Error Analysis Of Chinese Punctuation Marks Made By Nigerian Students

In all languages, punctuation mark is an important writing tool. In the society today,people value the writing system so much. In every written language punctuation marks are considered highly important, in order words it cannot be neglected or omitted. If a piece of writing lacks proper punctuation marks or has no punctuation at all, the readers will be misinformed and the said piece of writing will lack complete meaning.In the light of errors of punctuation marks made by Nigerian students while learning Chinese as a second language, this thesis is presented in these orders; firstly, this thesis briefly discusses the Chinese punctuation marks, English punctuation marks and Igbo punctuation marks as well as the similarities and differences between them. Secondly,through error analysis, the thesis investigates punctuation errors made by Nigerian students,the causes or reasons for these errors which include; omission, mother tongue interference(negative transfer), internet interference, incompetence in the target language etc.Finally, this thesis proposes some learning and teaching strategies that can be employed by both the students (Chinese learners) and the teachers of Chinese as a second language. These strategies are; the students should have adequate knowledge of the Chinese punctuation marks by increasing their knowledge day by day through constant study; teachers should also include the teaching of punctuation marks in the curriculum; teachers should adjust their method of teaching, knowing what is more important than the other; teachers should also engage their students in constant writing practice. The author believes that through these strategies, learners of Chinese language will definitely master the proper usage of Chinese punctuation marks.