Assessing Punctuation Errors Made by Secondary School Students in English Language Comprehension in Ogun State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study assessed the errors in English comprehension by Senior Secondary School Students. Errors in English
punctuation in this study were categorized as mechanical errors in comprehension with particular emphasis on
punctuation marks and spelling. This study adopted a descriptive research design of ex-post-facto type. The target
groups for the study were Ogun State Secondary Schools in Nigeria. The samples were drawn from four (4)
geo-political zones in Ogun State of Nigeria (Ijebu, Remo, Yewa and Egba). Multi-stage stratified sampling
technique was used to select five co-educational Secondary Schools from the four geo-political zones. Five schools
were selected with fifty (50) Secondary Students III (SSS 3) per school totaling two hundred and fifty (250) male and
female students in each of the divisions. Two instruments, Errors in English Language Comprehension (EELC), and
an achievement test in English Language Punctuation (ATELP) were used to collect data from the one thousand
(1000) students who were randomly sampled as participants. The validity and reliability of the instrument were
determined by trial testing. The data were subjected to Chi-square, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Pearson
Product Moment Correlation coefficient. The data were tested for significance at the 0.05 level. Based on the
findings, it was detected that students made more errors in punctuation than in spellings. This could be attributed to
lack of knowledge and understanding of common mistakes made in English. Part of the recommendations made was
that; teachers should concentrate on areas of difficulties such as comma, colon and semi-colon for students.