ncr's crl-ors, we arc able to inl'cr
the nature of his Icarning career and discovcr what
 3

he still has to l e i ~ r ~13y

l . describing and classifying
b
his errors in linguistic terms, we build up a picturc
oi'tlie I'eaturcs o r thc language which are causing
him lcarning problem."

P~~nctl~ation

The study of punctuation datcs back to 15"' ccntury. During this

period, it was Itnown in linglish as "pointing.'? [t was derived Srom tlic 1,atin

word ' L I ' ~ n ~ i ~ e~a n~ i "n"Point".

g In Macropaedin volume 15 ( 1 975), it is

noted that puncluation in thc early time was sccn as < < the usc o r spacing,

conventional signs, and ccl-lain type of typographical devices as aids to thc

irndcrstanding a~itlcorrect reading, boll1 silcntly and aloud ol'hancl writlcn

and printed text." Arounil lllc late 16"' century, Ilic theory and pmcticc 01'
*

punctuation varicd bet\\iccn two scliools oS tliouglit: the Elocutionary

School, and Syntactic School.

Elocutionary School

This school treated points or stops as indications of thc pause ol'

*,,, .Vl.,,. '

i l obscrvcd by a I-eadcr, particularly whcn lie is

various Icngths that ~ i ~ i g lbc

reading aloud to an auclicncc. By l G O O A.D., punctuation sel-vcci an

elocutionary pi~rposc.'T'lie pi~nctuation-of proniincnt books of that era:

Progress" by .lo111113unyan (1978), "Elizabethan Drama" ant) "the

"I'ilgri~i~'~

devotional Prose" oS John Donne were donc elocutionarily. 1 lic aim 01'
7 7

I
c l o c ~ h o ~ i ametliocis
r~ was lo b h g an order into 1
; c o n l i ~ s ~set
~ l LIP. ' I l $
basic shortcoming of the elocutionary systcm is that it laclted inllcctioni~l

elements that had been the marking ofthc 15"' century punctuation.

Syntactic School

The Syntactic Scllool sccs punctuation as guiclcs to the grmmatic:ll

construction of scntences. 'l'his school sccms to be more prominent than the

Elocutionary School. rl'his is because by the end of the 17L"century English-

speaking writers appeared to agree that the main p ~ ~ r p oof

s c punctuation was

to clarily the r a m m a r OSa text il~ldtake account of the specd and rhytlin~o S

actual spcech (see Macropacdia volume 15: 1975). J O ~ I ~ S O I(1I 640)was the

first to recommend syntactic p~rnctuationin Iinglish. This made the syntactic

system very promine~it.l)ron~incntwriters 01' this period who adoptctl t l ~ c

syntactic system includc: T.S. Eliot and George I3crnard S11aw.

During the classicd periods, the punctuation used in English and

languages. Aristotle intm~4ucccL "paragraphs", which was called

'paragrapllos." It was represcntcd by a horizontal line placed under the

beginning of a line in wl~icha IICW topic was introduced. Aristophancs 01'

(1

Hyza~ltiumintroduced the midtilc oS the last letter to 111arlcthe end ol'a short

seclion. Also, he introduced "colon" by a point alicr the bottom ol'tl~c,Icltcr

to ~narlcoCS a 1011gcr scction and a full stop or period to 111ar1c the end 01' a
0
1
complete sentence. However, in 1566 Aldo Manzo Junior c m c u p \\lil11 a

"system of orthography" callcd "orthograpl~icratio." I n it, 11c inlroducccl

diffkrcnt punctuation ~narlts:tlie modern comma (,), semi-colon (;), and a

1i1ll slop or pcriocl (.), Olhcr marlts recognizecl are: exclamation mark (!),

quotation mark (" "), and the dash (-).

However, thc syntactic punctuation system was adopted in thc Unitcd

Statcs but with more rigid ~ L I I C S . In Macropaedia volume 15 (1975), i l is

noted that

The system 01' punctualion now ~ ~ s ebyd writers oS

English has \xcn complclc since the 1 7''' century . 7'111-ce
oS jls iilost imporlanl components are tlie space lcfl
blank between words; the indentation oc the Grst line of'
'
a new paragraph; and the uppercase, or capital Iclter
writing at the beginning of a proper ilame or a title. 'I'he
marlts of punctuation, also, known as points or stops,
and the chiel' parts that thcy play in the system arc as
Sollows: the end of a grammatically complete sentcnce
is ~narlted by lid1 point, full stop, or period. Thc
period may also bc irscd to mark abbrevialjo~~s. 'I'hc
colon (:)...now scrvcs mainly to indicatc the beginning
ol' a Ijsl, sununary or quotation. The semi-colon (;). . .
may be substituted for period b e t w e n two
grnmmatically complete sentences that are closely
connected in sense; in a long or complicated scntencc, it
may precede a cuGcrrdihal'C conji~nction(such as "or",
"and", or "but"). A comma is the highest oS the Sour
basic stops. As the most unusual means ol' indicating
the syntactical turning point in a sentence, it is exposed
to abuse. [t may be i w d to separate the elements oS a ,

series, bei'ore a rclativc tlause that does not limit or ,

deline its anteccdcnt, in pairs to set of'for isolate words

or phrases, or in combination with co-ordinating
co~~.junction. Other punctuation inarlts iised in modern
English include: pareiitliesis, Whi~hserves like a pair of
comma to isolatc a word or phrases, question, t

exclamation, and quotation marks, the hyphen, and the 'D@

apostrophe.
 Any IBilure on the part ol'a Icarncr to use these punctuation marks co~.rcctly

results in crror. The implication oS crror analysis in this st~udyis to iclcnlilj

from learners' compositions the wrong use ol'punct~~ations

(maslts).

1.2 Statement of the Yroblcrn

In University of Nigcria, Nsukka, the s t ~ ~ dofy "'I'he Use ol' 1:nglish"

is compulsory. 'l'lle course design in various dej?artmcnts is such that cvory

first year student must study "'l'lie lJse of Englisl~."This is becausc 13nglish

language is the ol'licial language in Nigcria (I:me~~a~~-jo:

2005). Nigcria is

made up of many ethnic groups wit11 many Innguagcs. Only thrcc out ol'
I

these languages art: ollicially recognized: I-Iausa, Igbo, and Y o r ~ ~ b aIn.

University of Nigeria, all Iirst year students o l k r "The Use of l':ngl~sh" as

L2. Right from secondary school, the "Wcst Af'rican School Ccrlificatc
I
(WAEC)" syllabus provides that for students to excel in English language,

which is a compulsory sul?jcct li>r all the students, they must write an cssay
.,,,. * * $ . . % ' . .I? ' I
ol' about "450" words that is well punctuated. Failcure to make good usc o I'

punctualion marks results in error. 'l'he stuclents arc penalized for hi's crror

. . stidents composition mark Ibr each

by subtrc~ctihghall' mark Ii*on; the

wrongly used punctuation mark. Also, in the University of Nigeria, the story

is not ciif'fcrent. To bc wal-clcd an honora~ydegrce, students musi study and

I
pass the course called "'l'hc Use ol' English," wliich is one of the gcnq-d

stuclies, in thcir first ycar. Gcncrally, students \vritc essays in "'l'hc lJsc ol'
 P;~lglish'' examination and Iccturers niark their papers giving attention to h e

students' use oS punctuation 111arks as a proof of their competencc in tlic

language. Selinlter (1969) 1x1s noted that a sccond la~lguagc Icarncr

possesses a language, which he t c m s "inter language." Nernber (1 971) calls

it "transitional dialect." 'l'hcy arc errors commiltccl in any l a n p u g c Icarni ng

situation, which arc systc~naticbut ~mstablein nature and reflect the 1camcl.s

"transitional competence."

Errors, when critically sl~iclicd,providcs a S d b ~ ? c ltoi thc tcaclicr or

researcher. It exposes to him or her the learners' competencc nncl thc

I

efrectiveness of thc teachers' teaching materials and mcthods. 'l'his c x p o s ~ ~ r c

will inspire the teacher to adopt or improve on hislher teaching materials

and methods (Corder: 1973). Due to the emphasis on the compulsory study

of the use of English in University ol' Nigeria, and Mechanical Engi~~ccring

, being a department in the university, this study aims at examining lie

punctuation errors in the written English C ~ ~ n p o s i t i o of

n niechanical
.,,...* 1.7. ,..'a '

Engineering Students.

1.3 Scope of the Study

It

l'his study covers search for all the punctuation errors that manifest in

students' cvrittcn composition.

I
1
This study also find oul whether age and gender i n t l ~ ~ e n errors.
ce *
b
 1,iinitation of Study

only on thc student's ability lo usc

?'his study will conce~~lralc
UI

punctuation inarks and will not cover other area like expression, use ol'

tenscs and correct grammar, use ol'articles and scnse rclalions. I

1.4 Research Qr~estion

In this study, the relevant research questions that will guide the

researcher in collecting thc necessary data are:

1 . In what ~OSIIIS do punctuation errors committed by students mnnil'est

themselves'!

2. To what extent do ctil'l'ercnces in gender aCScct the pcrl'ormruncc oj'thc

sample population in punctuation?

3. To what extcnt do dil'l'ercnces in agc afl'cct the perfornuuncc o f thc

sample population'?
I

1.5 Research Hypotliesis

1. 'There is no signii~c:-ari't4iliff3crknce
betwccn the mean p e r S w ~ x ~ n cofc

male and female students i n punctuation.

,
2. There is no signil'icanl difkrence between the mean 01agc rangcs 17-
I'

22 and 22 and above in punctuation.

1.6 Sigriificancc of Lhc Study

Selinlter (1969) had earlier on in page seven notcd that cvcry

language learner has an interlanguage, One of the cliaractcristic~ of' a n

I

interlanguage is instability. 'l'liis is caused by the Ikct that a learner is in rl

I

dil'l'erent stage of learning in respect ol' a very dif'l'erent system 01' the

language (Corder: 1973). So, the aim oS every language teacher has becn ta

eliminate or mini~nizethe errors that result li.0111the attempts ol' L2 learners

10 apply the ~ L I I C S ~I'llicLLII.~,c( I ; I I I ~ L I ; \ ~ C corrc~(Iy.Anasiuclu ( I 983) srll)polnls

the above view when 11c opincs that, "the concern of evcry teakher oJ'

English is how to eliminate all errors committed by his stuclents in their

expressions, and so help them eSfectively."

'I'he effective use of punctuation has been one ol'the cliallcngirig m a s

!
[h;rt studcnts encounter in their altcmpt to produce weli writtcn cssi'lys and

cornpositioiis. An unpunctuated essay or composition is alwsiys 1101

meaningful because it cannot bc read. This study is signilicml bcqaiisc i~

..,,..rl.7' ."+ '

will expose to the languagc teacher the punctuation marlts thal constitute

problems to students, their sourcc and what can be done to tacklc thc

problem to. improve con~posilionwriting

. .. alnong I,? Ic~11.1icrs.
,I 1,carlidr:; who

read this work will also understand the punctuation marks iliil givc
!

cliallcnges to the studcnts and slirdy them properly. 'l'hc researchkr \kho
t
! Q
reads this work will be exposccl to all the punctilalion mlu-lts MT 1;lavcf i .111
 'I'his will 11c can

carry on a research work on any ol'them individually.

1.7 Objective of the Str~cly

Thc objective 01' this study is to examine thc use ol' punctu$ion

among first year 'I'he IJsc ol' Iinglish stuclcnts (Mechanical 13nginckring

Students) to discover tlicir levcl 01' compctcncc in tllc use o r puncluation

nlarks, to l?nd out the puncti~ntion marlts that are problcmatic tti the

students, and to find out why thcy constitute problems.

 C
CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

'2.0 Preamble

I I Wherever L2 learners are found, errors are inevitable. This assertion

is true because the L2 learners dd not consciously coinrnit qrors. This

review will, therefore, concentrate on the theoretical background on error

analysis over the years; the school of thought that gave rise to error

analysis: structural approach and trai~sformational generative or the

formalist approach. Besides, the empirical study will review the real
i

ff
, ~researclieson errors in language learning carried out by scholars.

I 2.1 Theoretical Review

I

1
Over the years, a lot of studies has been carried out on how o improve

learning. Quite a number of these studies is focused on English language. No

actual learning cap talte4,plsrce

, , ..l.
., ..
7 without errors manilesting. Corder (1973)

notes that "all learners nlalte ~ilistaltes" Also, Bell (1987) opincs that "dl

language teachers and language learners are aware that learners make

>mistakes. However, Cor'aer (1973) tries to distinguish between errors and

I mistaltes. I-Ie refers lo errors as "breaches of the code." He states further that

"learners of a language are liable io lapses and mistakes, wliiyh result in

unacceptable utterances" and wrong application in written works. They are

not regarded as physical failures but a sign of an imperi'ec~knouledge ul' 111c

codc of thc target language. IZrrors show that the learners havc not yct

internalized the for111ationr ~ ~ l ofthe

es second language. Instead of thi;: word

"inter~~alized,"Bell (1987) uses the word "mastered." 111 an attempt to

explain the real meaning of error, Taylor (1986) notes that

error must bc talcen to include those pieces of

language w l ~ i c lmay
~ be regarded as very nearly I

acceptable; 1'0s it is often slight inadequacies of

language which rcveal the source of inany inore
obvious grammatical mistakes. S~ichjudgments
cannot merely bc asserted; they must be argued
for in the context ofparticular pieces ofwriting.

Another major dil'fercnce bctween errors and mistalces is that pointed out by

Enltvist (1983), i~ainely"...success is measured by c o ~ ~ n t i nerrors"

g I'or thc

LJ2 learner. So, errors call for teaching the requisite l<nowleclge not lbr

correction (J0hnson:1988). Davies (1991) sees errors as f'aults "which

students malces when they venture beyond what they have learned" Iwhich

make them enter into what he calls "engaging in linguistic adventurism."

1
(111
.,$ 3 . .*1. 7. "I* '

the other l ~ a i ~ dJol~nson

, (1988) sees mistaltes as "malcl'action Jue to

inability to process uncler diUic~iltsets of operating conditions." Corder

I

(1981) a k o notes that mistakes "are.

. .
often made by native spealtcr-s." 'I'his
If

suggests that the native spcalcers' lapses are coterminous with learncl-s'

nlistaltes (James: 1993). Corder ( 1 973) buttresses this distinc~ionbdwccn

i
crrors and mistaltcs when hc notes that "native spcalters, tl~cn,li-eclucn&ly
I
I
s

make slips or hlse starts or conlbsion of structure" which makc ;hem"

 I;

producc unacceptable utterances." I-le notes S~lrthcrthat "the Mistakes are

to match the language to the situation.. . and are also cases: 01' thc
filil~~rcs

selcclion of the wrong slylc, dialect or variety.. . ". Edge (1 989) "uses

mistakes as the cover-term for all Itincls oS deviance, whatever their cause."

I-lowever, the ma-jor difserence between mistakes and errors 'is that

native speakers do not commit errors since they Itnow their l a n g ~ ~ a g e s

perrectly well (James: 1993). Cordcr (1973) notes h t thc reason is b c c a ~ ~ s c

"native spcakers are ablc to corscct their own crror:;, but learners canhot by

any means always do so. 11 is 111crcSo1-e potenlially misleading to rcl'cr to

their errors as "breaches of the code." So, learners commit errors while
!

native speakek make mistakes. Corder (1973) opincs further that laniiiage
I

learners also make mistakes only in the speaking rules. That is, they usc

inappropriate language.

2.1.1 Error Analysis: Its Root and Development

, $ 3 4 % . .' . I 1

Stendahl ( I 986) sccs crror analysis as "an inventory.. . that is ma'clc up

of h e error found in students' LEX of a foreign language in ordcr to f h m a

people learning a language speak, and the way adult natives speakers 6t' dlc
1

language use the lang~~age."

To attempt a critical review o r Error Analysis:
 its root and development, the influence of formalism in language teaching

cannot be over looked. Anasiudu (2001) sees formalism as an approach to

language teaching and learning that is based on the systems of form of

'language. This approach views language as a closed system which is made

I
up of elements and their relationship with one another. The aim of this
I

approach is the knowledge of the gralnlnar of the target lang'ua~e('1'1 )

Hence, the structural and the transformational generative grammar

adopted a formalist approach in their language learning descriptions. The

orientations that came with the above grammars saw language as a system

or code but, they share different views aboul language ~eaching.'lhe

hstructural linguists malte use of the principle of contrastive analysis, while

I
the transformational linguists make use of error analysis.

