Abstract:

Punctuation has always been a consideration in writing. In spite of its importance, it does not hold up a secure place in courses. Courses neither on grammar nor vocabulary allocate a place for the teaching of punctuation, and learning of it is expected to occur implicitly. This study aims to increase students and instructors’ awareness towards the importance of punctuation and teaching of it explicitly. In line with that, twenty students studying at the department of written translation, where punctuation is of great importance, were chosen, and the most problematic three punctuation marks were detected. Having detected them, the researcher applied a 3-weeks crash course programme in order to eliminate punctuation errors in students’ writing. The results showed that there is a statistically significant difference between pre-tests and post-tests in terms of lowering erroneous use of punctuation. Accordingly, this study suggests that explicit teaching of punctuation increases students’ awareness regarding the correct use of punctuation and the importance of it in writing. Therefore, instructors at translation departments should allocate a place in their course schedules. At the very end, this study submitted its own 5-days long crash course programme on the most problematic punctuation marks that had been found from the data through analyses.

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