Importance of Punctuation Marks For Writing and Reading Comprehension Skills

Faculty of Arts Journal–Issue: 13 June 2019 Importance of Punctuation Mark
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Importance of Punctuation Marks for Writing and

Reading Comprehension Skills
Fatma Suliman1 Manal Ben- Ahmeida Salma Mahalla
Faculty of Arts - Misurata University
Received: 12-3- 2019 Accepted: 14-6- 2019 Available Online: 19-6- 2019
Abstract
This study aims to highlight the causes behind the misuse of
punctuation marks in order to help Libyan students reduce committing
less mistakes in both skills writing and reading. In addition, this
current study investigates the relationship between writing and reading
in terms of punctuations, it is restricted only to punctuation marks, not
all the cohesive devices. A writing test and a reading passage is
formulated to test Libyan university students’ ability in using
punctuation marks as well as an interview is conducted to collect more
accurate data. In this research paper, the participants are chosen
according to Solven's formula using the qualitative descriptive study,
results of this study, could provide solutions that may help to
overcome punctuation problems, which many EFL students of the
English Department, Faculty of Arts Misurata University face.
Finally, the findings refer to the fact that Libyan students do suffer
from dealing with punctuation mechanics continuously. Moreover,
these findings can be used by teachers to improve students’ ability to
acknowledge the effective use of punctuations and reduce their
problem of misusing punctuation marks in both skills writing and
reading. On the light of the findings, it is clear that they committed a
large number of remarkable errors progressively, yet in this study,
having students become aware of their punctuation mistakes, would
possibly enhance and help students to improve their capability to write
and read committing less errors. Additionally, their educational
motivation and interaction have been turned out extremely higher.
Key Words: Punctuation Marks, Reading Comprehension, Writing
Skills
1
f.suliman@art.misuratau.edu.ly
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‫‪Faculty of Arts Journal–Issue: 13 June 2019‬‬ ‫‪Importance of Punctuation Mark‬‬
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‫أمهية استخدام عالمات الرتقيم يف تطوير مهارات القراءة والكتابة‬

‫ملخص البحث‬
‫هتدف هذه الدراسة إىل الرتكيز على األسباب اليت حتد من استخدام عالمات الرتقيم عند‬
‫تدريس اللغة اإلجنليزية للطلبة يف مهاريت القراءة والكتابة‪ ،‬وأتثري عدم الكرتاث هبذه‬
‫العالمات يف عملييت التعليم والتعلم‪ .‬كما هتدف هذه الدراسة إىل إجياد حلول هلذه‬
‫املشكلة‪ .‬وينحصر هذا البحث يف عرض عالمات الرتقيم فقط وعالقتها مبهاريت القراءة‬
‫والكتابة‪ ،‬ول يتطرق لدراسة أدوات الوصل والربط‪ .‬ولتحقيق أهداف البحث‪ ،‬مت تطبيق‬
‫امتحانني‪ :‬خيترب أحدمها قدرة الطالب على استخدام عالمات الرتقيم يف الكتابة‪ ،‬و خيترب‬
‫اآلخر قدرات الطالب عند قراءة نصوص لكتشاف هذه الفواصل‪ ،‬كما مت إجراء مقابالت‬
‫شخصيه مع عينات من الطلبة لختبار معرفتهم وقدرهتم على استخدام عالمات الرتقيم‪،‬‬
‫وقد مت اختيار املتطوعني يف هذه الدراسة وفقا للصيغة املتبعة يف دراسة سلفن مبعطيات‬
‫نوعيه ووصفيه مبا يف ذلك إجراء الختبارات واملقابالت وعرض اإلحصايياات والنتايج ‪.‬‬
‫جتدر اإلشارة إىل أنه من الضروري إجياد وعرض حلول جذرية ميكن أن تساعد الطلبة يف‬
‫حل مشكلة الستخدام اخلاطئ لعالمات الرتقيم‪ ،‬وكيفية استخدامها الستخدام األمثل ‪.‬‬
‫الكلمات الرئيسية‪ :‬عالمات الرتقيم‪ ،‬الستيعاب املقروء‪ ،‬مهارات الكتابة‪.‬‬
‫‪1. Introduction:‬‬
‫‪1.1 Research Problem‬‬
‫‪Punctuations have a crucial role in language learning; they are‬‬
‫‪ignored and neglected to be taught or learned by many Libyan‬‬
‫‪language teachers and students; therefore, there is a need for more‬‬
‫‪attention to be provided especially, when teaching both reading and‬‬
‫‪writing skills. Punctuations are considered signals used to guide the‬‬
‫‪https://misuratau.edu.ly/journal/arts‬‬ ‫‪30‬‬
‫‪ISSN 2664-1682‬‬
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reader through the text and makes comprehension easier. According to