2.1.2 The S t r u c t u r a l Linguist .Approach

Bell (1 987) notes.,,,.that structuralism gained currency during the time

4.4.7' r'.'?

of American Structuralism in the 1930s. The founding father of

/
structuralism. is Ferdinand de Saussure. Ndimele (2003) notes, that another l

prominent personality of struEtura~ism is Leonard Bloomfield. In the

description of language, they adopted the method of the physical scientists

who believe strongly in the scientific approach to the solution of any

I

problem. So. they adopted a strow empirical and ind~~ctive

apprhach tn the

description of language. To the structuralists, "linguistic performance is

 superior to linguislic compclcncc.. ." (Bell: 1973). 'l'hey saw languagc

system as arbitrary (Bell: 1987). In their description of language, they

adopted a procedure known as "Immediate Constituent Analysis! or IC

I

Analysis." Bloom field (1 933) notes that constructions in human language

do not only exhibit a linear scquence but also a binary relationship. Thc 1C

analysis is a process of division into parls till Lhc irreducible conslilucnts arc

reached. For example,

1 The 11 wblllall 11 I L ~ L L ~ ~ I C ~ ~h 1 4 im.

I
Anasiudu (2001) notcs that structural grammar "cmploys tlic slot-llllcr

technique in its analysis to identi* the elcmcnts and their relationships in

the slructure." For example,

1

1
2 The man is coming.
<

y: ; [ .,
$ 8 . .
w%. .t. ., , . I > '

'They adopled the behaviourists tcnL as the 111oc1el J'or Icarning. 'I'hcy iirgned

in line with Bell (1987) that "since language is a ~ L I I I I ~ Iactivity,

I language

learning will be achieved by buil&ng bp 'habits' only on the basis oS

stimulus response chains." The learning o l habits was built up by practice.

I
Sentence patterns were repeated and drilled until they became as hilbi[pl
I
I
and automatic as those of the ~ n o t l ~ etongue,
r l'hc theoretical outcqmc ol'

,
 structuralist grammar in coi~nectionwith langilage learning and teaching
w
was 'kontrastive linguistics."

2.1.2.1 Contrastive Analysis

13ell (1987) opincs that crrors occur whcn ncw habits havc to hc

accpired or tvl~enold oncs arc to be modified or replacccl. This is i n linc

with the behayiourists theory of language acquisition which maintains that

language c?cquisition is a proccss of habit forn~ation.Fries (1945) asscrts

that

a child encounters problems out of an effort to

develop a i ~ e wsct of language habits against the
bacl<ground o l his diKerent native habits because
'a
he transfers the Scatures of his first language to his
second language. (Quoted in Bell: 1987:176).

It is, tl~crel'ore,clear that one of the causes of errors amongst stuclent is

"transSer." Lado (1957) So~mulntesthe "Contrastive Analysis I-Iypothesis"

(CAI I) wliich was bused on the assumption that:

.,,, . .
vl. ,t. . \+I? '

... the stildcnt who colnes into contact with a '!

foreign language will iind some features of it quite
easy and others extremely diflicult. Tl~ese
elements that are simi.lar to his native language
will be simple fol"him;.and those elements that are
different will be difficult. I

T i assertion is why Ellis (1907) points out that "Contrastive ~ n & ~ s i s

t
0
provides evidence that ~ 1 1 ~ 1 languages
1 come into contact i n bili11~uhl

situations, many of the 'distortions' that arise arc traceable to dilTercnces in

the languages involved." When a learner reli~scsto respond positively to

any stimuli, errors will still result. The structuralists also believe tllat iS the

stimuli a c c ~ m m ~ d i l terrors,
e errors will be internalized by the Icarners.

Contrastive Analysis is a powerl'ul tool Lor the selection of teaching

materials for classroom use, and the selection of qualified teacl~crswho

,

understand both the L I and thc target language, and who would bc able to
I

take note of intcrrercnce and transl'erence wl~enthey occur among thc 1 4

learners. 'Thus, Willtins ( I 972) opines that:

Contrastive Analysis assists in detcrmining a

teaching sequence, the other forms of language
through which new item should be contrasted, or
the structural and semantic emphasis [sic] s l ~ o ~ ~ l d'
be made.
'That is, Contrastive Analysis (CA) aids learning aluongst L2 learners. Gas

(1 988) is of the opinion that

in CA, the greater attention is paid to the target I

language, resulting in more rapid learning.. .'l'his

in turn causes them to cu~nulativelylearn the L2
grammar, a~ad.rdy.,lcss ,011 g~1cssing,inLerencing or
"top-down processing." This instills in learners an
accuracy coilsciousness that will stay with them
and will curb thcir 'excessive adventurism.'

Fro111the above strong points o,f Contrastive Ailalysis (CA), it is clcar that

Contrastive Analysis is diagnostic in nature. One can conclude that

contrastive Analysis is uscfid bccausc it predicts errors in second language

I
learning based upon an a prior Contrastive Analysis of L,and LL P
1
2.1.2.2 Wealtnesses of Conll-astive Analysis

When Contrastive Analysis was llnsllly sul?jccted to empirical tcsts,

serious flaws were revealed. While Contrastive Analysis pr-cdicted some

crrors, it clearly did not manifcst them. The worlts oE Dusl<ova: 1969,

Chamot : 1978, Arabski: 1979 are good examples of cnipirical researbhes o n

I

Contrastive Analysis. The worlts of Dulah, H.1.C and Burt M.K c1974b)
,

rev.eal that some predicted errors failed to materialize. That is, it over

prcdictcd. Lal-sc~l-1;rccniananti Long (1 99 1) note that Whitman anil Jacltson

(1971) who tested the prctlictions of C O L ~different CAs of English and

Japanese by studying the Englis11 perl'ormancc 01'2,500 Jalxtnese sccbndary

school students on a m~dtiple choice and close test conclirde that

"Contrastive Analysis Ivas inadequate to predict thc inlcrfcrcncc prc?blcms

ol'a language learner," and that

interference.. . plays such a sn~allrole in language

learning perfor~i~mce that no Contrastive
Analysis, no rnattcr, how 4well conceived, could
correlate highly with performance data, at least at
the level of syntax.

James (1988) argues that "it makes little sense to undertake

11

con~parisonof two languages simply to conlism that cn-ors suspcctccl 01'

I

being caused by transl'er are indeed so." Looking at the above weakncsscs of

Contrastive Analysis, it is concluded, in Ellis (1987b) that Tontrbstjve

P
' 9
Analysis could be used as 'a posteriori to explain,' rather than predict.': That
I

is, Contrastive Analysis s l i o ~ ~be

l d used together with error analysis. ,
2.1.3 Transformational Generative Linguist Approach

As a result ofthe shortcomings ofthe structural linguistic approach to

language teaching and learning, another school known as "transfor~nationd

generative linguists" came up wit11 a difrerent view of language learning and

teaching. 'l'l~eirgrammw is a gram111arthat "scrviccs" 130rmalisln(A~'lasiudu:

1
2001). This grammar is based on thc theory o r ~nentalism.T'lle chief

proponent oc this school is Noom Chomsky. His p~~blication

in 1957, a n d

consequently "Aspects ol' the theory of syntax" in 19G5 elwtrliccl

'Transformational generative grammar." The transSosmationalists 'bclicvc

1

that:

(a). Language is not a set of habits but an internalized nlcntal

competence which docs not come about by a stimulus-
response in-PLI~.
(b) Language is universal. All normal children acquire language
with equal facility at the same age (Greenc: 1972; Mba: 1-1.
1999).
I
(c). Language is a system that relates meaning to things. In I

"Syntactic Structure",.~C~110m~l~y
points O L I ~two processes which arc ~1scli11:

the pl~rasestructure rule ([IS-rulcs) and transfoormatio11aI rules. According to

Chomsky (1957), PS-rules are in the form of re-write rules; for e x a ~ n ~ l c

e. D + The, etc I

I
f N 3 man,'bucltet \

g. T + past (-ed) or non-past

I
h. V 3 kick, etc
I

(where 'S' is sentence

NI' + Noun Phrase :

I

AUX -+ Auxiliary I
I

!
VP 3 Verb Phrase !

I
!
D -+Determiner

N + Noun
T -> rrcnsc)

After the underlying structure, some transl'ornlation will apply applied I'or

the surface structure (SS) to manifest. Some transformational rulcs are

I

obligato~y;some are optional. For example,

.,,, .wl.,P. . ? '
I

5 The man caught the bird ,

I

S 3N P AUX VI' (Aclj~~nct)

, 1
VI' + Verb + NP f

i
i

NP 3 [NP sing] I

,
[NP PL]
I
P
'
NP sing 3 D e t + N +0 b

!
NPPl+Det+N-t-S
(

1
 Det -+ The

N -+ man bird
*B

Verb -+ AUX + V

AUX -+ (catch -ten)

This is the terminal string

Det +N + 0 + past + V + Det -1- N +0

[0in the context NP l'L]

Affix hopping rule

S -+ Det N V + past (ed) Det N

n~orphophonemicrules

Man + 0 = man

-ed + catch = caught

bird + 0 = bird
The terminal string is coi~vertedto the lollowing Surface Structure (SS):

"The man caught the bird". Due

., ,,. .*$. + the abstract naturc of TG, not mu& ol. it
., . "to
I

has been used in the teaching o r grammar (Anasiudi~200 1). The theoretical

outcome of TG in response to language teaching and learning is the ?Error

Analysis." Corder (1974) notes {hat lehmers learn by forming hypothcscs. It

1

is by testing out each hypothesis that the learner discovers the rules ol'the
I

i +
foreign language. 111 the process of testing out the hypothesis, errors ivc

inevitable. I-Ieadbloom (1 979) therefore explains error

 "identification, classillcation, explanation, and utilization of the patterns and

types of error to predict the errors which inhibit the progress of languagc

learners ." I
I

I
I
2.1.3.1 Error Type of and Cause I

Over the years, a lot of'studies on error analysis have reveal tljat there
I

are many causes 01' errors. All these causes result in error types. 'The

colnnlonest cause of errors aillong L2 learners pointed out by Ellis (1997) is

"transki' which results in "interf'erence." Odlin (1989) defines tril/lsl.er as

"the influence resulting fiom the similarities and differences betdeen the

target language and any other language that has been previous,ly (and
1
!

perhaps imperfectly) acquired." The behaviorists focused on errors that

,

learners produced, which result from the negative transcer of mothen tongue I

, patterns into the learner's L2. Currently, the cognitive theorists havc
I

discovered that therc arc o h e r ~ilni1'estationso r transfer. Ellis i ( 1 997)

., ,, . .
wl* ,*' , %.,> '
I
I
considered three of these manifestations:

2.1.3.2. Facilitation (Positive Transfer) I

11

I11 positive transkr, the learner's L1 can lacilitate t11c L2 Icarning. I

Odlin (1989) observes that when learners with different native langL&es arc
1

studied and coinpared the facilitative effect will be h l l y observed es&xjally

:
I

in the rate of learning and in reduced number of errors. Ellis (1997) talks
i

a study carried out by Keller~nan(1 9853 where

about a U-shaped behavio~~r,
I
 I

a learner sometimes i~~anifcsts

correct use ol' the target language fyature if

this feature corresponds to an LIfeature. The learner may as time gocs on

replace the L I I'eature with a developinental L2 Seat~~re
bel'ore, linally

ret~lrningto the correct target language feature. Gas (1979,1983) illustrates 1

the facilitative effect oS Jdl when he investigated "pronoun retention" using

I

seventeen (17) adult learners of L2 English with diverse language

bnckgrounds. I-Ic divided the learners into two groups: those that their I,I
I
I

allowed pronoun retention (Persian and Arabic) and those that their do
!
not allow pronoun retention (French and Italian). He finds out that those in

the first group wo~lldaccept, '"The woman that gave a book to her is 111y
I

sister" as gra~nmaticalrather learners in the second g r o ~ ~This

p . later gro~lp

committed fewer errors because their language resembled English in not

permilting "pronoun retention."

I
Avoidance notes Ellis (1995) is a complex phenomenon. Itlrcsults
. 4 4 i . 3 ' '3, ' I

from the difference between the native languagc and target lai~guage.
I

Learncrs tend to avoid thosc linguistic features, which they consider

I

difficult because they are not avnilslble in their native language. l'he error

that results from this avoidance is that of omission. Schacter (1974) carrics
I
-1 out a study on the use of "relative clause" sing Chinese and Japanescc L2
I

learners of English language and Persian or Arabic learners. J-1e fi~lctsout

,
I
 that Japanese and Chinese learners committed fewcr errors bccaus,e thcy

produced fewer clauses tlmi Arabic leariiers. Levenston (1971) opines that
I
i

t Schacters's work was a case of "use." This assertion is true b e c a ~ ~ sine

I

Japanese and Chinese languages, nouns are pre-modified, while in E g i i s h ,

I
I
nouns are post modified. I-le gave the following examples: I
i
I

5 Alci ga ltinoo lion ya de ltat-ta ho11.. . !

II ,
(Aki Nom yesterday book store Loc buy-post) book. The b001t which Alti I

bought yesterday at tlie booltstorc.. .

I
Kellerman (1992) distinguishes between three types of avoidance,
I

which depended on the learners' ltnowledge ofthe target language:

i. The first avoidance results when a learner has a

Itnowledge of tlie target language and therefore s ~ ~ s p e c t s
*. that there is a problem. I

,
ii. The second avoidance occurs when a learner has a good
ltnowledge of tlie target language b ~ cannot
~ t use it frecly
because he iinds it diftic~~lt
to do. For example, in speech,
he cannot use the target language fl~~ently to express
I
himself. I

iii. The third avoidance results when the learner lmows the
language and ~ I Q W ~ use
& ~ Jit, either to say something or ho:w
to do something, but is not willing t o d o , so as to d c k d
personal interests.
II

Ellis (1997), tlierefore concludes that apart fi.oiii tlie learner's C l , the

learner's knowledge of the target language and his personal interests in tlie

k language determine errors. I

I
1 b
; 1
 1

iv. Over-use i

Over-use is an influence that results from intralingual processes: Such

I

processes include:

iv. (i). Over generalization

iv. (ii). Illcomplete application of rules

iv. (iii). Cross association

When learners are partially exposed to the rules oS the

language, they over-use the rules. Over-use results in structures, wl

I no reflect the target language nor the mother tongue (Richarc

Renandya: 2002). Ellis (1997) cites an example of over generalizatioll' of the

I
rcgular past tense marker "-ed" with verbs that do not use it to forin past

I
,'

Most learners also over-use the plural marker "-s". When they are taught
5
that plurals are formed by adding the suffix "-s", they tend to g c n e r a l i ~ l ~ i t .
i 1

I
f lcnce, such words that form their plurals by irregular nlorphology are

wrongly written. For example.

7a. Child- childs

!
c. Foot - foots i

Eyisi (2004) points out thc wrong use oS nouns: countable for ~~ncountablc
I
I
and unco~lntablefor countable. She therefore notes that "in Nigeria, both in
i

spoken and written English, using an uncountable noun as a counlabic onc

I
i
is a common error." She points out such nouns as staff, news, inSor$ation,
1

slang, advice, equipment, personnel, stationery alld so on, None of:' time ,

I
I
a l adding the S L I S ~"-S".
nouns should be made p l ~ ~ rby ~X

result from wrong analogy." Srlc11 exalnples inclucle: !

I
I

11

Xa She is good in English

i
!
I
b He went to the ~narlretwith a car.

