Reinforcing Kurdish EFL Students’ Punctuation through Games and Puzzles

Abstract

The proper use of punctuation marks is essential to convey clear, expressive, and unmistakable messages. Using inappropriate punctuation marks results in confusion and misapprehension. This research aims at identifying Kurdish EFL students’ misuse of punctuation marks. Besides, it tries to improve their punctuation skills through the use of games and puzzles. The sample consisted of 72 students from the English Department in College of Basic Education/ evening classes in the first course of the academic year 2024-2025.

The main conclusion of the research revealed that Kurdish EFL students suffer from shortcoming in their use of punctuations. Using games and puzzles to develop students’ punctuation skill was effective that made them write more accurate sentences in terms of punctuation use. In addition, pre and post-test comparisons demonstrated statistically significant improvements, supporting the pedagogical value of using interactive methods in teaching punctuations in EFL contexts.