Oxford Advances Learner`s Dictionary (2000), punctuations are
defined as the marks or signs used in writing to separate sentences or
phrases. However, different punctuation marks are used in different
situation, but all help to convey the message with clarity. As well as,
to strengthen the argument and to achieve unity to the text. Therefore,
the lack or incorrect usage of punctuation marks in writing and
reading, will lead to misunderstanding the message and will be
overwhelming for the writer and the reader. Reading and writing are
the two skills that are deeply related activities of language, and
punctuation is a tool, or rather a basic tool to have effective writing or
reading. If a piece of writing has all the information that it needs and
all the information can be there with a misused punctuation, the reader
definitely will be confused and will face difficulties in understanding
the message. To illustrate, it is clear that, if not used correctly, poor
punctuation marks make the text challenging and difficult to the
reader. "Proper punctuation is both the sign and the cause of clear
thinking "(Truss, 2003, p.202).
Several studies have identified the common causes of incorrect
usage of punctuation marks (Ahmad, Corbett, Rodgers and Sussex
1995; Rivers, 1981 and Woods, 2006). The findings of these studies,
prove the reason behind incorrect usage of punctuation can be traced
back to education concept and the lack of familiarity with met
discourse function of punctuation marks. In addition, it was found that
a number of cohesive devices that contribute to providing the textual
integrity affect the continuity in written scientists’ discourse. Whereas,
this current study is going to investigate the relationship between
writing and reading in terms of punctuation, it will be restricted to
only punctuations and not the cohesive devices. It is for those reasons
the researchers aim to identify the causes of misusing punctuation
marks in writing and reading. And provide solutions that may help to
overcome this problem, which many EFL students of Faculty of Arts
face. The participants are chosen from three semesters in the English
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Department (Second, Fourth, Eighth) enrolled in the Fall and Spring

semesters of Academic year 2017-2018.The number of participants
depend on whom is willing to volunteer and be tested. However, the
researchers will use random design to measure the participants
number. Furthermore, a test will be used to examine their potential in
using punctuation marks in writing and an interview participant to
identify their reading comprehension skills in relation to punctuations.
Specifically, it seeks to answer the following questions:
1- How may the causes of incorrect punctuation marks usage
in reading and writing by the participants be described?
2- What are the supporting effects that certain reading passage
may add in using correct punctuation marks?
3- -How can the students achieve cohesion irrespective of the
language they use while reading a passage?
1.2. Hypotheses
Based on the reviewed literature and studies, it is hypothesize that
there is a need by students for more attention practicing punctuations
in writing and reading. It is also hypothesized the reason behind
incorrect usage of punctuation marks, is that students do not have full
grasp of the correct usage of them and this could be because of lack of
doing English readings. However, some acknowledge the rules but
when it comes to practice they do not apply them. Moreover, the
findings will be used to improve students’ punctuations in Writing I, II
and Academic Writing and Reading Comprehension courses.
2.Review of Related Literature
2.1. Reading Skill and Punctuations
Reading plays an important role in language learning; it is more
than knowing words and grammar." Reading is the most important
activity in any language class, not only as a source of information and
a pleasurable activity, but also as a means of consolidating and
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extending one`s knowledge of the language" (Rivers,1981, p.259).

Reading is an interactive process between the writer and the reader
and it is a means of communication and sharing information and ideas.
It is described by Alderson (2000) as interpreting means interacting to
a written text as a piece of communication. Moreover, many believe
that it is a mental process, so it needs other skills to be combined with
such as: writing, speaking and listening (Graham & Berin,2007;
Alderson (2000); (Rivers,1981). Harmer (1998) underlines that
"Reading texts also provide opportunities to study language:
vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, and the way they construct
sentences, paragraphs and texts "(p.68).
2.2. Writing and its Relation to Punctuations
Writing is an important tool of learning subject matters and it is
a tool of extending and deepening knowledge. Jozsef (2001), states
that writing is the most complex human activities. It involves the
development of design ideas, experiences with subjects, and the
capture of mental representation of knowledge. Writing is not about
group of letters or sentences, it is about writing in a right way using
different vocabulary, grammar and punctuation. Graham and Berin
(2007), states that writing plays distinct roles: It is a skill that draws
on subskills and processes such as handwriting and spelling; a rich
knowledge of vocabulary; mastery of the conventions of punctuation,
capitalization, word usage, and grammar; and the use of strategies
such as planning, evaluating, and revising text (p.23). In 2000,
Danielson (cited in Naeem 2007) defines, mechanics as "standard
writing conventions such as spelling, punctuations, capitalization, and
sentence structure skills". Besides, formatting correct grammar,
punctuation, spelling, and sentence structure are essential components
of scholarly writing. In addition, punctuations are very crucial,
because if the writing is not well written, many educated readers will
not even bother to read it, either because it is too difficult what the
author is trying to state, or they will just assure that it will not be good
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as it does not appear to be well written. A proof of that could be the

correct use of punctuation marks and how they cut the steam of words
into meaningful groups and prevent confusion (Robert, 2006).
2.3. Punctuations in Reading and Writing