!
She concludes that such errors are said to result from lack of ltnowledge of
I
i P
thc use ol'prcposition (Eyisi: 2004).
I
I
I

I
 Cross association res~11tswhen elements remain closely asso(iated in

memory. Any attempt to recall one brings the other (Corder: 1974). For

example, English learners and users cross-associate the following d r d s and

I
I
;
many others:
I

9 Park pack

Fuck Fork

Mark Mac

Fate Faith

Match March

Write Wright

I<n it Neat

I-lammerly (1 991) defines Lults as those errors the students make when they
I
I
venture beyond what they have Iqarne4." I-Ie argues that distortion/faqrlts can
I
I

be teacher induced or student induced. I-Iowever, he locates the disfinction

I

squarely on the criterion 01' "having been taugl~t".If a student comrnits an

-1 error with a11 item that he has bccn "adequately taught" or if the iti.n-!Jus
t

been "adequately presented and practised," then the student is to bc “held

I
accountable," wlicrc as if' thcsc conditions do not hold, it is no1 the

"learner's fault" but a mismanagcmc~~t

distortion. 1Sa student used a comma

where lieishe is supposed to use a semicolon, it could bc called &-or oS

distortion.

All tl~esemanifestations ol' crrors disc~~ssed

above give rise to error tyl)cs.

I-Lence, we have: facilitative error, avoidance error, errors of over-use, crrors

of' cross association, crrors that resull horn incomplete application o r rules

ol'tlx target language, a d errors oSdistortion/I'auIt.

2.1.4 Procedure in Error Aualysis

Ellis ( I 997) opines that "the study ofersoss is carried O L I by

~ mcans 01'

error analysis. Ovcr thc ycars, attempts have been made to discovcr

learner's errors. Contrastive analysis try to 1mxlict learncrs errors by

identifying the linguistic dilkrcnccs betwecn thcir I,, and the targcl
-, 8 3 . * w l * ,?' , .I, '

language. Error analysis on thc other hand provides a metl~oclology lix

investigating learner language and therefore constitutes an appsopriatc

starting point for the study 01' Icarnev

. .
language and L2 acq~isition.To carry
1,

out an error analysis, ccrtain pr.ocedures have to be Ibllo\ved. Ellis ( 1 9971,

Corder (1974) point out the I'ollowing procedures:

2.1.4.1 Getting a Sarnple of tlic Learner's Language

The collection of a sample of the Icarncr's language to lind out errors

depends on a number 01' fi~ctors:

Types of sample to be collected.

How to collect the samples

Types of sai~lplesto be collcctcd.

Ellis (1 997) identilics thret. lypcs of samplcs:

1. Massive Sample ,

..
11. Specific Sample

...
111. Incidental Sample

2.1 A.2 Massive Sarnple

., ," ..I. 7' "J-

lhis sample ii~volvescollecting li.0111 a large number

7

learners various
7

01

samples of language use so as to compile a comprehensive list o f errors.

11

2.1.4.3 Specific Sample

This sample iilcluclcs a san~pleo f Ia~jguageuse collected from a

I

I
limited number of learners. P
P
 This sample involves only one sainple of language use produced by a

single learner. It has bcen noted that learners' crrors can be in speaking or in

writing. Ellis (1997) warns t l ~ well-defined

t samples of learners' language

should be collected.

2.1.4.5 How to Collect the S R I I I P ~ C

It is important to l?ncl out i C the learner's language shows nntural or

spontaneous language use, Cordcs ( 1973) identi lies two Itinds ol'clici tat i o n .

1. Clinical elicitation

ii. Experimental elicitation

Clinical elicitation involves 111alting the informant producc data of any

sort. It may be through interview or through composition writing.

..,,.awl. -7' . a '

Expcrimental elicitatioi~involves the use of equipment designed to elicit

the linguistic fcature concesncd. 'k elicitation equipment oS Burt, Ilulay,

and I-Iernandez (1973) callcd thc "~iling&d Syntax Measure" is a , good

example. A sample of l l ~ cIcarncr's language can bc collcctccl cross-

sectionally (that is, at a single point in time) or longitudinally (that is, at

1
I
successive points over a period oS time). 1 PI
 31

2.1.5 Identificatioll of Errors

Y

Alier getting a s a ~ i ~ p of
l c the learner's language, another step is to

identify what constitutes an error from the data collected. Ellis (1997)

defines error as "a deviation from the norms of the target language."

However, whatever constitutes tlie norm sliould be set out. I11 most

languages, the standard written dialect is regarded as the norm. l'lic sucond

step is to disting~iislibe~weenerrors and mistakes. Corder (1 967) notes that

an crl-or represents a deviation that rcsults as a lack o r l<nowlcdgc, which

implies lack of competence in the targct language. Mistakes arise when thc

v leariiers fail to perform the acquired competence. Since mistakes are

performance pl~enomenaand arc regular features of native speakcts' spcccli

showing progressive deviations that rcsult ikam nv.mory limitations, lack of

, automaticity and competing plans; Cordcr (1967) suggests that EA S I ~ O L I I I I

be Jbcused on errors and not mistaltcs. Another thing to note is to dctc~mine

., 1 .lP '

whether tlie errors are overt or covcrt (Corder: 1971). When the errors can

easily be identified because the deviations are clear, they are overt errors.

When utteran& are well-lhnncd sqmfi.cially hut do not mean w11ht the

learner intended them to mean, the errors that result are covert cl-rors.

Another thing is to identily whether errors are clevialions in con-cctncss or

deviations in approprialcness. t
$
I
I

,
2.1.6 Description of En-ors

I he description 01% crrors involvcs a comparison ofy thc l'cal-nvr's

7

idiosyncratic utterances with a reconslruction 01those iittera~~ccs

in the

target language (Ellis: 1997). l<rasl~en(1 982) argues that the description of

errors should focus only on observable, surrace features o r errors.. .';

"The Gooiicon: A Repair Manual for English" written by Burt and

Kipnrsky (1972) presents a cicscriptivc taxonomy based on linguistic

categories. Chamot (1979) carrics out a longituciinal study of the acquisilion

ol' English by a bilii~gual1;rcnclilSpanish. 'I'he linguistic proble~nsnoted

were: on~issionoT conslituents, verb forms, sentence formation, articles and

prepositions. In all the linguistic problems cited, she discovers at last that

there was considerable ilucti~ationo r error frequency. Another tastmomy

presented by Ellis (1997) is the "Surface Strategy Taxonomy." It "points out

the way surface structures are altered through such operations as: omission,
.,,,. ,wl..?. ,.? '

additions, and regularizations (Dulay, Burt and I<rashen: 1982). The above
I
linguists argue that this taxonomy provicles an indication o r the cognitive

processes that undcrlie thc Icarner'!: recanstruction ol'the L2. For exa~nplc,
 'l'llc abwlcc of
Ib~mcd
-
211

-u t t c ~ ~ ~ n c c . &---A
item Illat rnust appear in well-

'l'hc p~cscrlccol' :III i k n l that must not appc;li i n

Shc slccping

for mcd ilttcr~ar~ccs. --

A major shortcoming ol'this taxonomy is that it presents learners as though

they only operate on the surface slructure of the target language and cannot

create their own utteranccs. Ellis (1997) argucs that both thc li~lguisticand

surfitce strategy taxonomy have pedagogic application, but cannot show

how learners learn a second language (L2). I-Ie prcfers the framework

presented by Corder (1974) for the description of error according to their

systematicity.

However, Ellis distinguishes three types of such errors: presyslematic

I

errors, systenlatic errors, and post systcinatic errors. Presystematic, crrors

occur when the learner is unawnre.o.Ftheexistence of a parlicular rulq in ~ h c

target language. Systematic errors occur when the learncr has cliscovcrecl a

rule but it is the wrong one. Poslsystc~naticerrors occur when the learner
It . .
knows the correct target language rule but uses it inconsistently. Thc above

model requires the prcsencc of the learner. Therel'ore, it is not easy to

operate. So, generally, description ol'error is problematic. t

P
1
2.1.7 Explanation of Errors

Another important step in GA is explanation o r errors. It is c o t ~ c c ~ ~ l c d

,
with establishing the sourcc of t l x error, that is, why it was made (Ellis:

1997). Taylor (1986) notes that error source may be psycholinguistic,

epistemic or may reside in thc clisco~~rsc

socioling~~istic, structure. It is also I

inlportant to maintain the distinction between error and mistakes in

explaining deviations. Any deviation from the target language 111i-i~depict

either a problenl in perlormance or in competence. In L2 i ~ ~ ( l ~ l i s i t i ~ n ,

competence is the main focus. Richards (197 1) identifies various sourccs ol'

competence errors.
I

2.1.7.1 Interference: I t results whcn one uscs an element liom onc's

language while he/she is spealting anotller language. For csample,

an lgbo student learning English may say "* I went to cat goat

head." This is b e c a w tlre lgbo equivalent is "Agara m ita isi c w u "

I

2.1.7.2 Intrslingual:

'l'his error sourcc rcs~11ts"fi-oil<

attempts to learn rules. such as over

generalization, incomplete application of rules, applying rules in wrong

conditions.
 This error source results when leariiers try to build up hyp,otheses
I

about the target language.

2.1.8 Evaluation 01' Errors

The evaluation of errors involves a consideration of h e eSSccts the

errors have on the person (s) addressed. Evaluation aslts the question:'wlio is

the addressee? Is he a judge, a llanguage teacher or a native speaker'? It also

asks the question: what errors are to be judged? llow sl~ouldthcy be juclgcd'?

All these things are to be considered critically when evaluating errors. The

way a native speaker (NS) will judge an error will be difT'erent from lhc way

a non-native speaker (NNS) will judge the sallle error. Judges use dilT'crcnl
I

criteria in evaluating en-or. IChahl (1985) identikies three general criteria:

intelligibility, acceptability and irritability. Fderch et a1 (1980) " w l ~ ohad

native speaker judges rate d.r'~'^&-rdi's

h ; ~ i chy I>anish learncrs of I~ng1ishin

oral interviews, Sound out that all errors are equally irritating.. . irritaling is

directly predictable from the l-~umberof errors regardless of the error type or
11 . .
I

the linguistic aspects."

I

I
0
I

I
I
2.1.9 Usefulness of Error Analysis

,
Schachter and celce-murcia (1977) note that one of the importance of

EA is that of describing the acquisition process of the second language

learner." They li~rtherclaim that:

a careful study of a large corpus o r errors I

committed by spealters of the source language

attempting to express tl~emsclves in the target
language provides factual empirical data.. . Sor I

developing a syllabus or a modcl of second

language ncquisi tion.
Kwolc (1987) notes that errors "provide important inf'ormation about the

progress or language system of the learner." EA follows closely the

psycholinguistic search Jor an alternative to the behaviourists 'habit-

for~nationtheory of' language acquisition. It is true because thc learncr

interacts actively with the ncw languages, developing new hypotheses, about

the structure of the Inngungc hc is learning, as wcll as modifying and

..'>
.,,,..?+%*.,. '

discarding the earlier ibrmcd ones. 'fhe systematic errors prod~~ccd

by tlic

learners provide evidence for this vicw (Schachtcr and Ccle-Murcia: 1977).

A number of.languagc teachers and reset~rchers11avc applied EA at vnrious

If

levels. Lee (1957) is an example. For language learners with the same

mother tongue, he proposes that "errors be collected at all learning stages

I

(that is, beginning, intermediate, and advanced) so that persistent errors. .,.bc
Y
1
distinguished from earlier sell-correcting errors typical oS beginners." Kwok

(1987) carried out an error correction project, which stretched' from

 December 1986 to May 1987 i n wl~iehhe notes [hat EA providcs tlala (hat

enable the EFL (English as a foreign language) teachers adopt $ood a

correction method. He notes fhrther that sincc the advept of

Transformational -Generative grammar in the 1960's emphasis on crror

correction has changed from teaching students to make error-free scntcnccs

to encouraging them to Ienrn the target lang~lageby comn~unicatingin it

about things related to them. Corder (1972), attenlpting to buttre'ss the

importance of EA distinguishes between two ltincls of EA in his arlicle,

"Describing the Languagc Learner's Languagc". Remedial EA and

Developmental EA Reinedial EA and Developmental EA. Remedial EA

helps in lhcilitating the teacher's evaluation and correction; whilc the

Developmental EA is used to dcscribe the successive transitional dialccls of

a language learner.

There are many wenlcnesses oSEA but one orthe inherent weakncss is:

2.1.10.1 Analysis of El-rors in Isolation.

If . .

l'hc initial step in evcry crror analysis is to identify the learnel-'s

errors and extract them from a givcn text or spccch. Somc rcscarchers have
)
argued that abandoning the corpus is just like describing a code ofrnal~ncrs
, t
, P
on the basis of the observed breaches ol'the codc. Anderson (1 971) taltcd a

w study of learners' errors in article usage by Spanish lcarncrs o r English. IIc

enters into the analysis only to discover that one of the reasons crror do no1

manifest is because the learners were doing a translation melliod. Wllat it is

in Spanish, they translate lo I~nglishby providing the English equivalent.

I
2.1.10.2 Proper classification of identified errors.

Errors are seen as deviations from the target language. Once a,lcarncr

makes a statement that is not in line with the target language, it is coilnlecl as

an crror. Schach~crand Cclcc-~n~rscia

(I 977) arguc against i l by giving an

example of a Chinese lcarner of English who produced the following

10a "There are so many 'Taiwan people* live around the lake

b. 'l'here were lots ol'cvenls 'khappen in my country.

I

One would say that the errors in the above sentences are that the

learner did not insert the relatiue.elause nlarlter "who", "that", rcsp&ivcly

They argue that it is wrong to assume so; it is rather necessary to lincl 0111

what the learner is trying to say. The learner is trying to present a topic and
,'

follow it up with explanalions. This process is syntactically and

2.1.10.3 Statement of Error Frkquency
,
Most EA- based proiccls only point out the systematic crrors that arc

nore frequent in the learners test or assignment. Studies of the c o r p s e s that

bring out the numerical errur totals allow us to arrive at sounder pedagogical

conclusions. Agnello (1 977) adopts the relative frequency of error typcs as

opposed to absolute li-eqncncy. 111 relative fri-equcncy, tkc emphasis is 011 the

fraction obtained by using as numerator the number of times an crror is

committed and as denominator t l ~ cnumber of times the error could have

occur. It considers also, Lllc extent of the number of words or scntcnces.

This statement, enables one to know the pcrcentagc of accuracy and Icarn
I

how often the non-native speakcl- (NNS) uses a structure both correctly and

incorrectly.

2.1.10.4 Identification of Points of Difficl~ltyin the Target Langr~agc

It is argued that EA docs not necessarily expose points ofdil'liculty in the

4 . 1 . "'I

target language. It mercly cxposes points at which crrors arc frcqucn'l. l ' h e

reason is that most learners try to avoid producing constructions, whic]i ihcy

find dil'llcult hot11 in tcrms of tllc a c t h Jb';.mation of such structures and thc

conditions lor their use. Schachler (1978) has presented evidcncy that
I

!
Chinese and Japanese learners avoid producing relative clauses in English.
1
8 P
Also, Kleinlnan (1977) has shown that Arabic speaking learners do 'avoid

the English passive construction.

 2.1.10.5 Ascriptiori of Causes to Systematic Errors

It is always the case with every EA that when an error is identilied, the
t.

source of the error will also be dctermined. There is a problem hcre. Most

interference may actually havc resultccl

errors that result from intrali~~gual

from the interlingual intcrfe~-cnceor developme~~tal

process. I-lence, it \vould

be wise lor investigators to suggest causcs ol' crrors only very cautiously.

2.1.10.6 Biased Nature of Sa~nplingProcedure

The sanlpling procedure often ~lsedby most EA researches present

problems. Most often, background languages (assuming a l~eterogencous

group is being studied), suL~.jccts, and Data Samples (fi-0111 any given

I# subject) are not critically consiclcrccl. Scliactcr ct a1 (1977) notc tliul

d of EA is rarely rando on^" since

sampling in any ol' the above ~ ~ a i n eparts

researchers work with available sub.jects, research with existing classes 01'
I

students, and so on. So, trying to draw a statistically significant Ilndings

fiorn S L I C ~ samples may bc a questionable practice. Again, gathering

., ,,.
.wl.,*. ., - , a
'

authentic samples ol' data lion1 an individual subject has bcen underrated. 111

a longitudinal study of a bilingi~alchild to gather French and English data, it

was discovered that the child could'pronounce the word "rabbit" in English

but not in French (that is "lapin"). II' not that the researcher exposcd t l x

child to tests for a long time, he could have concluded that the child di;~not
' B

actively use the French form.

