Higher Education Department

Concordia College
1st Semester
A.Y. 2019- 2020

Level of Punctuation Skills among Intermediate

Researchers:
Quinto, Daniel G.
Subia, John Michael R.
 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

A. Background of Study

Language is very important in human life. It is used by people to communicate

with one another. With language, they are able to express their feelings thoughts, opinion,

and ideas. According to Setiyadi (2006) language is a group of sounds with specific

meanings and organized by grammatical rules. Brown (1994) also defines language is a

system arbitrary conventionalized vocal, written, or gestural symbols that enable

members of a given community to communicate intelligibly with one another.On the

other hand, In English learning process, there are four skills that must be mastered by the

learners. They are listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Writing is one of those skills

that can help students in learning and developing their English by expressing their

knowledge and experiences. A good writing has some aspects such as grammar and

vocabulary. However, in the discussion of grammar, punctuation was often left out. In

fact, using proper punctuation marks is very important because it conveys meaning

completely (Oshima & Hogue, 2006).

One of the aspects influence writing is using punctuation correctly, it can make a

good paragraph writing. According to Harmer (2004) “If capital letters, commas, full

stops, sentence and paragraph boundaries, etc., are not used correctly, this can not only

make a negative impression but also make a text difficult to understand.” In other words,

lack of accuracy, omission, and understanding of using proper punctuation marks were

some of the problems faced by the students. Failure to use punctuations will result
 indifferentmeaning and they are not able to understand the meaning correctly. This is

why the teachers and the students must pay attention in using punctuation marks.

Lack of accuracy in writing refers to

Several studies were conducted by some experts with regard to error analysis method in

using punctuation. According to the study conducted by Nurhayati, 2013, she investigated

student’s error of using punctuation in English text. The result showed that comma was the most

common errors made by the students. She also found that the errors happened because if

carelessness and lack of high personal standard of excellence. Similarly, to study conducted by

Benjamin & Akampirege. The research is about the error analysis while using punctuation

marks. The researchers observed few mistakes in using comma, colon, and semicolon. As the

result, it showed that these errors were just due to ignorance.

Regarding with the previous studies mentioned above, the researchers were interested in

conducting a research about the level of punctuation skills among intermediate level of students.

Thus, those previous studies were used as references in comparing among those relevant studies

with the study conducted by the researcher.

In today’s curriculum, the researchers noticed that punctuation marks taught from grade 3

and grade 9 level only. In fact, it shows that there is a learning gap among intermediate level

students that affects their punctuation skills in terms of writing. Hence, the researchers conduct a

study to know the better way to master the use of punctuation marks in writing. Moreover, to

know the mastery level of punctuation usage among intermediate level students and what

bridging lesson and curriculum adjustment can be proposed.

Statement of the Problem

intermediate levelstudents of Concordia College: Input towards the development of

bridging lesson and curriculum adjustment S.Y. 2019- 2020. Specifically, the study

answer the following questions:

1. What are the demographic profile of the students:

a. Age c. School background

b. Gender d. Grade Level

2. What are the levels of punctuation skills of grades 4, 5 and 6 in terms of:

a. Basic punctuation skills

b. Complex punctuation skills

3. Is there any significant difference among the grades 4, 5 and 6 students in punctuation

skills in terms of:

a. Basic punctuation skills

b. Complex punctuation skills

4. Based on the result of the study, what bridging lesson and curriculum adjustment can

be proposed?

Hypothesis of the Study

Below is the hypothesis of the study:

1. There is no difference in the level of punctuation skills among grades 4, 5 and 6

students.
Significance of the Study

This study therefore may be useful to the students, school administrators, parents,

teachers and the curriculum planners and developers.

The students as the primary beneficiary of this study may know the conditions of the

present educational system and thus they make appropriate actions for them to be able to cope up

with the difficulties of using the punctuation marks. The students can try alternative modes or

approaches that will result to his learning.

Similarly, the teachers may gain insights from this study and they will make an

intervention which is through bridging lesson. Also they may use appropriate teaching strategies

to fulfil the needs of the students.

The school administrators may provide some innovative strategies to be able to enhance

the capabilities of both the teacher and the student. They may use appropriate device in

measuringinstrument in determining the punctuation skills of the students.

To the curriculum planners, the findings of the study may provide them idea on what

programs or alternative learning strategies can be integrated to make the of punctuation marks as

cost effective and efficient.

To future researchers, this study may provide information and can be use a reference for

other researchers who were interest in conducting similar study.

Definition of Terms

Level of Punctuation skills-refers to the basic and complex punctuation skills of the

respondents.
 Basic punctuation skills- refers to the correct use of one punctuation mark in a simple

sentences.

Complex punctuation skills- refers to the correct use of two or more punctuation mark in a

simple or a complex sentences.

Intermediate Level- refers to the grades 4, 5 and 6 of Concordia College.

Bridging Program- is a proposed intervention to bridge the learning gap about punctuation

marks of grades 4, 5 and 6.

Curriculum Adjustment- is a proposed intervention to rearrange the curriculum subject

matter about punctuation mark to bridge the learning gap of grades 4, 5 and 6.

Scope and Limitation of the study

This study was limited to the intermediate level which are the grade 4, 5, and 6 of

Concordia College S.Y. 2019- 2020. The researchers used descriptive research which describe,

analyse and interpret phenomenon. Moreover, the researcher will use adopted questionnaire to

gather data.
 Conceptual Framework

The Figure below shows the concept of the study including the intermediate students

Level
which is the respondents to gather data about the level of punctuation of Punctuation
skills with the use of
Skills of
adopted questionnaire. When the data gathered, bridging lesson and curriculum adjustment will
Intermediate
be proposed.
students

Bridging lessons
and Curriculum
Level of Punctuation Skills adjustment
Intermediate Students of Intermediate students
(Grades 4, 5 and 6)  Basic punctuation
skills
 Complex punctuation
skills
 CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

In this study, the researchers show definition and theory in literature review. The

researcher writes definition of punctuation marks taken from some researcher. Then, the

researchers also add review of related study that contains some research result taken from some

researcher.

English Punctuation

According to Jones (1994) “punctuation, as we consider it, can be defined as the central

part of the range of non-lexical orthography”. Although arguments could be made for including

the sub-lexical marks (e.g. hyphens, apostrophes) and structural marks (e.g. bullets in

itemisations), they are excluded since they tend to be lexicalised or rather difficult to present,

respectively.

The other concept comes from Samson (2014). He said, “Punctuation exists to clarify

statements and communicate better with readers.” It is similar with the opinion from Ritter

(2001) said that “Punctuation exists to clarify meaning in the written word and to facilitate

reading. Too much can hamper understanding through an uneven, staccato text, while too little

can lead to misunderstanding. Within the framework of a few basic rules (fewer still in fiction),

an author’s choice of punctuation is an ingredient of style as personal as his or her choice of

words.”

Writing

Writing is an