In Modern Standard Arabic punctuation marks are less frequent than in European languages. Using discourse markers is instead preferred, which tends to yield long clauses. This, in turn, is assumed to foster sentence splitting in translation from Arabic into English and into Spanish. This assumption was tested on a sample of 470 554 words from a…

Framed within the fields of applied linguistics and language play, the writing of three attainment groups of 9-11-year-old children was used to investigate their use of ludic (playful) punctuation in the composition of an imaginative narrative. The scripts were from a larger repeat-design study of writing development that addressed a range of…

The writing of 38 9-10-year-old children was used to investigate their use of ludic (playful) punctuation in the composition of two kinds of writing, imaginative narrative and persuasive description. Framed within a consideration of language play in general, and children's use of punctuation in particular, the investigation revealed the ways in…

This exploratory paper intends to spark conversation and further investigation into the relational/ecological possibilities of English. English has ecological, colonial, and relational troubles baked into both its structure and usage--issues rarely addressed in environmental education. However, these problematics might be mitigated with playful…

Gratitude writing exercises are a common tool used to promote gratitude. However, understanding of the specific writing features that are associated with written expressions of gratitude is limited. In this study, we investigated how fundamental characteristics (words, punctuation marks) of early elementary student's writing relate to their…

Prescriptive discourse, which favors certain variants over others, like "different from" vs. "different than," has usually been characterized in terms of correctness in spelling, punctuation, word meaning, or grammar. Yet usage guides in the 20th century have added numerous entries that focus more on style considerations than…

In recent years, various disciplines have engaged in efforts to increase research reproducibility including the adoption of replicable search methodologies. With the development of reporting checklists and guidelines for systematic reviews such as the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Statement, authors…

English punctuation plays a crucial role in conveying meaning and clarity in written communication. Proficiency in punctuation is essential for effective language expression, especially for Vietnamese learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). This is particularly important for Vietnamese learners due to the significant differences in…

Embodied cognition and movement-integration (MI) in classroom settings attract the interest of researchers and practitioners. The purpose of this six-week pilot study was to investigate the feasibility and acceptability of a MI approach (PunMoves) focusing on the comprehension of punctuation marks in reading, which was implemented in 12…

Measures assessing childhood functioning are often developed in high-income countries and need to be adapted for use in low and middle-income countries where the constructs they measure may not be relevant in their original form. This study describes the framework of cross-cultural adaptation of three measures, viz. Vineland Adaptive Behavior…

The notion of sentencehood in Mandarin Chinese is much less well-defined than in many other languages, with a block of clauses often joined by commas without conjunctions and with the period often occurring at the end of a block of clauses to indicate meaning completeness rather than the completeness of a sentential structure. The potential…

The writing of three attainment groups of 10- to 11-year-old children was used to investigate their use of ludic (playful) punctuation in the composition of an advertisement for a new dessert. Framed within a consideration of language play in general, and children's use of punctuation in particular, the investigation revealed the ways in which…

This study explored students' grammatical, mechanical, and lexical errors in EFL writing. Also, it aimed to investigate the effect of instructor feedback throughout the semester on students' types and frequency of errors in two types of essays, including a process essay and an argumentative essay. This study was conducted on 24 EFL students…

There is growing theoretical and empirical consensus for a role of awareness of suprasegmental phonology, also known as prosody, or the rhythmic elements of speech, in reading comprehension. Here we explore a potential mechanism by which this relation functions: awareness of how punctuation reflects prosody, for instance appreciating that a period…

Writing paragraphs is an important part of academic writing courses required at the university level, as mastering paragraph writing is considered a fundamental step toward producing advanced formal and academic papers in the future. To become proficient in this skill, students, especially non-native English speakers, must make a special effort.…