 I11 conclusion, researchers should be cautious in carrying o ~ l researches
t

in EA while trying to avoid most 01these shortcomings.

I
2.2 Empirical Approach to Error

This empirical study includes the actual application 01EA by researchers to

I
I

identify areas of error 111aniSestations.It is dividccl into two: Nigerian-based

empirical researchers and Foreign-based e~iipiricalresearclies.

2.2.1 Nigeria Based Empirical Research

Oltoli (1977) studies written essays ofjunior secondary scliool stidents'

English in Nnewi division. Her interest is in the gra~iimatical errors

committed by these students. Shc concluded that errors of grammar and

expression are most common among them. This study shares corninon ~ o c u s

with ours. She used essay writing as on instrument of collecting the

learners' language while her interest is on gramn~aticalerrors, ours in on

punctuation errors.
.,,, . .
w1. 7,. ., ,.,.r '

Azilru (1982) carries out a study on the Sactors that promote spelling

errors among the junior seconclary selrools in Nigeria. In this sti~cly,he

tries to find out whether the spelling errors cut across all thc junior

secondary scl~oolsin Nigeria. I-Iis instrument oS data collection is written

k I
composition. I-le later fincts out that the errors 01' spelling arises ~J-QIN
b

"hon~ophony" (homophones arc words that sound the same as anotlicr but
,
Conlempora~yEnglish). Also in our study, finding out punctuation ,error is

the focus of attention. Just like the above study, we will use composition

writing as an instrument ol'clata collection.

Anasiudu (1983) carrics out an EA to find out the most occurring errors
a
in the first year university students' English. Iie collected a sample of the

students' English using writtcn composition. The most occurring errors

were the mechanical errors. Tliis work resembles our own because ours will

study the punctuation crrors amongst the lirst year use ol' English:

Mccl~anicalEngineering stuclents and we will use written composition as a n

ii~strumentfor data collcction. I

Also. Ezeagbobelu (1986) who carries out an EA on students'

I

perrornlance among secondary schools in Nsukka concludes that errors o,S

I
I

tense were the most prevalent.

Anyiam (1999) studics the grammatical perl'ol.mance in w r i l t c ~lhglish

~,
I

4 w1. J'
composition ol'some J~miiii:seconii'iky school 111 students in some schools at

Nwangele Local Government Area olIino State. It is an error analysis. I-Ier

findings after ~narltingthe scripts are t17at out of the total number of erross
I'
I

(1728) committed, mechanical error is the highest with 1085 oc&rrcnces

which is 62.7% of the total number of errors. Under mechanic;al crror,

punctuation error is the second highest with 239 occurrences which is

4
D
13.8% of the whole mechanical errors. Spelling error is the highest o'l' the
mechanical error with 653 occurrences, which is 37.7% o r the ~vholc:
 43

mechanical errors. She coiicl~~des

that i~ieclianical errors coiislitute tlie

i i ~ a j o r i ; of by J.S.S. I11 students in Nwangele Local

~ errors com~i~itted

Government Area of Inio State. O L Io\vn

~ pro.ject, considers tlie punct~~atjon

errors in students' written composition, while Anyiam's project centers on

I

grammatical errors in writleu English compositio~~.

Anozie's (2002) purpose of study is to find out the patterns of errors in

the written lgbo language composition oS studcnts in thc Igbo languagc

Department oS the Federal Collcge of Education Elm-Ainuf~~.

He uscs cssay

writing in collecting a saniplc of tlie student's Igbo language. I-Ie concludes

that social background negatively affects performance in written Igbo. 'This

study has something in colnmon with our present st~ldy,and that is the

instrument of data colkction: written composition. While this s t ~ ~ d y

concludes that social aJTccts students' wriltcn Igbo, our study will

also try to find out the causes ofpunctuation errors amongst students. Whilc

ours will use written Eiiglish

this study uses Igbo writtei~~~~01i7~oS~Ti6n,

composition.
I

Ugwu (2001) studies expressional errors that iimiifest in thc English

11

written composition of Junior Secondary School Students in Obudu Local

Government Area of Cross-River State. Me analyzes the nunlerous errors

I
that manifest as interlingual and iiitralingual errors. I-Ie notes that most ,of
P
?
the errors were studcnl oriented and some were teachcr oriented. While tliis
I
study hcuses on finding out expscssionnl errors, our study is Ibcusing on

finding out punctuation errors.

Ushi (2005) studies syntactic errors in the written English con~positionoS

SS 111 studei~tsin some selected secondary schools in Nsuldta Urban. llc

tries to find out if errors committed by students were sensitive to age,

gender and social background. He concludes that social background lalTccts

I

students' perlo'ormance. In our work we will conccntratc on finding out

I

punctuation errors, only using students' written composition.

Oluikpe (1997) studies thc tense patterns among the Scconclary

schools students in Nsultka Local Government Area of Enugu. 1

She

discovers that the genei-a1 competence in h e control 01tense patterns fall

below the pass mark of 50%. This study will only look into the sludcnts'

ability to use punctuation marlts.

One of the earliest Ioreign-based EA was that carried out by Frcnch

I

(1949). It was an analysis of some 2,000 errors in the written work of

,k . ..
Czechoslovaltian learners, which were "hurriedly groupcd into catcgorics"

(wrong punctuation, misuse or omission of articles, misspellings, non-

English constr~~ctions,
and wrong use of tense). The intention of the research
8 I
was to enable the language teacher to decide how teaching time shoultl~nc

I
,

!
spent. In our study studen(s7 writtcn composition will be ~ ~ s to
e dlind out
1

only the punctuation errors.

Dulay and Burt (1974) stirdy the deviations from the L2 norms in the

English of 793 Spanish spealting children betwecn 5 and 8 years old. F o m ~

I

the data obtained, 513 dcviant ~ltterances were selected, which could

'without question' be classilied as ~ollows: Developmental errors,

interference errors, uniquc errors (errors that are neither 'developmcnt' nor

'interference'). They are intralingual deviations. Our present work will

conceiltrate on finding out punctuation deviations or error

Lococo's ( 1 976) puspose is to find out the differences in the number

and type of errors in samples of learner language collected by ~ n e a n sof Sree

composition, translatioi~,and picture composition. He found out that errors

rellecting L l influence wcre not more common in the translation task. In

our work, we are also going to use students' written con~positionto lind out

punctuation errors.

Rosetein (1982) investigates the eSScct of correcting Icarncr'sl "public

i\
errors" (errors that they were told they wcre malting) and their.' "secret
,I . ..
errors" (errors that thcy did not know about). He finds out that after kpcated

correction, the success rate was only 50% for public errors and 20% for

secret errors. In our work, efl'orts will be concentrated on fincling out

I
P
punctuation errors. I
 I

Kwok (1 987) carries out an error correction project Srom December

I

1986 to May 1987. I-Ie uscs 21 pre-music studcnts in a lower-six standard

use of English class at I-Iong I b n g Baptist Collcgc. He exposcd them to a

fishing adventure a n d hlcr lold thc~nto writc a composition based on thc

picture o r the fishing adventure. The length o l the story was fixed at 150-

200 words for a class period of 50 minutes. The essays were 111al-lted. The

ol~jectiveof the ~narltingwas to bring out the g r a ~ ~ ~ ~ n a errors

tical anti to see
whether the learners co~~lcl
correct thcm. After subsequent corrections, thc

total n~iinberof errors reduccd from 371 to 78% of the errors). Thesc 78%

errors were perforn~anceerrors, which the st~~clents

were able to correct. It

was tentatively asswed that the remaining 22% oS errors were compctencc

errors, which included the im~ropcruse of' punctuation marks. Our study

will concentrate only on identifying improperly used punctuation ~narltsby

using students' written composilion as an instrument for data collection. I t

will not go into the work ol:prt;sentiag the writtcn compositions backto the

students for correction. Hence, it will not find out the distinction bdwcen

performance errors and competence errors.

II

Y ing (1 987) examines 120 Twainese EFL learners' composition and

sorts errors on the basis of thrcc criteria: overgeneralization, simplilication,

and language transfer. A total ol' 1,250 errors were dctected in 1,2O
a 0
P
compositions, among wl~icll78.9% of t l x crrors were as a result ol'lang~~age

transfer, 13.6% oS errors wcre overgeneralization of the rules of the tasgct

 language, and 7.5% were Sonl~sof siinpliGcation. On the contrary, our study
r)

will not analyze errors of overgeneralization, sin~plification,and language

transSer; though, it will make use oS students' written compositidn as an

instrument of data collection. It will analyze only punctuation errors,

Kao (1999) scrutinizes 169 con~positio~ls

from 53 Taiwanese,collcge

students. Twenty-two of them came from Soochow University and 3 1 wcse

from FuHsing Kang College. A total of 928 errors were f o ~ ~ n,among

d,

which granlmatical error occurs with tlic greatest l'reclucncy 01' 66%.

Selllantic errors occurred 18Oh ofthe time, aild lexical errors O C C U ~ S with
;~~

the least Srequency, 16%. l'his study resembles our study because our study
I

will also scrutinize some written coinpositio~lsof first year use of English
I

students with the aim of h d i n g out only punctuation errors.

Chan (2004) examines finglish writing samples froill 71 0 I-long Kong

ESL College students. The Iindings reveal that, in all of thc five errok types

investigated, most errors twfe.C'laSeIy' related to the students' L , . 011sstudy

will also examine students' written composition hut will not focus on

intcrl'erence. It will only dctcct puncti~at,ioi~

crsors.
1

Li-Lang Cllen (2006) cassies out a research on the "Effects ol'thc usc

of LI in a multinledia tutorial on Gran~marlearning: A11 Error Analysis of

Tiwainese beginning EFL learners' English essays. He uses the stuclents pf a

-\
0

private nledical Tech~lology Collcge in Southern Taiwan. 29% QS the

nledical students are male and 71% of the medical stucle~~ts

are female. He
I
 48

divided the students inlo two groups: the control group and the expcrinlcntal

group. The control group are students taught orally, without any computer

aid. The experinlental group are students taught using computer aid (thc

Hyper-studio colnputer programme). The two groups were later given the

same essay topic to write: '"The most memorable thing in my life." One

hundred written essay wcrc analyzed through error analysis and data weit

computed through a one - way ANOVA 011 overall error rates: total words
I

written by the control group e q ~ ~ a l e6,600.

d 1,518 errors were found in the

control group, 1,814 errors were colnmitted in the experimental group. OS

these errors, errors in the use of verbs (5.05%), errors in

(3.56%), errors in lexicon 93.10%), errors in syntax (2.36%), errors in

capitalization (2.32'%), crrors in subject omission (1.80%), crrors in

preposition (1.03%), and errors in articles (0.99%) were the eight (89 most

fiequent error types. The cxpcrimental group has the second and hird
.,,, 4w3. 7). . '

highest errors in lexicon and punctuation respectively; but the controllgroup

has the lexicon as its highest error. The result indicates that there was no

signilicant difference in thc qvcrnll rates between students who I-cceivcd

traditional or oral instruclion and SANS c o m p ~ ~ t instruction.

er

Also, in this study, all attention will be Socused on idenhying

punctuation errors in stodents' written work. Iiowevrr, the students w:ill not
I
P

be divided into two groups. Computer teaching will not be dond, l'hc
I

punctuation errors will be categorized into punctuation types.

 of
In c o ~ ~ c l ~ r stl~esc
i o ~ ~empirical
, stirdies works show that a lot olworlts

has been done on Iirror Analysis over thc years.

2. 3 l%mctuation: Its Study Ovcr the Years

It has becn noted that punctuation is among the graphological

components of writing. Ngwaba in Oluikpe (1981) d e i k m p~rnctuation

(marks) as consisting of "a scrics of i~larltsinserted to mark off woscls o11c

from another either to sl~otvtheir grammatical relationship or to give

emphasis to them.'' Legett et a1 (1 988), define punctuation as: l

a code that serves to signal structure, sen~antic and

rhetorical meanings that would othcrwise, be ~nissedby the
reader ...and from the reader's poinl of view, punctuation ,
provides a map for one who must otherwise drive blindly
past the by-ways, intersections, and tletours of a writcrs'
tllougllt.

In Macropaedia Britannicn, punctuation is defined as "the use of $pacing,

conventional signs and certain typographical devices as aids to thc

understanding and correct reading, both silently and aloud of hmd written,
.. , . .
" 3,

and printed texts." Ilechultw~r,P.O. and Nwaogu. V (1996) s i c tlrcse

conventional signs as marks. That is, thc physical appearance of punc;tiration

in any write-up is tht: preseiice punctuation marks. So, thcy, dclinc

punctuation marlts as "symbols that help to clarilji meaning in the written

language. They guide against cases oS ambiguity.. ."

I
, P
I
one year to save money for my university education.. .. I got a work at the

Account department of the University of N igeria, Nsultlta."

Exclamation Mark (!)

An excla~nationmark signals stress (loudness in intonation) as it is

used after an e~nphasis,inte~jcctionand after a pl~rase,clause or scntence to

espress a high degree 01' surprise, incredulity or other strong emotions

(Ilechultwu et al : 1996)) example,

25a . I-lei, is it true?!

b Alas, I have found it!

An exclaillation mark has the quality of a f ~ d stop,

l but when it'occurs

within a quotation mark, thc remaining part o r the scntence docs 1101bcgin

with a capital letter. For examplc,

26 "How silly she is !" he thought.

., 4 1 , . ) '

Imperative sentence do not tcmminate with an exclamatory nark unlcss thcy

represent very perelnptory orders (Quirk el a1 : 1992). I

27 "Get outside!" he shouted.

I'

I
Hyphen I

The hyphen has two distinct uses:

To form c o m p o ~ u ~words:
d

28a Father-in-law
 b Well-known economists

c English-spealting people

d Letter -head

'To indicate that a word is continued from somewhere.

A parenthesis is used to set ofl'words, phrases, or complete sentences that

offer a side coin~nentor help clarify a point, example, I

29a During the last month's meeting at city hall, oppoiients of the proposcd

leash law (they are certainly a local group) doi~linatedthe disc~~ssion.

b The lawyer contends (and we can see that the contention has soinc merit)
*L

that this client was C1~doubtlid

C O I I V ~ C ~01 evidence.

The parenthesis is used to enclose n~iincralsor letters introducing thc

Itcins o f a list, example,

The process of cooking cgusi soap is :

,, . 4 *I, .>' 4, > '

30a Measure some cups of melon. I

b Grind the111 I

c Put them in the pot with c r y fish:

d Ileat lor five ininutcs

e Add meat, magi, salt and palm oil

f Add vegetable, and it is done t

4
I b
agrce with Qorik, I< and Grccn 13au111, S' supposition that in British Iinglisli

(BrE) a parenthesis is also Itnown as 'bracltet'. Also, they see the clash and
parenthesis as two other common sets of correlative p~inctuationniarks that

are used to set of'f somc units, example,

3 l a The other man- David Johnson - refused to make a statement.

b The other man (David Johnson) ref~~secl

to make a statemcnt.

Legett et nl (1 988) note that in bibliographicnl notations a bracket is

used to enclose the year of publication of a book, example,

"Sic" ("thus it is") is cncloscd in a bracket to indicate that a ~nistdieor

pcculiarity in the spelling or the grammar of a foregoing worcl appears

I

in the original work, example, I

Oha (1986) reports, "The students spolte most respectively [sic] ol'

Question mark (?)

It indicates that a sentence that terminates in it is a question, l'he

.,$ 4 . .
"1. ,t' , ,.,$ ' I

qiiestio~lmark matches in writing the prosodic contrast bctwccn a scntc~icc

as question and the same sentence as statement, exan~plc,

34a The inan is a thief? ,I

b 'The man is a thiel',

Quick, R and Grecn Baum, S ( I 992) note that ". . .like other wh - questions,
I

there is no necessary prosodic distinction Srom declarative sen[ences to

match the punctuation contrast bciween full stop and cluestiol\ mark,"

example,

36 Want to know who scnt you to Enugu.

I

Quotation Mark (" ")

Ngwaba in Oluikpe (1981) notes that the quotation mark is used to

show the beginning and end of a quotation. They are used in the ibllowing
I

situations: ,

(a). A double quotation mark is used (" ") to enclose any words, pl~rases,or

short passages quoted from speech, writing, or printed matter: ,

37a "Don't cat the soap," Peter warned.