Writing and reading are quite similar and closely related. Some
would say, better writers tend to be better readers, and better readers
produce better writing. "Writing is sometimes seen as the 'flip side' of
reading. It is often assumed that adolescents who are proficient
readers must be proficient writers"(Graham & Perin,2007, p.7).
Reading is the ability to use the symbols of writing system, the
experience and knowledge between reading and writing, can strength
a reader ability to write and a writer to read. Both of them are not
contrary processes, they rely on similar cognitive mechanisms that
allow for simultaneous growth as well as transfer of knowledge. The
two skills reading and writing are considered to be related activities
and they totally complete each other. In both of writing and reading,
punctuations stand as an essential tool in conveying the message.
They help the writer and reader to make sense of a text, and they make
what is composed clear and easy to read. Allen (2002), assumes that
punctuations have useful purpose for having whatever kind of writing
clear and easy to understand. And if a text is laid out correctly, it will
be considered as a strong piece of writing. On the other hand, poor
punctuations can cause complications for both of the reader and
writer, they can change the meaning of a text. Moreover, in speaking,
humans use body language, pauses and gestures to clarify the
message. In writing, punctuations such as commas, colons and dashes
help to know the exact meaning and provide most of these
interpretation clues. And they are signals to the reader that indicate
place emphasis, pauses, and show the relationship between the
element of a text.
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2.4. Presenting Punctuation Marks

Punctuation marks are a basic role in the interpretation of a
certain text, and to help the reader to understand the message clearly.
Therefore, using them incorrectly leads to misunderstanding the
message. Lukeman (2011), states that punctuations are like the music
of a writing text. As the maestro could affect the practicality of a song
by manipulating its rhythm, punctuations could do so for reading
experience, highlighting the optimum in a written passage. Therefore,
they are symbols that are used in various languages to organize
sentence structure, to indicate the vocal rhythm and emphasis of
words, phrases as well as sentences. Writing is all about
communicating ideas; each sentence consists of a complete thought
which the writer aims to communicate in his/her style of writing to
readers and in turn they have to understand. Nevertheless, the
audience will not understand that chunk if they could not figure out
where it begins and where it ends, and so this is what punctuations are
for. In Oxford Advanced Learner`s Dictionary (2000), punctuations
are defined as the marks or signs used in writing to separate sentences
or phrases. Likewise, when punctuations are correctly used, they lead
the reader through the text and makes a text more understandable.
Moreover, they can help to strengthen the text and change the
meaning of a sentence. Some proper punctuations work on a
subconscious level. They direct the reader to the exact meaning
without becoming too curious (Woods, 2006). In addition, Allen
(2002), adds that punctuations have two levels: At sentence or phrase
level, marking out structure and at the word level, linking or
separating individual words. As well as there are two roles in relation
to these levels: To separate sentences or separate parts of sentences
and to link groups of words into one sentence. There are very
important and essential punctuations that Libyan teachers should not
ignore and inform students with, especially when teaching writing and
reading.
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2.5. Functions of Punctuation

Without punctuation marks, many sentences are mere disorders
of words. In 2012, Awad explains that there are three functions for
punctuation marks in English and they are as the following: first,
Phonetic function: This function is very significant as punctuation
marks indicate obviously the rhythm, pauses, and tone inflexions in a
written document; a written document has a tone. Connelly (2005
cited in Awad 2012) that the tone is controlled by commas,
semicolons, colons, points of ellipsis and so on. Many times, the tone
is neglected, and readers are free to interpret that tone in the way they
understand and that may lead to misunderstanding. In this respect,
punctuation marks are like traffic lights telling us to slow down and
stop. Second, Grammatical function: Punctuation marks are utilized in
direct style like to mark emphatic content, to form interrogations, to
emphasize syntactic elements displaced from their natural positions,
and to frame the structure of the sentences, complex sentences,
paragraphs and so on. Third, Semantic Function: By means of
punctuation, readers are enabled to comprehend exactly the
transmitted meaning which was intended by the writer and to
understand the significance of particular words/phrases by
highlighting them differently than ordinary text, utilizing italics,
underlining, bolds, capitals, etc.
2.6. Arab Learners’ Punctuation Errors in English.
Without punctuation marks, several sentences are just a
combination of words could not transmit the desired meaning. English
rules of punctuation marks vary from the Arabic punctuation rules;
therefore, many students commit many errors regarding this field. In
2012, Awad has found that the most common errors among
Palestinian University students were the overuse of comma at the
expense of the period, the incorrect use of the capital letter, the wrong
use of the quotation marks and the misuse of semicolon respectively.
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Abbreviations: They are shortened forms of words or phrase like the

