Investigating the Difficulties of Using Punctuation Marks by Second Level EFL Learners at Sudan University

Abstract

The researcher aims to investigate the difficulties that face the students in performing effective writing which relates punctuation marks and the study hypothesizes that students have difficulty in using punctuation marks in achieving writing skills. The study aims to evaluate writing skills of the students with the aim of finding the problems facing the students in the course of learning second language especially in using the punctuation marks correctly. To achieve this goal, the researcher uses the qualitative analytical descriptive approach by analyzing statistically through SPSS both the test and the questionnaire for collecting data which is applied on the university students at Sudan University of Science and Technology , college of languages, English Department. The results have revealed that, the students usage of these marks is shaking and that the majority of the students confuse the punctuation marks. In addition, many students can not differentiate between the marks especially the exclamation marks, the colon and the semicolon. Finally, the researcher recommends that Students should pay more attention to this important element of writing skills. The teachers should encourage the students to eliminate the difficulty of punctuation marks.