I

b Paul said, "Righteousness exalts a tiation."

A single quotation n~arlcis used to cnclose a quotation within a quotation,

example, .,,, ., wl. ,,. , .

38 I-Ie asked me: "Did the president say, 'The judgment 01' thc case is

postponed,' or not".
11 . ..
A quotation can be introduce by a comma or colon, example

39 John said, "let's go to the marlet." ,

I

A semi-colon and colon we placed outside the quotation mark; i~lsodilshcs,

k
#
q ~ ~ e s t i omark
n or exclalnation point are placed inside thc quotation mark iS
 they apply only to the quotation. 'I'11ey are placed outside the quotalion mark

when they apply to the whole statement:

I

40a He asked, "Will I see you tomorrow?"

b "You may have the car tonight"- then lie caught himself abruptly ;wd said,

"No, you can't havc it - 1 need it myself." I

A quotation mark is used to set off titlcs of poems, songs, articles, short

stories, and other titles that are parts o f a longer work. For exainplc;

41 "'The talk of the town" has for many years been the opening colu~nn
I

of The Crusncle~~.

The quotation 111arks are also used to indicate or 11igldight words i~sedin a

peculiar sense, which otherwise will not be the case, example, I

42 The man said that the boy has spoken a L'coinn~unity

grammar".
,
Apostrophe (')
I

The apostrophe is uscd

I
To mark the omission of letters in a contraction

43a I've (I have)

..,, . 4 "1. .>' , .I, '

b Isn't (is not)

c Doesn't (ciocs no[)

I11 spelling the possessive case of nouns, cxample,

44a O m ' s pencil

0
I
b Mary's bag

In spelling the possessive case of indefinite pronouns, example, ,

45a Nobody's case, someone's problem, everybody's work

b The apostrophe is put after a pli~ralnoun, example, I

46a Girls' Secondary School Ihe.

b Boys' Scout

The apostrophe is used to show joint possession, add the apostrophe and thc
I

I
--s' if necessary, to the second of the two nouns: I

47 Peter and Mary's wedding anniversary will take place tomorrow.

When using a compound word, the apostrophe and the '-s' are addcd to thc

last word, example, I

48a My mother-ill-law's birthday card is available.

b The co~imander-in-chiefs report has been submitted.

(IIeSSernan ct a1 : 1982; lcgett ct a1 : 1988).

Caret (")
I

Ngwaba in Olukpe ( I 981) notes that "the caret is primarily an editorial mark

used to show that something is missing from the text." It is also nolccl that
.,,,..wl.,t. , *,> .
"quite often, our writing speed cannot keep pace with our thought processes
!
and the result is that we omit important words or pllrases from our writing.

"As soon as we discovcr [ha[ we Isavc :omiltcd somc words, the caret is

inserted to show where thc word or phrase or sentence is supposed to be,

 b He wanted to marry but she ref~lsed.
Ir

Comma (,) I

Ngwaba in Oluikpe (1981) notes that "the comma is at once,the most

used and thc most t r o ~ b l e s o mof~ all the punctuation marks. Its
frfreq~~cntly

inclusion or on~issionmay complctcly altcr the sense of a passage." I t is

therefore adviced that careful attention should be paid to the following

guidelines on the use o f c o n ~ m a :

The comma is used to scparate i t e m in a series:

50a She coolted rice, beans, yam.

b 'The man is loyal, dependable and competent.

I

c I ordered for tea, toast, egg and bacon.

i
d The woman bought chiclten, maggi, onions, melon, and yams fsom

the market. It was argi~edthat the insertion of a conma before 'and' or a l k r

'and7 connotes a changc in meaning. For sentence (50c) above, !'egg and

bacon' are to be servedwgetl~e~",

ivl~ilein (50d), 'melon, and yam7 arc

ct a1 (1 9 9 6 ) give a clearer example;,

bought separately. Ilechul<~~u

5 la The woman coolted yam, plantain, cassava, beans, and ricc.

It . ,

b. Thc wornan coolicd yarn, plantain, cassava, beans and ricc.

In (5la), 'beans' was coolted separately. In (51b) 'beans' was mixed

with 'rice'. Ngwaba in Oluikpe (1 98 1) notes that "the comma bcl'ore 'and'
0
I
should not be omitted if thc omission ca~iscscertainty or ambig~~ity",

example,
52. The man was selling blue, yellow, red and white balloons. It is not

clear whether the man is selling three diSferent colours oC balloons

or four . lffour, a conma should be used after 'red':

53. The man was selling blue, yellow, red, and white balloons. i

A comma is used to scparate subordinate clauses li-om the main

clauses and fro111each olhcr. It occurs bcfore the relative clausc;

54. Me sent for Mr. llie, who lived in a nearby street.

It occurs in a non-rcstrictivc clause.

55. 1-Ie sent for an old friend, Peter Ugwu.

The comma is used in introducing direct quotations, example,

5 . "'l'he I I I ~ InI ~ s S lL I ~ C I Y come", she promisccl, "il'hc still livcs."

The comma is used to separate introductory words or phrases Srom the rest

of the sentence.
1

57a. Honestly, he was caught with a gun. i

.,,,.."l.,t. , 08 '

b. Frankly , she deSrauded the small boy. I

Co~nnlais used to mark olT parenthelical structures, which arc not

I

really part of the origir~al,,scntence

pattern:

58a. Iie was caught, to his greatest amazement, eating the straw.

b. 1 shall not, as a matter offilct , be present.

The comma is ~lsedbctwecn a name and any title, honours or ckgrecs

that follow:

59. Okwor, U.E., I3.A.

 It can be used to set off phrases, example,
D

60. Eyes flashing, Oge stood up and denounced tllc speaker.

I-Ieffernan et a1 (1982) note lirrll~erthat the comma can bc used to

follow the greeting in a fi-iendly or informal letter, and to follow thc

closing remark in a letter of any kind:

6 1 a. Dear Mary,
b Sincerely,
c. Cordially, and so on.
The comma can be used lo mark thc omission of'a predicate:

62a. Ama was killed in Lagos; his brother , in Uyo.

b. Olto111two is known as a radio mechanic; Uche, as a bicyclc repairer.

Semi-colon (;)

" A semi-colon is used to mark a dcgree of separation ' betwcen

I

sentence elements considerably greater than that lnarlted by a comma"

!
I
(Ngwaba in Oluikpe I98 1).
..,,...1 . Q . "* '
I

Quirk, I<. and Greenbaurn, S. (1992) describe 111c semi-colon as Llw co-

ordinating ri~arkof punctuation, corresponding most nearly in valuc to

the linguistic co-ordianting cdnjui~etion'and'. Ilechultwu, P.O. and

Ogbonna-Ohuche, E.A. (1996) note h a t "it indicates a longer pause than

the comma, yet a shorler pause than the period." The semi-colon,is used:
 When two indepe~~dcnt
clauses are rcgasded as being sufficiently

related to belong to one sentei~ce,this may be shown in writing by a

I

semi-colon without a co~ljunction, as in:

63a. Insist on yourself; ncver imitate.

b. The house badly needed painting; the garden was over grown with
weeds.
?'he above may as well be shown by a comma followed
ordinating cor~junction,as in:
c. T11e house badly nccded painting, b ~ it~looked
t comfortable.

Ilechultwu, P.O. and Ogbonna-Ol~uche,E.A. ( 1 996) argue that il'thc cluuscs

contain an internal punctuation, a scmi-colon will be ~isedbef&e the

conjunction "and", 'but', example, I

64. The girls swept, wasl~edand dried the rooms; but nobody was allowed

to get in until one week later.

I-IeiTeman et a1 (1982), posit that "a semi-colon alone can join two

independent clauses when the relation between them is obvious", examplc,

. ,, 4 wl. 7,' ' T

65a. Some books are deservedly forgotten; none is undescrvedly

I

remembered.

b. The house is empty; cvcryone hid gone.

?'he semi-colon is used between co-osdinate clauses joined by any of the

following conjunctive adverb; moreover, tl~us,tl~erefore,nevertl~eless,,so,

0
t
besides, consecl~~ently,
however, and so on;
66a. 'I'he workers were not paid; however, they decided not to stop

~lorlting.
I

b. 'l'he band stuclts ~ i pa Samiliar tune; indeed, they were playing OLIS

song.

Thc scmi-colon is uscd to indicate contrasts, as 111

67 Do not want to possess a I'aith; I want a fi~iththat possesses me.

Semi-colon is used to show sub groupings: I

68a. The staple foods are cassava, rice, garri; yam, flour, beans, cow pea;

cocoa, c a n , and agidi.

b. Uche Odo, the dentist; Anla Ona, the singer; and Mary U&I, the

pediatrist, meet fbr lunch every 'T'uesday (Legett ct a].: 1988).

Legelt et a1 (1988) note that "the colon indicates an addition or

expectation. It indicates that what Sollows will explain, clariljr, illustrate , or

., ,, . .
wl. Yt. , .,a

speciSy detail." A colon is used to: I

Separate a main clause and another sentence element when the sbcond

explains, illustrates or a m p l i k s t h , fi~st;

~ example,

69a. 'There are two times in a man's life when he should not speci~latc:

when he can't afford it and when he can.

b. Do not I - ~ ~ ~ C L the
I I C old: you lice hurdlcs to altain old age. ' t
I '
I
 65

Introduce a quotation, exainplc,

v.

70~1. In his book "P~.oblcms ol' Women", .Iolln Uga writes: '"rcn~alc

alcoholism is on the rise."

b. I he Pastor said: "110 not harden your hcarts when you hiar I lis
P 7

voice."
1

Introduce a list or enulncration, especially in situations where expcessions

as li,llows, the following, ~IILIS, and so on,, \vould

such as mmely, ~IILIS,

logically bc implied: I

71a. ' 1 1 1 ~ recon~mcndecltrcatmcnt for cold is as l'ollows: plenty 01' Iluids,

bedrest, and aspirin for I'ever.

w.

b. Kindly give my wife the Collowing: a pair of black shoes, a p ~ c l t e tof

sugar', and a carton of ~nillc. I

Separate items in Biblical citations, sub-titles, and titles, and dhisions ol'

time according to established conventions, examplc. I

72a. Biblical citations- ~cii6sii"fb:'1-8

b. Subtilles - 2004: A trawl to thc great Beyond.

c. Divisions of time - 8:30 a m . 11 :20 p.m.

I'

1-IelYernan el a1 (1982) note that in using the capital letter, it is

1

necessary to: i
1 %
1
Write the first letter ol'thc lirst word oSa sentence in a capital letter: I

73u. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. I
%"

I
I
 66

b. Write, with Sew exceptions, tlic initial letter 01words that are propcr

nouns, such as the name of a person, a specific place, a firm, or :Lspecial

event, exaunplc,

74a. Tho~nasEdison

b. Mount Everest

c. General Motors

cl, Festac' 77

'The first letters of the Iirst words in a line 01poetry are writtcn i11 capital

letters, unless a lower case is used in the original write up for examplc;

75a. Who kept me on my cradle bed,

b. Who gave me l'ood and kept me warmth, 1

c. Who bathe me and changed my clothes,

d. My mother.

Initial letters of words in titles arc written in capital letters:

-,,r.,-q.,,' , ',, .
76. May Moi~th.B. (1 983). 'l'he l~lcredjbleJoumcy .

Initial lettcrs of words of the weeks, months, holidays, and holy days are

written in capital letters. I' . .

Monday, Tuesdny, Wcdnesday, and so on.

November, January, and so on. 1I

Christmas, Easter, Good Friday, Ramadan: and so on. , 1

' b
, '
2.4 Punctmtion as an Error Type
i
Punctuation is full ol' rules and rcgulatiolls. 1t is an error type becausc
1

any deviation in the use of punctuation marks results in error. 1-1~l~lkman.

James. A and Lincoln, John. E. (1982), Ilechultwu, P . 0 , abd Ogbonna-

Ohuche, E.A. (1996) Quirk, R. and Greenbaum, S. (1992), Legetl Glcnn, C.

David Mead, Krainor Melinda, G, Richards, S. and I3eal (1988),and many

other writers have pointed out ways that p i u ~ t u a t i o ncan constitute'an crror

type:

When a full stop or period is wrongly used, it results in fragment which is I

i
an error type, example,

78a. 'The customel-s should bc trcatcd courteously. *Even if thcy arc

I

wrong. Errors identilied are: the wrong placement of the full stop,

capitalization of 'E" of"even". To rectify the error, the lid1 stop aller

"courteously" should be dropped or cl~angedto a comma. l'hc Icttcr

.,,,..wl*,*...<'>> '

"Enof the word "even" should be written in a small letter: I

b. The customers sllould bc treated conrteously, even if they arc wrong.

c. * I wonder who wrote this son&?

Error identified: wrong placement of a question mark at the e q l o r an 1

indirect question. The error type is wrong usc of question mark. T o correct

this error, the sentence should be: I 4

P
#
d. 1 wonder who wrotc this song.

i
 Wlleil a coimla is used to inark off a restrictive relative clause, it, rcsults in
"*

error, example,

79a. * All presidents, who try lo obslruct justice should be ,li>rceci to

resign.

Error identified: 'This error type is the wrong use of thc comma. Thc
1

"who clause" is essential to the meaning of"presidei~ts"in this sentence and ,

I

must not be set off from "presiclents" by a comma. The correct; sentence

should be:
I

b. All presidents who try to obstruct justice should be forced to,rcsign.

c. When a coln~nais put bctween the name of a month and, the clay,
I

between a strcet nuinber and the name oS the strect, or between the

name of a state and the zip code, it results in the error of cxcessive usc

ol'the comma, example,

80a. .* 20, Oni Street.

.I+ '

Correct one: 20 Oni stie'kt' "I" "'

b. * November, 23 I

Correct one: November 23

I'

c. * Enugu, N.H, 03766

I
Correct one: Enugu, N.1 I. 03766
I
I
Using a conma to join two independent clauses results in coin~naqplice,
i 0
#
example, \ ,

I
81a. * The polo an~usementpark is one of the best places in Enugu, it has
many relaxation gadgets,

The correct sentence sho~~lcl

be:
I

b. The polo amusement park is one of the best places in Enugu; it has

many relaxation gadgcts.

A semi-colon should not be used between a phi-ase and the clause to which

it belongs. It results in the error ofwrong use of the semi colon: ' I

82a. .* The climbers carsiecl an extra nylon rope with them; to cnsurc thcir
safe descent from the c1il.L The correct sentci~ceis,

b. The climbers carried an extra nylon rope with them to ensk-e thcir
I

safe descent from the cliff.

The semi -colon should not be used to introduce a list. Its results in i a ~ i l t y

over-use of the semi-colon, exmple,

83a. .* The priest mentioned three types of wrong doing; idolatry,

., ,, . 4 hl. ,t. , '>a '

injustice, and neglect of the needy.

The above semi-colon should be replaced with a colon:

b. The priest mentioned three types of wrongdoing: idolatry, injusiicc. and

neglect of the needy.

When a colon is used to introduce a list when items follow a preposition

such as "of', or a form of the vcrb "be", it results in the error oi. iingrance
j b
! @
of the use of colon, exninple,
I

84s. * Three ways of' cooking are: roasting, Srying, and baking. '
 'The correct sentence shoi~ldbe: 1

b. ?'llree ways of cooking are roasting, Srying, and baking.

Virtually every pilnctuation IIXW~; rcprcsents an error type. Any

deviation in the use of the yunctuation 111arks res~lltsin error. So, in thisI

st~idy,the attempt is to idcntilj the errors that rcsult from the wrong use of

the above punctuation 11larks.I-Iowever, Corder (1967) has noted that errors

take place when deviation arises as a result of lack of knowleclge. 1 agrcc

I

with the above proposition because most of thc errors that result 13rom thc

use ~Cpunctuationmarks are due to the lack of linowledge of their use.