word Prof. for the word professor. Abbreviations are commonly used
in business communication and technical writing. Almost all
abbreviations are formed from a letter or group of letters taken from
the original word. In a scholastic paper, abbreviations are rarely used
to stand in for major concepts or terms. Rather, they are usually
shortened forms of commonly used but moderately minor words, like
Dr. for doctor. Most are common enough that a writer does not need
to provide the reader with an extended definition.
Capitalization: It is when the uppercase style is adopted. The
function of capitalization is to emphasize words or to show their
importance. There are some rules for capitalization. First, writers
capitalize the first word of a sentence, because it marks the beginning
of a new idea and indicates its importance too. Furthermore, it is
applied with proper nouns and titles.
Hyphenation: It is the splitting of words into smaller units. It is used
mainly to help the reader and to avoid ambiguity. The main aim of
hyphenating a term is to prevent confusion on the part of the reader.
Though some hyphenated words are found in the dictionary, others are
simply formed by convention. Therefore, hyphenation is used chiefly
to make the reader follow what has been written easily.
2.7. Definition of Errors
Errors are typically produced by learners who do not yet have
fully command of language system; they arise due to the imperfect
competence in the target language. Chomsky (1998), confirms that
errors are inevitable and a fundamental stage of learning. They are
noticeable verification that learning is occurring. In 1981, Corder
clarifies that there is a distinction between a mistake and an error. He
states that the mistake which is a performance error due to arbitrary
speculation or slip and the error which pertains characteristic in the
learner’s interlanguage reveal the learner’s system of operation while
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learning. There are two predominant sources of errors, namely,

interlingual errors and intralingual errors (Brown, 2000).
Interlingual Error: Interference, language transfer, and cross-
linguistic interference are also known as interlingual errors. In 1981,
Corder explains that these types of errors occur when the learner’s
habits; patterns, systems, or rules, interfere or prevent him or her, to
some extent, from learning the structure and rules of the second
language. Foreign language learners tend to transfer some of their
native language rules to express their needs in the foreign language.
Furthermore, Brown (2000 cited in Jannat, 2014), clarifies that the
greatest learners’ errors in the second language arise mainly from their
assumption that the second language forms are similar to their native
language. There are two kinds of language transfer, the positive and
negative one. According to Ellis (1994), positive transfer happens
when there is some likeness among the learner’s native language and
second language. However, negative transfer occurs when there are
dissimilarities between the learner’s first language and second
language (as cited in Jannat, 2014). Intralingual Error: Interference
from the student’s own language is not the only reason for making
errors. Students may commit some errors in the target language, since
they are not fully equipped with its rules. , Intralingual errors can be
defined as the sophistication that the learner encounters when
confronting patterns of a new language system, irrespective of how
the target language patterns may appear differently in relation to the
learner’s mother tongue. Therefore, they are not related to the first
language transfer, yet they contributed by the target language itself.
2.8. Punctuations Change the Meaning
It deducted that punctuations serve as an important tool in
writing and help the reader to understand the message easily. On the
other hand, missing or overused them can change the meaning
unintentionally and confuse the reader. Misplaced or insufficient
punctuations create ambiguity as well. " Proper punctuation is both the
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sign and the cause of clear thinking "(Truss, 2003, p.202). Moreover,
punctuations are vital to disambiguate the meaning of a sentence. So,
punctuations can make a big difference in the meaning of whatever
the writing or the reading is. The writer should pay more attention to
them and not to use them randomly. And the reader should learn for
what reason they exist so he/she can use them appropriately.
2.9. Common Punctuation Marks
Kinds Symbol Uses
Full stop (.) -To end up a sentence
Period -For abbreviations
-Website addresses
Comma (,) -When listing items in a sentence
-To separate words or phrases of three or more
-With coordinate conjunctions (for, and, nor,
but, yet, or, so)
With an introductory phrase to set
Question ( ?) -To get information
Mark -After each question in a series even if the
question is not a complete sentence
-After a rhetorical question
- At the end of a tag question
Exclamation (!) At the end of exciting sentences

