Improving Students Writing Skills Through The Use of Punctuation in Writing Descriptive Texts at SMP Negeri 3 Beo

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to ascertain whether using punctuation correctlysuch
as hyphens parentheses commas and periods can help students write
better descriptive texts Using a pre test and post test design and quantitative
methods the study was carried out with eighth grade students at SMP Negeri 3
Beo A multiple choice test with ten questions was used to gather data A pre test
was given to the students before they were taught how to use punctuation They
completed a post test to gauge their progress following the treatment The pre test
results revealed a standard deviation of 7 54 and an average score of 57 82 The
post test results on the other hand showed a notable improvement with an
average score of 85 22 and a standard deviation of 6 30 These results imply that
mastering proper punctuation significantly improved students descriptive writing
abilities According to the study s findings teaching punctuation improves students
writing skills and motivates teachers to incorporate activities that emphasize
punctuation into their writing classes This study emphasizes how crucial it is to
use focused language teaching techniques to raise students general writing
proficiency < p>