2.5 Summary of Literature Review

Tn the tl~eorctical revicw, error arialysis has been delincd as the

I

description and explanation of errors made by speaker oS a

systel~~atic

Soreign language (Sonansson: 1975). Its study started with the tcnct 01'

contrastive analysis until the 60s, when motl~ertongue interSerence errors in

' I
I

the target language of the

. , .learger
4 w . were re-examined. l3y the late 60s, the
, ''a
I

choamskyian view that the infiunt was born with a language acqdisition

device inspired and extended sccond language lear~iingtheory to cm~iiasize

1

thc provision of tlie right cnviro&~eiit'lbr Icaming. Errors wcrc no longer

seen as deviations to be eliminated, but were used as data for analysis. 'Uxy

were seen to provide important inl'orn~ationabout tlie progress, or Iangilagc

t
1 %
1
system of the learner. Tiesearchers over the years have attributed the

occurrence of errors to a number of factors:

I
a. Interference

b. Intralingual Cause

c. Developmental Cause,

Ellis (1997) has cnumeratcd the various steps in error analysis. , ~ l i l ~ i r i c a l

studies have shown that wherever L2 learners are, errors are inevitable. Also,

punctuation has been vividly espoused to constitute error type if wrongly

used. It has also earlier bcen noted that both L, a i d L2 learncrs make

mistaltes but only L2 learners commit errors.

I

It is true that recent worlts on error analysis have concentrated on

firding out the studcnts' error in written composition, but none df these

worlts has coi~centratedparticularly on iincling out punctuation errors and

their causes amongst first ycar use of English Mechanical hgihcering

I

studcnts of the University of Nigeria, Nsultlta. This, thereIore, is the locus

I

of this study.
 CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.0 Preamble

This chapter describes the procedure that was adopted in this study. The

Procedure is presented under the following headings:

I

Design' of the Study \

Area of the Study

Population of the Study

Instrumentation

sample and Sampling procedure

Description and Administration of Instruineilt

Method of Data Analysis

Design of the Study

\
The type of research design into whicl~this study falls is survey
*, ,, 4 wl. -7' 'I* '

research design. This is because it describes the findings from a competence

oriented test involving the internalized knowledge of the sampled' population

on punctuation. ( I . .

Area of the Study

'This study was carried out at University of Nigeria, Nsultlta in Enugil
State. University of Nigeria is a universal education centre with a
heterogenous set up. It has about 62 percent departments with an estimated
student population of 2 million (figke was gotten from the ~ e n k r a studies
l
office). It is bounded in the East by Onu-iyi Nsukka. It is bounded in the
Y

East by Onu-iyi Nsultlta. It is bounded in the west by Owerri-Eie oba , in

the North by Anla-eze and in the South by Obukpa.

The pop~~lation
of this study was taltcn from tlie school of General

Studies, The Use ofEnglis11 of University of Nigcria, Nsultlta. 'This school

l s the various Departli~entsof the University oS

is made up of s t u d e ~ ~from

Nigeria. Since G.S. 102 is a compulsory course oS study, all the siudcnts

from the different departn~entsoCfer it. A total oS 3,966 students registered

I

for G.S. 102 in 200512006 academic sessions. The students were or@isccl
I

into seminar groups for proper teaching. The sclninar group used for this

study is the first year 200512006 Mechanical Engineering sludents.

The instruincnt for this gtu~ly.is.,llieexamination script. The data usccl

for the variables, agc and gender, are talcen from the students' class admit
' I

cards with the permission of tlie Seminar group lecturer. Also, tlie $todent
I . , I

population that registered for G.S. 102 was gotten from the o f i c c ; of tlie

Use of English.
I

I
3.5 Sample and Sampling PI-ocedul-e
I
$
Tlie researcher did not sample at all. She used all the first year 200512Q06
students, who are exposed to the use of punctuation marlts. Using them

will help the researcher to lind out the extent to which they are ablc,to LW

their knowledge of punctuation marlts in con~positionwriting. Also, they

constitute a seminar group. The researcher therelore used the intact-class

sa~nple. They are one hundred and eleven in number. The ~lemale
I

students are live, while the male students are 106.

3.6 Description and Adininistration of Iilstruinent

4'
The Instrument lor data collection is thc answer scripts -.L-~.liy m ,Jlic *-

regular G.S. 102 Second Semcster examination questions for 200512006

academic year. The answer scripts "rellects the learners' attempts to use
I
the LZ in . . ..composition . . ." (Ellis: 1997). The reason for using the

answcr scripts from thc sccond semestcr examination is to ensurc that

thorough teaching has been done in the lirst semester when they wcrc just

admitted and then the s s c ~ n d s,emester before the second semcstcr

examination. The course title for G.S. 102 is "Basic Grammar, ~ r i t i h gand

Information and Communication Technology." 111 this examination, the

,' . .
students were given four cssay topics to choosc any one at will. 'l'licy arc:

la. Corruption: 'l'hc banc ol'thc Nigerian Political System. Discuss.

I b. Civilian Regime is Better than any Military Regime: Argue for or

1
against this proposition. o
I I
 Write a letter to the Manager of your Rank reporting the loss +f your
\ '

cheque Book and req~~esting

that all l'urther banking transactions

on the cheque book be suspended. I

Assume that you are the I-lead of your Department: Write an internal

memoranduln to your ~nembersof staK informing them of a n i ~ c ~ i n g

to deliberate 011 the fi~rthcoming convocation ceremony ,of the

university , using thc following as the agcnda of the meeting: ;

Departmental involvement, assignnlents and activities for the ;vent.

ld(ii) Logistic Arrangelnents for the graduating students 6.0111 your

I
,
department. 1

ld(iii)Important dignitasies to bc invited by the Department.

I

ld(iv) Envisaged problems and how to deal with them.

Students were supervised d~iringthe examination by their leqt~u-ers,

the schpts were collected a f.er,, . t. h e, exanlination.

wl. J . The researcher liad the I

official perinission of the G.S. coordinator to read the st~~clents'

/
I

composition. Choosing examination composition "ensures n~eaningli~lness

I

o r the performance." (Anasiodu: 1983). Di~ringexamination, each ytudent

tries to attain the liglxst degree of correctness and cLl'cctiyelms.

Examination essays are original and are regarded as the best perfo;mance

of the students (Ugwu:2004).

 Method of Data Analysis

The statistical tools used in data analysis are: the frequency'and mean

for research questions and the z-test and standard deviatim for thc

hypotheses.
 \

CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS

Preamble

This chapter presents the analysis of data, which depends on the

research questions earlier posited for the study.

4.1 Research Question One

111 what forms do pullctuation errors cmmitted by st~iclents manil'csl

I
themselves? The data are presented below in table one.
I

\
 As he above tablc shows, the following p~rnctuationerrors, 111anifcst
I

themselves, The comma errors occurred frequently 187 times; which

represents a percentage of 46.52, colon errors (12) which represcnts a

percentage of 2.99, semi-colon errors (1 7), which reprcsents 4.23

I

percent full stop (70), which represent 17.41 percent small httcr (36).

tvhich represents 8.96%, capital letter (32), which represents 7.96%,

dash (9), which reprcsents 2.24%, ellipsis (2), which represents 4).50%,

llyphen (2), which represents 0.50%, apostrophe ( 2 5 ) , which represents

\ I

6.22%, caret (3) , ~ h i c hrepresents 0.75%, question mark (6),: which

I

represents l.49%, and inverted colnma (I), which represents 0.25%. The
!
iinding reveals that the co1nma error occurred most frequently in the

students' composition il1a11 other errors. The manifestation^ df, thcse

punctuation errors shows that the stuclcnts have little mastcry ol',ll~cusc

ol' punctuation marks.

..,, . 4 wl. ,,' , '3, '

I
1
I
I
\ !

4.2 Research Question Two

I' . ..

To what extent does differences in gender affect the perfonnanck of the

I
sample population? 1' t

, i
; *8

j
I

\ :
 To answer this rescarch question, the I-esearcher presented a t~tblc

frequency of errors conmittcd by male students and that committed

female students in tables two find three below.

Freqriency IXstribution of the sum of pui~ctilation errors in the

essay written by male stiitlents.

F(1:requency): Is the number ol' times the punctuation errors manifested

in the male students composition. Fx (sum of errors): Is the product of

I

frequency and x.

Table Two:
--
Frcqueacy errors

Comma 184
I'LIII stop 69
Small letter 36
Capital letler 32
Apostrophe 24
Semi-colon 17
Question mark G .c 0

Dash 4
Caret 3
Ellispsis 2
Hyphen 2
Inverted conma 1 " 'I'
--. .-.-. .-.
Total
--
The mean of the above lata is therefore (

- ~ F x
Mean =( X)= --
C
F - is the Srequcncy of male stutient's errors

X- is the number of errors committed

Ef- is the sum of the frequency ,

Cfx - is the sum of the product of frequency and X (errors).

Table Three: Frequency Distribution of Errors of Punctuation qy

Female Students.
X (errors): is the sunl of punctuation errors
I

F(Frequency). is the number 01 times these errors occurrecl in the

students' written composition. , II

Fx (sum of errors): is t11c product of frequency and X.

 The mean h r male and fe~nales l ~ ~ d e n is
t s 93 and 3 respectively. Thc mcan

confirms the research question. The differences between the errors of inale
\ I

students and fenlale stwlents are clearly shown in the above tables. The

inale students conimittcd the comma errors 184 times, which represei~ts

flfrequency of forty-one (4 1). The Seinale students coinmittecl the col~ima

error 3 times, which represents Slfi-equency of one ( I ) . The male students

I

committed the fullstop errors 69 times, which represents a frequency 01'20.

I

The female students con~mittedthe fi~llstoperror once. The male stuclents

I

committed the sniall letter errors thirty six ( 3 6 ) times, which represents
\ 1

flfrequency of 10. The female students did not coiimit any errors o1;the use
1

of small letter. The ~nalestudents committed errors in the use of

I

apostrophe 24 times, which represents 1lfrequency of ten (10). The female

students conmitted errors in 311e,. ,,u$c,oL apostrophe one (1) timq A closc

look at table two and table three shows that the male students committed
I

more punctuation errors than the female students.

4.3 Research Question Four

' I
I

To what extent does differences in age affect the perfoimance: of the

sample population in punctuation?

I
 82

To answer tllc abovc rcsearch questions, the researcher discovered

and tabulated the errors committed by the stuclents accol-ding to their agc

groups (17-21) and (22 and above). :

,
Table Four Frcqucncy Distribution of Errors by male ahc~Scmale
students between the age of 17-2 1 .
X errors shows the S U ~ Iof lm~ctuation errors committed by male
and female students oS the above age range. I; (frequency) sllows the
number of times the punctuation ~narlts were wrongly ~lsedby the abovc
I
age range.
Fx (sum of errors( is the product of-ii-equency and X. I
I
I

I
 Table four:
S(crrors) for Mrlc X(errors) for
Students Fe~riille
-- - st~~tlents

Comma (3)

Colon (8) Colon -

Semi-colon (1 0)

F~~llslop
(54) I~ullstop( I )

Small letter (- ) Small Iclter -

Capital leller (29) Capital leltel

Dash (3) Dash (5)

El~ipSiS (2) Ellipsis -

-1yphen (1) Iiyphen -
Apost~.oplie
Caret ( 2 )

Question mark (5) Caret -

Inverted comma (1) Question

nark -

Inverted

CFX for male and female students = 4704 t 15 = CFX = 4719. t

CF for imde and Semale s t ~ ~ d c n t=s 75 -t 5 = 80.

 I

Where CFX is the sum of the prod~lctof h e frequency and x represents

the errors.

= 59

Table Five F~*equeiicyI)istributio~iof Errors Committed by

I
Students of Age Rallge (22-above)
Y (errors) for Malc I'x X (erors) for ITS
Fcniale students
Comma -
Colon -

I;nl lstop
Small lelter - Sn~allletter -
Dash (3) Dash ( I )
Ellipsis -) Ellipsis -
Apostrophe (9) Hypllen
Caret - Apostrophe ( I )
Question nwrk - Caret -
Inverted comma - Qiieslion mark -
Inverted comma -

CF for male and female stuclents are 27 + 2 = 29.

CFX for male and female students are 935 + 2 = 937.
 The nican for both male and female students according to heir age

range is 59 and 35 rcspcctively. A closc look at tlie performance of both

age ranges show that the male students between tlie age range or 17-27

committed more comma cuors, which represents a frequency of twenty-

\

eight (28); wliile the niale students of age range 22 -abode had a
I

frequency of 13 Sor tlie comma errors. ?'lie female students of thc age

range of 17-21 had a frequency of 13 for comma errors; whilc the fcniale

students of age range 2 1 -above did not co~iimilcomma errors at all. Thc

sludenls of age rangc 17-21 had a liigli lkxlncncy in thc cn'ol-s o f fullstop.
I

1
The frequency of this error ihr liiale s t ~ d e o t sis 16; while the li.cqkcncy of

this error for male studcnts of age range 22- above is 4. Also, t l ~ cmale
\ 8

sludents o f t h e age range 17-21 had the frequency of 6 lor tlie errors of the
I
use of the capital lettcrs; while tlie male students of tlie age range 21 and

above, did not commit any eerou~.oltlac tise of tlic capital letter, l'lie rangc

of gap ol' the niean of the students of age range 17-21 and 2 1 qnct above,
I

which is 59 and 35 conllrms this research question and shows that age

aSSects the use of tlie punctuation n~al-k. 1

4.4 Hypothesis One:

There is no signilicancc dill'ercnce bctwecn the mean pcrfornioncc

1

of male and female sludcnts in punctuation.

Table Six: Standard Deviation Sor the Male Students

as SII =
'I'l~estandard cleviation is calc~~lated

Wtlere 1: is the li.equeiicy of inale stuclents

X is the 11umber of errors

-
x is the mean of the errors.
'Table Seven; Standard Deviation for Female Students

.<,, . WT. -7. @?\Z> .

I

'Thc standard deviation ior the data for both male and female studcn'ts is 75

and 2 respectively. Since there exists two variances coming iiq111 two
11 . . , ,
different means, we can usc thc test of differences o r mean to get the

average of all deviations from the mean. On the other hand, as n l -I- n2 > 60
I
1

(i.e frequency of male (11,) -1- frequency of Semale (n2). Then the Z-test is

applicable. 1 t 0
I

I
 - -
X-X,-
Z calc~ilatecl= -
/-s2,-t sz2

\ I

Where
-
x1 is the mean for malc sluclents

deviation for malc students

S1 is the stzl~~dard ,

(:. S : = variance).
S2 is the standard devialion for female students !
 Test statistics : Z - -x--- A',

Ilccision rule: Reject I-I,, ii'Z cal 2

Ztab and accept if otherwise

( Cal -calculatctl 7
1 Tab - tabulated

a 0.05
Z tabulated = Z -
2
z --
2
=
"" .
I

20.02 = l.96
I

'l'he calculated z-test statistics is (z-cal = 12.2f) is greatcr ~ h a n tlic

I

tabulated z-test statistics (ztab = 1.96) at 0.05 level of significance. !The null

hypothesis ( HOI)is therefore rcjccted. This implies that the m c h oC the

' I
.$ $ 3 . 4 v 7 . -3' . \ .%, '

niale students' punctuation error is greater than that of the female st~tdcnts.

Hence, the male students commit significantly inore errors of puqctuation

at 0.05 level ofsignilicance. If

Hypothesis Two:
There is no signiilcant difference between the meail of agq ranges
1 and 22 and above in punctuation.
, +
0
#
I
\ I

I
Table Eight: Standat-d Deviirtiou for Agc linngc 17-21
So, the standrzrd deviations lor the age ranges 17-21 and 22 abovc are 5 1

and 26 respectively. Since tl~creexisl two variances coming h m two

different means; wc can use the z-lest of diffcrcncc oi'means, as nI

+ n2> 60. That is, Srequcncy o l age range 17-21 (n,) plus frequency of agc
' I

range 22 above (nz).