Mark
Semicolon (;) -To join two related sentences with conjunctive
adverbs
-To connect items in a list if there are already
commas in the sentence
Colon (:) -To emphasize whatever introduced
- After a salutation of a formal letter
-To quote exact words from spoken or written
Quotation language
Marks (" ") -To show that a word or phrase is used
unusually
To show titles
Parentheses ( ) -To enclose information that can be left out
Brackets [ ] To explain the original text by an editor,
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editorial comments
Braces { } More common in mathematics and science
Ellipsis (…) -To show an omission in a quote
-To shorten the quote without changing the
meaning
-To indicate a pause in a thought
-To create suspense
Apostrophe (') -To indicate possession by a noun
-To represent missing letters in a contraction
-To separate parts of websites
Slash (/) -To write dates
-To show the word or and the word per in a
measurement
-To separate lines of a poetry or rhymes in a
regular text
Hyphen (- ) -To connect the part of a compound word
-To connect split words such as numbers and job
titles
-When dealing with some prefixes
En Dash (–) -To show a range of numbers
-To show a period of time
-To show distance
-To illustrate game scores
Em Dash (—) -It is used in informal writing to create a break
in a sentence
-To show a sudden change of thoughts
2.10. Related Studies

In the study conducted by Ahmet (2010) "Prospective teachers:
in (2012) this related study aimed at investigating how problematic
these punctuation marks can be and to what extent the students’
familiarity with their met discourse and pragmatic functions can affect
their translation from English to Persian. He believes that the minority
of students were successful and the majority of them were poor and
that because of the root of their poor performance can be traced back
to the lack of contrastive study on punctuation systems of English and
Persian as well as lack of familiarity with met discourse functions of
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punctuation marks. This recent research attempts to look into how

punctuation marks have pragmatic and semantic load and can be
problematic in translation. while, this research studies the relationship
between writing and reading in punctuation marks and how they
change the meaning. Both studies are similar in the importance of
punctuation marks.
The last related study is "Punctuation of Cohesive Devices"
conducted by Tatiana and Tatiana (2014) This study shown the use of
punctuation marks does not always comply with the rules and the
classification of cohesive devices. The findings showed a number of
cohesive devices that contribute to providing the textual integrity
affect the continuity in written scientists` discourse. The most
common discourse markers, or conjunctive adverbs are the following,
thus, therefore, hence, for example, however, finally, moreover,
consequently, for instance, on the other hand, nevertheless, then. This
research studies the importance of cohesion in a scientific text by the
choice of cohesive devices and their usage. This research is similar to
the recent research that the punctuations made the text coherent.
3. Method
3.1. Research Design
The current study follows the qualitative design to identify the
causes of misusing punctuation marks in writing and reading of
students who are enrolled in Writing I, II, and Academic Writing
courses and Reading Comprehension course. The qualitative method
is used to provide a better understanding of the research problem and
to validate the findings of the research.
3.2. Participants and Setting
The participants are the students enrolled in Writing courses and
Reading Comprehension course in the Fall and Spring semester of
academic year 2017 – 2018. The number of students of both genders
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is chosen according to random design to contribute in the test or

interviews. The research is conducted in the English Department,
Faculty of Arts, Misurata University in Misurata, Libya. The total
number of participants is one hundred of both genders divided
according to the courses they have joined. Twenty-five participants in
Writing I course, thirty in Reading Comprehension course, twenty in
Writing II course and twenty-five in Academic Writing course.
3.3. Research Instrument

In order to accomplish the findings of this research, the
researchers applied a test and an interview placed on pages 17 and 18.
Significant findings for this study are based on a test and interviews
designed by the researcher. The test and the interviews identify the
causes of misusing punctuation marks in writing and reading. This
study is carried out to discover the main reasons for most common
errors committed in punctuations from the participants’ point of view.
3.4. Procedure: Data Collection and Data Analysis
The researcher secured all the necessary permissions from
authorities in the conduct of the study. The test served as the main
source of data for this research. It was given to students of Writing
class. They are given between 30 and 45 minutes to accomplish the
test. After that, there was an interview for volunteer students to
determine their ability to use punctuation marks in reading.
Qualitative data were used in this research to answer the research
questions.
3.5. Ethical consideration

Participants were informed about their confidentiality, anonymity,
and right to withdraw from participation. A letter was given to inform
them that this activity will in no way affect their performance or
grades in the said course.
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1.Sample of The Test Used

Fill in the blanks with the appropriate punctuation mark in the
following sentences.
Comma (,), Period (.), Semicolon (;), Question mark (?), Colon (:),
Quotation marks (" "), Exclamation marks (!), Brackets (()), Dash (_) and
Hyphen (-).
1) How do you feel today… 2)What a big foot you have…

