Analytical Study on Punctuation Errors in the Persuasive Writing of English Language Learners

Abstract

The study was conducted to determine the types of punctuation errors and the most frequently occurring punctuation errors in persuasive writing committed by English language learners in higher education. The descriptive-qualitative design was employed to obtain the purpose of the study. The study participants were eighteen (18) third-year students of Bachelor of Arts in the English Language in one of the state universities in Negros Occidental during the academic year 2022–2023, chosen through purposeful sampling. The data source is the participants' independently composed persuasive essays with a provided topic. The errors were identified according to the rules of punctuation by Straus et al. and classified according to the surface strategy taxonomy by Dulay et al.: omission, addition, misformation, and misordering. The results revealed that omission obtained the highest frequency among the four (4) types of error, and comma is the most frequent punctuation error they committed, obtaining 67.7% and 77.4%, respectively. The researchers recommend that English language learners engage in self-correction and peer-correction activities to build competence and gain command and intelligibility in English language writing.