% calculated = -
A' 4- X,-.
{FT
1'

\ ,
Whcre

s is the mean for age range 17-21

-
,Y is the mean for age range 22 -above

s2,is the variance li)r agc 17-21

Decisioll Rule: Reject I-lo if Z cal. 2

% tab and accept if otherwise

% calculated = 3.9

Z tabulated =Z a2 - ZO. 0% = % 0.025

Since Zcal >Zlab. (i.e 3.9>1.96), we re.ject the null hypotl~esis I l o and

conclude that there is a signilkant difference between the mean 01' age
I

ranges 17-21 and 21 above in punctuation at the level of sipijichnce a

Summary of Findir~gs

The research findings o l the above work reveal the following:

111a11 attempt to anuwc;l"ti"ier~seai.chqucstio~lone, table onc ,slio~vs

the Iorms in which thc punctuation errors manifest thernselves~. L'omma

(46.25%) is the highest occurring crror. This is lollowed by the ~ l l s t o p

,I . ..
(1 7.4 1%), smaller lcttcr cuor (8.96%), capital letter error (7196%),

apostrophe error (6.22%), semi-colon error (4.23%), colon error (2.,99%),

dash error (2.24%), q ~ m t i o nmark error (1.49%), caret error (0.75%),

I '
ellipsis error (0.50%), hyphen crror (0,50?4), and inverted comma , c rb m
I

,
 (0.25%). The above results show that thc students lack a sound ltnowledge

of the punctuation marks and how to use tlmn in sentences.

1

The second research question, which seeks to find out the extent to

which differences in gcncler af'fect the performance of the sample

population shows lhal lhe imle studcnts committed more punclualion errors
i
than the lemale students. The null hypothesis, which nlaintains that there is
I

no significant din'ercnce between the mean performance oS male and

reinale students in punctuation was rejected at a critical level (Ztab) level of ,

The third rcsearch question, ~vhichattempts to lind out the extcnt the
w

differences in age can arfect the perforn~ance of thc sample population in

punctuation shows that the students between the ages of 17-2 1 committed

more punctuation errors than the students ol' thc age oS 22-above. 'I'he
1

corresponding nu11 hypotlmis, which posits that thcrc is 110 signilicnnt

..,... * l . . 1 ' . , ~ - ~ I '

difference between the mean of the above age ranges was re-jectecl at the

critical level (Z-tab) of 1.

 CHAPTER FIVE

DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION, OBSERVATION AND ,

IIECOMMENDATION

5.1 Discussion of the Findings

I

The h d i n g s are discussed under the following headings:

\ I

1. Punctuation error examples.

2. Identified sourccs of errors and their examples.

5.1.1 Punctuation En-or Exa~iiples

The researcher ..-..took

-...-time to look into the students ability 'to use Ihe
I

conma and discovered that indeed some granmarian's description oS

comma as the most troublesome punctuation mark is true. The following

examples are clear evidence of this claim. I

l a (i) "'kcivilian I<egime is also characterized by the indepe~~dent'

of the

the...
Judiciary, whereby .,, ji!$gq, is independence of the ~ x e c u t i b cand

legislative arms of government." (comma ersor by a nlale studcnt ).

The comma before 'whereby' is unnecessary. This is becausc

'whereby' is a conjunctivc advcrb. lfthis adverb is not there; a semi-colon

is preferred to the comma.

I

..
11. "During the civilian rule the mode of selecting the leilclcrs is by
I

1 1

election, and it must be periodic in order to maintain g&d

 The cornlna belbre 'and' is unmxessary because 'and: is a

co~i.junction.It can join two independent clauses in a sentence. 'l'hc ,co1111na

I
\

is used belbre 'and' to show a change in meaning. In thc above ~{ntencc,

:
there is no change in mcaning. 'The comma is omitted after '. . . rule.. . .'

Since the comma is also uscd to mark a pause in speech, it is necessary to

after ' .. . rule . . . '

I
13~11it

...
111. '"The press also criticizc any wrong doing of the government, this will

allow ibr redress". (Wrong usc oS the comma by a male student). In the
I
1

lileraturc review, it has bccn pointed out that a h l l stop is used to mark t11c
I

cnd of a complete s e n t e ~ ~ cSo,

c . a S~~llstop
should have been put after the

scnlcnce "The press also criticize any wrong doing of the govcmmknt." to I

show h e end of a complclc scntcnce. However, if two independent clauses

arc regarded as being sufliciently related to belong to one sentence, a scnli-

, I

colon can be used without il co11-junction. In the above sentence, scmi-

.,,,.."l.,*. '

colon is preferred where the comma was put. II

,
iv. Sunday, I am the chief exccutive
"My name is Omattah Cliultw~~di

ol'licer o f . . . (wrong usc ol' comma by a male student). , , ,

I

't'lic comma al'ter ' . . . Sunday' is un~~ecessary

because, t 1 1 ~comma is

no[ ~lscclto mark the cnd ol'a complete sentence. A S~lllstop is used to mark
I

the cnd of a sentence and sllould be put wherc the comma was iq the
 even reported the case to the police ..." (comma error by a 111ale

student).

The comma put alter ' . . ,2006' is wrong because the cornha is not

used to show the end oS a complete sentence. Only a fullstop can be

used lierc in place ol' the comma.

I
vi. "Moreover, civilian Rcgime gives its cilizcns t11c riglit, to lice

Health care services, ii-ee education and Cree usage of recreational

I

parks, unlike in the military Regime.. . ." (wrong usc of comma

I
by a male student).
\ ,

The use of the coninla after "parks" is wrong. In the literature

review, it has been pointed out that i T two independent clai~scsarc

sufficiently related to Soml a sentence, they should be connected using a

After '...park' , the semi-colon instead

semi-colon without a co~~junction.
!
., ,, . 4 .I. 72. , ' I

o f thc comma should have bccn used. I

'I'liere arc ~ c ~ e r i linstances

l 011 oniissions of the comma. For
I

example, !
11

I b (i) "Also it can bc noticed in our country that ... ." (comma omission a

male student). There is an onission of the colnma alter 'also'. The

comma is used to separate introductory words or phrases f'roq~the

I
$
P
sest ol' thc scntenccs. So, tlic comma should have bccn ,plrl alicr
..
11. " I11 our country Nigeria corn~ptionis carried out in difl'crent I'osm's
I
I

(sic) and places." (cou~lmaoinission by a male student). I ,

"ln our country" is an introductory phrase. The comma s h ~ u l dbc

put bcforc and alicr 'Nigeria'.

.. .
111. "In fact it can bc agreed that co~:suption has always's (sic) being

there.. ." (comma o~nissionby a male student).

introduce thc scntcncc. It should have been followcd by tlic comma.

iv. "Your (sic) lai~hfully

I

." u
Okorie l k e c h ~ ~ k w
' ;
(comma omission by a 111alc student). I

In thc litcl-atuse
l h e r e is an omission oS the comma after ~l'aithf~~lly'.

rcvicw, it has been pointed out that the comma is used to Sollow the $losing

in a letter of any kind. So, the comma should have been put nficr

' . . . Saitl~hlly.'
., ,.. 4 vl. .*' ', 8 '
I

v. "Therefore I request that all Silrther banking.. ." (Common omission by a

,
male student) I
(1 I

is an introcluctory
The comma is omittcd after 'therefore'. 'Tl~crc~o~ore'
!
word and should be Sollowed by the comma. I

1here are also instances of excessive use of the comma. For example,
F 7

1
1 Q
1
I c(i). "'The Managcr, ,

oSFirst Bank or,

 Nigeria Plc,
I
Nsultka."
b
I
(Comma error by a female student)

The above example is an opening address of an official ictl'er. I7he

I

conmon after 'The manager' is correct, but the comma after '...bank of '
I

and '.. .Pic' is used excessively. The comma should not have been put after

them.
.. ' 1
11. "Corruption can also bc viewcd in so many perspectives, it ,can bc

between brothers and sisters, Arms [sic] of government . . ." (comma

error by a inale student). I

111 the literature rcview, it has been notcd that the J i l l stop,is used to
*i

show the end of a coluplete sentence. So the f ~ dstop

l instead of the L m m a

should have been put after '. . .perspectives.. . '

.,,
111. "Girl's [sic] High School

1' 0 Box, 21,

I

Iiltwulabia, . , , , . . .'+ '

Agunta Local Govcrnmcnt Area,

I
August 23'' 2006".
1,

(Comma error by a malc student)

The colnma put aller 'P 0 box .. . ' is wrong because the c o n p a
! 0
I P
cannot separate a post orlice box li-om its number. They are the same. Also,

the coilma slier 'state' is used excessively. Since 'Anambra State' )is the

I
 proper nouns. Errors in the use of small letter are 8.96% of the total number

o f errors committed. The instances are: \ I

1
I

1a(i)"they [sic] are tossed up and down by . . ."

ii. "this [sic] is a regime in political power.. . 7,

...
111. "this [sic] is normally done through a l~roccsscalled election".

iv. "it [sic] is still bringing about.. . ,>

v. "from [sic] the delinition, it can be noted that civilians [sic] rulers
I

are nctiially chosen by the people."

vi. "at [sic] the point you can see that a civilian regime ,is not
!
!
military" II

vii. iirst [sic], special committees nlust be set up." (small letter errors
,
by male students).
I

In the above examples, all the sentences begin wit11 small letters. ,Every

English sentence begins witl~.,%.c~~p,fial,)etler.

r *I So, the above examples should

have been written with capital letters for the initial letters 01the llrst words.

Error in the Use of Capital Letters

The errors in the use ofcapita1"lette~-is 7.96% oS the total number of

errors. 'The examples includc:

I
1a (i)"Sir, my cheque book went missing after robbcring in my place o:f
i
- work & [sic] morning." I

1
! 9,
i. "During the civilian rulc, Any IIsic] political party that lost thc

-. election from the opposition.. ."

I
..
11. "'rhe Civilian I<cgime [sic] is better than Military Re,ci~nc[sic]

because The Isic] time of civilian I<* [sic] The people of 4ivilian
:. 1
Regime [sic] are work hard. (all the above underlined errorbswerc

committed by male students).

I
The italicized words are supposed to begin with small letters: It has

been pointed out in the literature review that capital letters begin' sentcr~ccs

and proper nouns. All thc other letters in the senkmxs should have becn

written in small letters.

5.1.2 Identified Sources of Errors arid the Examplcs

The researcher identilied h e following sources as the mqjor sources

of'punctuation errors:
I

a. Faulty over-use of punctuation ~narlts I

b. Ignorance of rule restrictions in punctuation, and

c. Incomplete application
.,,,.
of the rules of' English language in
,wl- 7,' ,<*>a

punctuation.
I

2a. Faulty Ovcr-Use \ :

Faulty over-use occurs when i;unktuation marks are wrong]); ovcr

used. In this study tilere are instances of' Saculty over-use of' pu~ictuation

marks.
i
2a(i) Tlzere will be o /meling to deliberate on the forthi , ,
o
cot?zillg convoccrtior~ cc.r.etuoriy qf lhe university, lo i
annnge for. tlle corzvocotiotz olf tile grc~d~ialing
OYI 11" A1ig11st, 2006. By
students irz our. ~1'ep~rrl/?~ent :
!
I
 [sic] 12 p.m ut ~nechanicalelqy'rzeering [sic] forth 1
year. classroon~.fhzilty over use of comma by a male 1

student). I
I

In the above example, the comma is over-used after "..: university

I

... , ...2006 ..." It is wrong to use the comma to break the floy of a
" <<

complete sentence.

The reason is because thc prcscnce of the infinitive ". . . to . . , . shows Y7

that the sentence does not need a comma there. The co1111na after "August

. . ." has separated the month from the year ". ..2OO6.. ." therc is 170 rlecd

putting another conma after ". . .2006,,. ."

I

ii. " I request that the bank, halt any hrther transactions with the pheque

book, while a new is being processed". (fiiulty over use of coliln~aby

,
a male student). The comma after ". . .bank . . . is an over-use of the

comma. It is not necessary because the adverbial conntctor.. .

"While.. ." has connected the dependent clause ". . . a new ;one is
I

being processed" to the independent clause "I request that tllc

I

bank ..."
., ,, . .
" 1. ?,. . ', ,
\

iii. Your's [sic] SaithS~~lly, I I

Cl~ibuzo" I

(faulty over use ofcomlna and apostrophc by a i'einale s ~ ~ c l c n ~ ) .

I
Formally, "your's.. ." is written without thc apostrophe to +ow
P
I
possession. Also, the comma after "Your's ..." is a faulty over use. It ought
!
, not to have been put there. i
C
iv. "Sir my cheque book was missed; the day I was coming d ~ w nfrom
I
public transport" (lilulty ovcr usc ofscmi-colon by a malc stutlcnt).
I

The use ol? semi-colon after "...missed..." is an over-use. Among

'1

other things, the semi-colon can join two independent clauses ivhen the

relation between them is obvious. The above sentence does not contain two

independent clauses. I

v. "Nigerians arc so corrupt 'That [sic] They [sic] sell their votes which

is 'i'heir [sic] power'' (l'aulty ovcr LISC of the capital letter by a malc,st~~dcnt).

In the above cxample, there is an ovcr-use of capital '''I"'

in the
*
literature review, it has becn noted that initial lctters of sentences arc written

in capitals.

The use of the capital "T" In the middle of the above sentence is an

over-use of the capital letter. I

I

vi. "Also this meeting

. , is ,going to give room for the brth coming
1 .I.)
,I
convocational arrangement for the in~portant dignitaries that i r e to be
I

invited like, Chief Oliamu [sic]..." faulty over-use of comma 4y a male

I

student). The use of the comma after ":. . arrange~nent. . ." and ". . .like.. . " is
\

overuse. 111 the litcraturc rcvicw, it has been pointed o ~ lthat

t h e c0111ma can

be used to set off parentl~etical structures. ?'he structure aficr ". . .

I

arrangement . . ." is not a parenthcticnl structure. So, the use of the Eomma
I *
0
after ". .. arrangnnrnt . . ." is not necessary. Also, in the literet~~rcrcview,
it
 108

has been noted that the colon and not the comma is used to set oSS a list 01-

series. So, the colon should have been put after ". . . like . . . " I

vii. "Firstly- when you take a vivid look on the various . . ." I

\ I

viii. "Secondly -in civilian regime human have no so lnuch right to live."

is. "In addition - in civilian reginle you can write the president.. ."

x. "Lastly-military . . ." (wrong use of clash by male students).

In the literature review, it has been pointed out that the coinpa is used

to separate introductory words or phrases. So, the use of the dash after

"firstly ...", "secondly. "In addition .. .",and "lastly . . ." is a faulty over-use

ol' the dash. The comma is supposed

. .to be used afier these introductory
words. The dash is uscd to indicate a break in thought or an inte&uption or

sudden change in tone.

2b. Ignorance of Rule liestrict ion

Another source of error noticed fro111 the students' I written

. , . .,. , r l * '

conlposition is ignorance of rules restriction. The error that manifestccl so

niuch as a result or ignorailce of rule restriction is the errors in the use of thc
I

comma. Most of the time, the lcomli~awas applied where it was not

necessary. The instances are:

I

2b(i) Since a military leader is not democratically elected . . . he has no time

to listen to the colnplains [sic] ol' the people, in fact he qoesn't

l o
#
know.. .
 'The place~neilt of the comma aster "people" is not right. That

sentence is a complete sentence. The comma is not used lo indicate the end

of a Sull sentence. A Sull stop is more appropriate here. The following

stateinent should have been written like this. \

Since a military leatlcr is not democratically elected.. ., hc has no time

to listen to the complaints of the people. In fact he doesn't Itnow.. .

ii. "Democracy given a liberty and freedoin, to its citizcn that is

practicing it, it givcs ii-eetlom of speech, press . . ." (comma error by a IIIE~C ,

student).

A comma placed altcr "li-eedom" proceeded by "and" is not right. A

coinma cannot be used to separate the main clause and a subordinate clause

where an infinitive is prcsent.

The second comma placed after "it" that is preceded by "practicing" I

sl~ouldbe replaced by a full stop to represent the end of a complete

.. ,< . ,,.
e f. .I,
I

sen~ence.The following statement should begin with a capital letter.

. ..
111. "I sincerely wish to thank you for the prcvious services reqdercd to

me, as a customer of your BanhLsic],: 1 have been comfortable" (coinma

I

error by a female student). II

\ I

The conma placed after "me" should be removed. The second

-$ comnla should be ~ q ~ l a c ebyd a hill stop. 3 +

P
1
iv. If all Nigerians come to understand thc cles~ructivcinfluence ant1 maltc a

Shctional approach to curb it, corruption will become a thing o(the past
It , in our country (con~maerror by a male student). In L11e literat~irescview,

it has been pointed out that semi-colon can join two independent clauses

when the relation between ihem is obvious. The use of the comma aner

"it" represents an ignorance of the above fact. So, the semi colou should
-\ '

have been used aster "it".

v. "First and foremost, what is civilian regime; civilian regime, is a system

I

. . ." (semi-colon error by a male student). The use of the semi - - d o n alter

the "civilian regime" preceded by "is" shows an ignorance o f the use of'

semi-colon. Only the qucstion mark is placed at the end of thc clucstion.