3) Due to the fact that he neglected the children… they became
disobedient…
4) ...what is the time now… …Asked Fatima…
5) Please bring the following items with you…a bank card… a bank
statement and your passport...
6) We visited several European countries… England… France…
Spain… on our trip last year…
7) I expected a package this morning… however... I waited all the day
for it to arrive…
8) John said… … I really hate when it's hot outside… …
9) The professor was unwilling to change the due date... even for a
candy bar…
10) Dr. Jill Stein is not a well…known presidential candidate...
11) As soon as the guests had gone… she rushed to the telephone…
12) I love fiction stories…
13) I drive near the president…s house every day.
2. Sample of The Reading Passage Used
The reading passage below was introduced to the thirty
participants enrolled in the Reading Comprehension course. They
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were asked to read it paying attention to how the punctuation marks

are placed.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on
the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped
into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or
conversations in it, "without pictures or conversations?"
So, she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could,
for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid) whether the
pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of
getting up and picking the daises, when suddenly a White Rabbit with
pink eyes ran close by her.
There was nothing so very remarkable in that; nor did Alice
think it is very much out of the way to her the Rabbit say to itself, "O
dear! O dear! I shall be too late!" ( when she thought it over
afterwards, it occurred to her she ought to have wondered at this, but
at the time it all seemed quiet natural); but when the Rabbit actually
took a watch out of its waist-pocket, and looked at it, and then hurried
on, Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had
never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to
take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after
it, and fortunately was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-
hole under the hedge. In another moment down went Alice after it,
never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.
4. Discussion and Results

4.1. Part one: Textual Observation
A textual analysis of data is presented. Three semesters were
observed on their ability in using punctuation marks in writing and
reading. Twenty-five students enrolled in Writing I course were
randomly chosen. When testing their ability in using punctuation
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marks in writing, it was found out that most of the students were poor
in writing as they were not familiar with most of the punctuation
marks such as, (Brackets, Quotation marks, Colon, Semicolon and
Hyphen) and the punctuation marks that they knew (Question mark,
apostrophe, Exclamation mark, period and Comma in some
sentences). In terms of a comma, three students were good like in the
following example: We visited several European countries (England,
France, Spain, on our trip last year. But when it came to using a
comma after a linking word and reported speech, they failed to use it
correctly. For example, I expected a package this morning; however, I
waited all day for it to arrive.
Table one: A sample of two examples conducted by first
semester students using commas.
Course No. of students Already Not used
observed used
Writing I 22 out of 25 (?, ',.) (; ! -_ ( ): "
")
Writing I 3 out of 25 Good use of commas
but not after linking
words
Overall, observing students' results of their ability in using

punctuation marks, they were not familiar with using commas,
periods, apostrophes and question marks. It seems that such a result
obtained because of being at the beginner level and they did not
specialize in English in the secondary school, which means their
background is not English language. Looking at the second semester
students, fourteen out of twenty students were tested in writing and
reading in terms of punctuation marks. However, it was observed that
they were better than the first semester students. Regarding Writing II,
it seems that fourteen out of twenty accomplished the test in an
unexpected way while six of them did not. In addition, they were
familiar with some of the punctuation marks that the first semester
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students were not familiar with, such as (quotation marks and

hyphens) . However, they did not know the rules of (semicolon, colon,
brackets and dash). When reading, it was noticed that four out of thirty
students were good in following the question marks as in the
following example, "without pictures or conversations?" twenty six of
them changed the tone of their voices and they used the rule of
question mark in an appropriate way ,which was surprising, but
sometimes they made some pauses. This could have happened because
of the difficulty of some words.
Table two: However, second students showed different results
when being observed in both Writing II and Reading Comprehension
courses. This is illustrated in the table below.
observed used
Writing II 6 out of 20 (?,'!:" ".) (_( );)
Writing II 14 out of 20 (?,. ) (!,' " ";)
Reading 26 out of 30 ( ?,!,." ";) (: ' ( ) )
Reading 4out of 30 (?,.) (!;: " " ')
When comparing second semester students to those enrolled in

first semester, it can be observed that the first ones were better than
the later ones; even though, they were not specialized in English in
high school. Never the less, they performed much better than the first
semester students. This could be because of the courses that they have
taken in the department. Moreover, watching films and listening to
music could be another cause as it was the answer of two participants,
when they were asked about their good reading. When testing third
and fourth semester students, twenty-five students were chosen to test
their ability in using punctuation marks in Academic Writing and
Reading. In comparison with the other two semesters being studied,
they were the best in marking the correct punctuations in both tests of
Academic Writing and Reading Comprehension. Twenty-three
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students were familiar with most of the punctuation marks only,

(brackets, colons and dashes). However, it was clear that even if they
did much better than the other two samples, they were not professional
enough when using punctuation marks, but they were still much better
acknowledging them comparing with the two semesters under
investigation. They tried to follow the punctuation marks in reading
using an accent changing their voice and some expression.
Table three: A sample of two examples conducted by third and
fourth semester students using commas
observed used
Academic 23 out of 25 (?,'!:" ". - :;) ( _ ( ) …)
Writing
Academic 2 out of 25 (?,.;' ) (!, " ": _ ( ) …)
Writing
Reading 25out of 30 ( ?,!,." ";) (: ' ( ) )
Reading 5out of 30 (?,.) (!;: " " ')
In general, they were the best in using punctuation marks in

writing and reading. It seems this result is because they specialized
English in the high school or they are advanced in the different
courses they have been studying in the department.
Overly, we have noticed that many students do not take full
advantages of punctuations, they struggle fear of using them. As well
as the most frequent use of punctuation marks from the three
semesters was commas, question marks, apostrophes and periods;
which no participant feared of using, as they were not familiar using
the other forms of punctuations, and some participants were good in
using the comma in some sentences and not in others. Meanwhile,
some are afraid that if they use other forms of punctuations, they will
use them incorrectly. Moreover, some students were good in
following the punctuation marks in reading; however, because of the
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difficulty of pronouncing some words, they failed to use them

effectively.
4.2. Part two: Interview
The third and fourth semester students were chosen in order to
find out whether they know that punctuation marks can change the
meaning. Based on the results of the previous test, it was found that
students from the first to the seventh semester are not strong enough to
know that they still face challenges and difficulties. The result was
somehow satisfying, the students of the third and fourth semester
knew that punctuations can change the meaning. In this part, six
participants from the third and fourth semester were interviewed
giving permission to provide their first name only and asked the
following questions:
Q1. Do you believe that punctuation marks change the meaning?
How? Provide an example where the meaning is changed?
Aya answered, “yes, punctuations are important and if it is not used
correctly, it will change the meaning. One example is:
The student said '' the teacher is crazy.
The student, said the teacher, is crazy.”
From Aya's answer, it was clear that she has the ability to use
punctuations in a good way. She could form sentences with correct
punctuations known that the first sentence is said by the student and it
was considered a reported speech. However, the second sentence was
formed by the student to show that this time it was the teacher who
was talking. It is obvious that Aya is very strong in building sentences
when it comes to the structure, punctuations and reported speech.
Moreover, Hawa said yes, “I think that punctuation marks
sometimes change the meaning. For example:
Most of the times, travelers worry about their luggage.
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Most of the times travelers worry about their luggage.”

The student understood that there were differences between the
first and second sentences, but did not understand how. When we
delete the comma of the second sentence, the meaning is totally
different.
The third student Khawla provided her answer with the
comparison between Arabic and English punctuations and her answer
was: “yes, punctuations are very important for good writing and they
have a big role in changing the meaning. One example is:
What do you think? am I okay?
What do you think? I am okay.”
In the first sentence the question mark show that the speaker
asks about her status and the second sentence the speaker says she is
fine. Furthermore, this is a very good example because the student
thought about their first language and how she would use punctuations
when speaking the second language which is English.
To provide more, Fatima was:” well, yes, it is that punctuations
change completely the meaning and sometimes the reader gets a
wrong image when it used incorrectly. Such as:
The man dropped the bullet in his mouth.
The man dropped, the bullet in his mouth.”
Looking at the first example, the comma changes the whole
meaning. The first sentence means that the man put the bullet in his
mouth, while the second sentence means when the man fell, the bullet
was in his mouth.
The answer of the fifth student Nada was, “Punctuations are
essential to meaning and when they are used incorrectly, they convey
different meaning to the one that is required. For example:
Let's eat, mum.
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Let's eat mum.”

In the first sentence the mum is being called for dinner. And the
second sentence the mum will be eaten. Here the omission of comma
has changed the meaning to complete nonsense.
Mona states “Actually, I am not good when using punctuation
marks and this is my problem in the writing skill. I just put them
randomly and I never thought of this aspect that punctuations change
the meaning." To sum up, third and fourth semester students are
strong, capable and qualified to use some of punctuation marks that
are very common since they have the ability to differentiate them in
forming different examples.
5.Conclusion
Overly, punctuations are one of the most important aspects of
language learning. They are signs used to clarify the message that is
being conveyed in an easy way. Meanwhile, using them incorrectly
can change the meaning of the message completely. Punctuation
marks play a vital role in writing and reading, that they make what is
written easy to read and what is read easy to follow and understand.
Moreover, writing formally and academically in English is more than
choosing the right words in the right order which is very essential to
accomplish all the punctuation marks knowing their meaning.
Moreover, in order to provide a good piece of writing that definitely
will be clear for the reader to understand, as well as it is essential for
the students when reading to know how to use them correctly by using
pauses and changing the tone of the voice to convey the required
meaning to the listener. Specifically, it was noticed by the researchers
that most students face difficulty in using punctuation marks during
the writing and reading test, and that is because of lack of practice in
writing and reading. Particularly, the current study aimed to highlight
the causes of misusing punctuation marks in writing and reading and
to suggest solutions to overcome this problem. The implication for
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educators and future research can be significant to Libyan English