I-Ience, a question 111ark should have been put after ".. . what is civilian
I

regime . . ."
' '
The other punctuation marks that were wrongly app1ied:hAude the
!
Sollowing instances: I
I

vi. The cheque book which

.,,,
was issued
.)>
.*I.
to me on 17th of June
.?'
zO~G,was !

misplaced on the 13'" of August 2006 on my way coming El-om my

office... [sic] 1 took of[ fiom.. . .

,' . .
(ellipsis error by a n ~ a l estudent).

'L'l~euse of the ellipsis alter "office" shows an ignorance of Lhc rules

1

governing the use of the ellipsis. The ellipsis is used when some'htc?'tcmcnts
*: ,
are quoted from written ~naterinlsand some parts of the author's wkr+ arc

elided because they are not necessary.

vii. Many authors have tlilf'erent dekinitions o l corruption but one thing is

common to these various definitions; lo~veringthe general acceptable

standard, compromise, mediocrity and insincerity.

I
(Ignorance of the use of semi-colon by a n ~ a l estudent).

The use of the semi-colon after the second "definitions" shohs

. that the
$.

learner is ignorant of the rules of the use o r the semi-colon. 'The colon sl~ould

have been used after thc sccond "definitions" bccame the colon is used to

introduce a list or series ~ I ' i d ~ i t ~ . ,

\

viii. When the people in the nlilita~ymanouver every thing in our co~mtry;

during the Abacha's regime" (semi-colon error by a male studcnt). ,

The use of the scmi-colon after 'country" shows that the student is

ignorant of how to use the scmi-cofon. That semi-colon should iiot have
...
been put after "countly".

ix. "...just because they are in power-what a dictatorship " [sic]. (Hyphen

error by a fenlale st~~d~il't):"l'h~"ijse

of the hyphen after "power" shows
I

ignorance of the rules that govern the use o r the hyphen. A [ull stop
should have been put alter ". . . power." to show the end of that skntence.
I . .
Another sentence should begin with "what . . ." In writing, once a '

question mark is used, no f d l stop is necessary. The point that

' 1
% ' I
accompanies the question mark serves as a full stop.
1
' $
I B
x. "Pleasc; it is important for all to be there.. ." (semi-colon error by a nlalc

student). "Please" should be nlarlted oSS with the conma, not a semi --
 112

colon because only the comma is used to ~nalieoff the introductory

\

words or phrases. I

xi. "Why can't the EFCC probe their boss" (wrong use 01f d l sto,p by a
I

male student). The use of the Sull stop is wrong. Since the sentence is a

question; it should,cnd with a question mark. \ I

xii. "... by the way what is corruption" (fill1 stop error by a male st'udent).

The sentence should end with a question mark, not a full stop. ,

xiii. ". . . is this not corruption" (f~rllstop crror by a inale student). The above

statement is a question and shoulcl end with a question mark; nut a Still

stop.

xiv. ". . . look at the Ota i'ann.. .is this farm not finance [sic] by our own

money" (fill1 stop error by a male student). This sentence should end
\

with a question mark because, it is a question.

xv . "Nigeria as [sic] never conducted it [sic] election in free and fair, it [sic)
.<
,,.,wl. 3,' s x> '

all about rigging, killing, inlprizcment [sic], this figuering [sic] one

opunet [sic] or the ordcr [sic] They use the youth.. . (errul- by malc

student). I I
I

The use of the conma after "fair" instead of the lilll stop sho\vs that the

student is ignorant of how to use the f~11lstop. Also, the omission ofthe Sull

stop after ". . . order [sic]" shows that the students does not knom how tq usc
\

8 0
1
the full stop. The abovc sentence is Sidl 01spelling errors. It shoiild be

corrected as:
I

,
 Nigeria has never conducted a free and fair election. It is all about
:

rigging, killing, imprisonment, disfiguring one opponent or the ?thkr. They

I

use youth.. . I

xvi. "I have been banlting with your bank ... and have CQllle to

appreciate the dividends of banking and saving in your [sic]"

\
, ,

(error by a male student).

A full stop should have, been put after ". . . bank.. ." to mark the cncl of the

sentence.
1

xvii. "I lost my cheque book on the 15"' day of August [sic] 2006; 1 have

even reported the case to the police.. ." (comma error by la male

student).

The use of comma after ". . ,2006" is wrong. A full stop should have

been used because the fbll stop is used to mark the end of a con~plete
I
sentence. .<,, . w l - , , . , < # a , .

2c. lr~completeApplicaliori of Rule

This incomplete application of rule involves the inability, oS the L2

1' . .
learner to completely apply the roles that govern the use of the pudctootion

marks.. 'This incomplctc application of the rulc is seen in the onli'ssion oS

punctuation marks where they are necessa~y.The instances are: I

t
2c(i) "More so the evil o l bribery is also found in Nigeria ~ o l i l k a system
l
8 t
I
,.,.7 3
 ii. Infact it is so invaluable to me that I can't afford to despisc [sic] with

iii. "After banking I went to an eating outlet in town.. . ."

iv. In fact it could be agreed that corruption has always's [sic] being

there, whether among the poor.. . ."

v. I11 doing this thc Nigerian government and its people.. . ." \ I

In examples (2ci-v) thc omission of thc comma after "Morc, so...",

"Infact.. .", "After banking.. . ", "Iiifact.. .", and "In doing this.. ." represents

an incomplete application of the rules of the use of comma. I11 the lileraturc

review, it has been pointed our that the "comma is ~rsecl t ' ~separate

introductory words or phrases from the rest of the sentence." So the 'comma
I

should have been put alicr [he above introductory words or pl~rascs. I

Therc are other instances:

\

. ,, . . ". . . [sic] impeach the president:. . when he

vi. "Also, in civilian regime, the
< 9' '3 J '

or she is not doing in accordance with what the people want; but in
I

military regime . . . ." (semi-colon on~issionby a male student). )

The semi-colon is used betwben cb-ordinate clauses joined b i any of

I

the coi~junctiveadvcrbs. So, the omission of the semi-colon aflcr ". . .

I

wants "is an inconlplete application of the rules of the use of t l k semi-

 vii. "I went back and mcl the person who was guarding the placc and [sic]

advised me to report .'' (caret omission by a nlale student). There is the

omission of the caret after "and . . ." to indicate the oinission of','hc."
w

...
v ~ i i "they
. use the police to arrest their opuiict [sic]" (Errors of s117d1 letter

by a male student).

The use of the small letter "t" to begin the above sentence sh'ows an
,\

incomplete application of thc rule o r the use o r the capitnl Ictter. In

English language, scntenct: begins with capital letters. So, the capital

letter "T"should have been used.

ix. "I am demanding a through search for my missing cheque I will come
\

with all.. ." (full stop omission by a male student).

I

The oniission of the lid1 stop ai'ter "cheque" represents an incqmpletc

application of the rules of the use of the fill1 stop. Gveiy complete sentence

in English language is marked by a full stop at the end. .\ -

>

x. "...cases abo~undwhere soldiers have looted peoples [sic] properties"

(apostrophe omission by a male student).

.<,,..wl..?'
9 ',? '
I

'I'lie omission OSthe apostroplw before ". . .s" in "peoplc" is an incomplete

application ofthe rule oS tlic use of the apostrophe. The apostrophe is used

when forming possessivcs of nounsll So, .ihe apostrophe should hav'c been

put before the last "s" in "people". I

P
, I
xi. "We're [sic] in the world of civilization regime I believe th4t we have

. . ." (full slop omission by a male student).

 \ I IG

.* Thc omission ol' the SUll stop after "civilization" shows an incomplete

application of the rules of the full slop so, a lull stop should have bkcn put

after "...civilization" to mark the end of the sentence. Also, ~isingan

.i 8

apostrophe to separate "we're" is a wrong application of tllc rules

governing the use ofapostrophc.

A new sentence should have began with "since.. ." "Since the civilian

regime.. ." is an introductory phrase and should be ~narltcdOR 'by tllc

I

con1rna.
,
xii. "During General Olusegun Obasanjo's first regime he stole a huge

amount . . . ." (comma omission by a male student). A comma ,should

have been put after "regime" to mark off the introductory statement.

5.2 Observatior~sof the Research Findings

The researcher observes the following from the results 01this work.

Punctuation errors occur i ~ ~ s t ~ i d t ncompositions.

ts' To ltnow tl& grammar

of a language among olhcr things includes a sound Itnowledgc of' tlic

punctuation marks used in that language.

Secondly, the researcher observes that some punctuation marlts wcre

use wrongly. The comma was wrongly used to the extent that almost all the

composition scripts marlted by the researcher have more than one error in
 The researcher obscrvcd that the students did not use the brackets and
1
parenthesis at all. It is either that they have no Itnowledge of their use or that

the occasions to use tlxm wcre avoidccl.

The researcher obscrvcd that the students' composition were scanty.

Most of the students chose topics they can easily handle. Topics thbt woulcl

not demand more points of view from them. Hence, it was observed that
I

many of the students wrote on: "write a letter to the manager of Bank
I
*\

reporting the loss of your cheque book and requesting that'all f~lrther

banking transactions on the cheque book be suspended." A good number of

I
the student wrote on: Assun~ethat you are the Head ol' your Department:

Write an internal memorandc~~n

to your members of staff informilg thcm of

a meeting to deliberate on the forth coming convocation of the ~miversity..."

A lot of them did not write on such topics as: Corruption: The banc of the

Nigerian political system. Discuss," and "Civilian Reginie is Better:than any

I

Militoiy Regime: Arguc ibF'6i"ageihst' this proposition." *, I

I
I
The researcher also observes that age and gender influence

punctuation errors; but, the major cn.use o l punctuation errors, was the
11 . . I

students' inability to gain a good mastery of what punctuation nlarlts are;

% 1

!
and how they should be used in composition.
 The researchcr makes some C O ~ C I L I S ~ O ~ froin
IS the findings of this

research. They are:

I

Because the sampled population are L2 Icarners and since they Ilave

not been able to totally internalize the rules guiding the use of punctuation

marks, it is logical to concluck that their level of competence of the use of

puncluation mal-la is low. 'The variables investigated in this work aided in

portraying the oxtcnt thc san~plecl population wcre able to

. LISC
m
the

p~ulctuationmarks in composition writing. To learn a language is to learn

eveiy thing about the use of the language. A learner who has learnt a

language well must be able to apply the punctuation marks oS the target
i 8

language in conlposition writing. ,

Ushi (2005) notes that the "correct usage gives rise to linguistic

appetite." When punctuation marlis are correctly used in writing, ,it gives

rise to well-written good ilowing pieces of writing. The lear~ling,of:I?nglisl~

. z , , ,w7.,,. -..7, ,

language punctuation inarlts ought to be seriously done to avoid errors. 'The

reason is because "errors rellect badly on the speakers personality; they tell

us something about his cducatio/~alh~ckground;thcy portray hi,s inter-

language as a "developing granlmar" that 'clepencls' on ' illiteracy

5.4 for Further Studies
Recomniendatio~~ $ \

. .
This study has o ~ d ybeen able to look into the kinds ol' punctuation

errors that manifest anlong the first year students of Mechanical

Engineering who arc ol'l'cring t11c course: "'l'hc Use of English". Tl$s Kind

of study can be carricd out among thc first year studcn~s'ip othcr

departments oS University orNigeria to iind out their competence in tllc iisc

of thc English language punctuation marks. Since Mechanical Engi'nccring

I

students are science students, it is possible that if this ltind of stiidy is

'\ '
"' I
carried out among students of any o l fhe dcpartnlcnt of the Faculty of Arts,

the same degree of l~unctilationerrors may not manifest. I

From this study, it is found out that the error in the use of the mcomma

has the highest percentage frequency of 46.52. I rcconmend that a study bc

carried out to discover why students find it difiicult to use the comma wcll

in composition writing. This study can also be extended to the secondary

..,,. ..I. "' .'+ .
school level to find out the punctuation marks that pose the greatest
.\

dil'iiculty among the senior secondary school students. The study of

punctuation marks is very important because "they help to clarify meaning

in the written language. 'l'hcy prevent cases ol'ambiguity (Illechukwu ct al:

'e

Burt, M.H. Dulay, and I-lemadez, E.C. (1973). Bilingual Syntnx ~Pleuswe,
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Chamot, A. (1978). "Grammatical Problems in Learning English as a third

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Chamot A (1979). "Strategies in the acquisition of English Structures by a

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Cllan, A.Y.W. (2004, spring). "Syntactic transler: Evidence Srom the
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Lang~icrgeJowncrl, 8 8( 1 ).

Celca-Murcia (ed.) (2001). Teaching English as a second or Foreign

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~ h $ r n s k ~N.
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~ , (1 965). Aspect ofthe Theory of syntax Cambridge. Ivlass: M .

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Review of Applied Lingliistics, 5.
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Corder, S.P. (1971). ''Describinga the Language Learner's Im~guage".
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Davies, A. (1991). "Correctness in finglish". In Tiltoo, M.1. (ed.)(1991).

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*..
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and Teaching New Jersey: Prentice Hall Inc.

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Second Language acquisition". TESOL Qzwterly 8.

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.a
ALCA Review, 5.

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Prospective" JOLAN, 3.

13nenall.j0, E.N. (2005). Language policies and cultural identitics~~fjle:

JJJ
AVWord congress 017 lring~iugepolicies 2,h t n ~

Enltvist, N.E. (1983). "Should We Count Errors or Measure Succcss?" SLA

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D I

Nigeria, Nsuklta. (I ..

Eyisi, J . (2004). C O I I Z I ?Err01-s

I O ~ ~in the Use of E~@ish. Enugu: Aliicana
FEP Publishers.

Farch, C. (1 980). "Describing Interlanguage through Interaction: P r o ~ l e m s

of systeinaticity and permeability." Working Popel.$ on
Bilingualisnr, 9. ,
Fries, C. (1945). Teaclzing arid Learning Et7gli.s.h as a Foreign Ihnguagc
Mitchigan: University ofMitchigan Press. I

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French, (1949). Co/imort Err.ors in E~zglishLanguage London: Oxlb rcl
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a s , S ( 1 9 9 ) Language transfer and Universal ~ r a n ~ r n a t i c relations".

ai
Language Lewning, 29.

Gas S . (1 083). Lnrzg~lcg~

7 i ~ 1 1 s f ij7
e ~Lnngziage
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Newbury I-Iouse.

Gas, S. (1988),"1i1tegrating rcsearch Arcas: A Frame work for Second

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Matters. I I \

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Ileadbloom, A.G. (1979). "lk-or Analysis and 'Theoretical Considerations

in Second Lanuage Learning". In Edo Ubal~altwe(ed.) (1970). The
Teachivlg of English Slzdies. Ibadan: University Press.
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IIefferman, et a1 (1982). Wrililzg cl College Honclbook. L0!1c/m. PV. kJf

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Education. Enugu: Ncw Concept Publishers. I

Jackson, K. and Whitemail, R. (1971). Evaluation of the Predictive pbwer of

constrastive Analysis of Japmese.'and English. Final reports. US
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(Joumal of the Institute of Lingziistics, 8.

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and stridies in Conslrn.rtivc! Lingzristics. 27. 0
B

Johnson, K. ( 1988). "Mistalte Correction. " E ~ ~ g l i sLnngzmge

h Tenchirg
Jotlrxal, 42.
 Jonnasson, S. (1975). '"I'he IJse of Errors Analysis and Contrastive
Analysis ." Pnpers In Contrastive Linguistics ~ n Langzrage
d Teslitlg.
Lund: L.K.W.

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S
I d~
Semantic Errors in English Cornposition of College Students in
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I Evaluation and interpretation oS Written crrors of Arab, EFI,
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I D
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I
I

I
\ DO NOT
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 X J D W E W ~ YO. F NIGERIA
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