language teachers and students; it helps to widen their knowledge
about punctuation marks, and encourage them improve their ability to
master punctuations. Moreover, it can be used as a base for future
studies to provide more emphasis on the relationship between writing
and reading in terms of punctuations as well as to focus on a number
of cohesive devices that contribute to providing the textual integrity,
which affects the continuity in written scientists’ discourse.
Furthermore, practicing punctuation especially in reading is very
important. We encourage that students would read more English
books such as novels, stories, etc. This could help students use
punctuations in writing more effectively, and to acknowledge how to
apply each kind correctly. Other cohesive devices are recommended
for future research since they are as important for both writing and
reading skills.
References
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Language Learning and Language Teaching. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press
Alderson, J.C. (2000). Assessing Reading: Cambridge Language
Assessmen Series. New work: Cambridge University Press.
Allen, R. (2002). Punctuation: One step ahead. Oxford: Oxford
University Press
Awad, A. (2012). The Most Common Punctuation Errors Made by
English and the TEFL majors at An-Najah National.
University. An-Najah University Journal for Research-
Humanities, 10 (1), 211-233. Retrieved from
https://scholar.najah.edu/publication/journal-
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Brown, H. D. (2000). Principles of language learning and teaching.

White Plains, NY: Longman
Chomsky, N. (1998). Minimalist inquiries: The framework.
Cambridge, MA: Distributed by MIT Working Papers in
Linguistics, MIT, Dept. of Linguistics
Corder, S. P. (1981). Error analysis and interlanguage. London:
Oxford University Press
Graham, S. & Perin, D. (2007). Writing next: Effective strategies to
Improve writing of adolescent in middle and high Schools.
NY: Alliance for excellent education.
Harmer, G. (1998). How to teach English: An introduction to the
practice of English language teaching. Essex: Longman
Jozsef, H. (2001). Advanced writing in English as a foreign: A
corpus-based study of processes and products. France: The
University of Pecs.
Lukeman, N. (2011). The art of punctuation. Oxford: Oxford
University Press
Naeem, M. A. R. (2007) A suggested CALL program to develop EFL
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https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED499569.
Oxford advanced learner`s dictionary (2000). Oxford: Oxford
University Press
Rivers, W.M. (1981). Teaching foreign language skills. Chicago: The
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Robert, C. (2006). The English style book. A guide to the writing of
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Truss, L. (2003). Eats, shoots and leaves: The zero tolerance

approach to punctuation. London: Profile books.
Woods, G. (2006). Punctuation: Simplified and applied. Canada:
Wiley, Hoboken, NJ. www.teachingpacks.co.uk
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Faculty of Arts Journal–Issue: 13 June 2019 Importance of Punctuation Mark

Importance of Punctuation Marks for Writing and

‫أمهية استخدام عالمات الرتقيم يف تطوير مهارات القراءة والكتابة‬

reader through the text and makes comprehension easier. According to

Department (Second, Fourth, Eighth) enrolled in the Fall and Spring

extending one`s knowledge of the language" (Rivers,1981, p.259).

as it does not appear to be well written. A proof of that could be the

2.3. Punctuations in Reading and Writing

2.4. Presenting Punctuation Marks

2.5. Functions of Punctuation

Abbreviations: They are shortened forms of words or phrase like the

learning. There are two predominant sources of errors, namely,

Exclamation (!) At the end of exciting sentences

2.10. Related Studies

punctuation marks. This recent research attempts to look into how

is chosen according to random design to contribute in the test or

3.3. Research Instrument

3.5. Ethical consideration

1.Sample of The Test Used

1) How do you feel today… 2)What a big foot you have…

were asked to read it paying attention to how the punctuation marks

4. Discussion and Results

Overall, observing students' results of their ability in using

students were not familiar with, such as (quotation marks and

When comparing second semester students to those enrolled in

students were familiar with most of the punctuation marks only,

In general, they were the best in using punctuation marks in

difficulty of pronouncing some words, they failed to use them

Most of the times travelers worry about their luggage.”

Let's eat mum.”

educators and future research can be significant to Libyan English

Brown, H. D. (2000). Principles of language learning and teaching.

Truss, L. (2003). Eats, shoots and leaves: The zero tolerance

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