Arab ESL Secondary School Students’ Spelling Errors

Abstract

English spelling has always been described by many language researchers and teachers as a daunting task especially for learners whose first language is not English. Accordingly, Arab ESL learners commit serious errors when they spell out English words. The primary objective of this paper is to determine the types as well as the causes of spelling errors made by Arab ESL secondary school students. In order to collect the data, a fifty-word standardised spelling test was administered to seventy Arab student participants. The students’ types of spelling errors were detected, analysed and then categorised according to Cook’s (1999) classification of errors namely substitution, omission, insertion and transposition. In total, 2,873 spelling errors of various categories were identified. The study findings revealed that errors of substitution constituted the highest percentage of the students’ type of errors. In addition, the study indicated that the main causes of the students’ spelling errors were possibly attributed to the anomalous nature of the English spelling system, the Arab students’ lack of awareness of English spelling rules as well as L1 interference. Despite being conducted in an ESL context, the study was almost consistent with the findings indicated by other studies which were carried out in many Arabic EFL context. The findings suggest that spelling instruction should be emphasised while teaching English and should also be integrated with the skills and subskills of reading, writing, pronunciation and vocabulary in order to develop the students’ spelling accuracy.

Exploring Spelling Errors with Relation to the Phonological Syllable Structure in the Writings of Saudi ESL Learners

“…The least type of errors found in the data the students made was the transposition spelling errors (7.78%). The study supported many studies in the literature which found that omission and substitution errors were high compared to other categories of spelling errors as in (Al-Hassan, 2006;Al-Jabri, 2006;Al-Harrasi, 2012;Alhaysony, 2012;Alhaisoni, Al-Zuoud, and Gaudel, 2015;Albalawi, 2016;Al-Sobhi, et,al, 2017;Othoman, 2018;Atatsi, and Amoakohene, 2019). The most common omission errors were dropping the vowel letter [-e] at the end of words as in *college or for 'college' or substitution errors of vowels, as [a] in the place of [u] and [o]as in *camplet for 'complete'.…”

Spelling Problems and Causes among Saudi English Language Undergraduates

“…Learning English can be particularly challenging for native Arabic speakers due to pronunciation and orthographic differences. Previous studies agree that the causes of spelling errors tend to be related to interference from the native language in areas where it differs from the second or foreign language (e.g., Ahmed, 2017;Al-Sobhi, Rashid, Abdullah, & Darmi, 2017). This study confirms the findings of the existing studies and at the same time, puts forth another factor, which is the nature of classroom instruction and teachers education.…”

Comparing Different Pedagogical Techniques to Teach Spelling at a Saudi High School: A Case Study

“…Several studies have discussed this problem and traced the causes of it (see e.g., Abu-Rabia & Taha, 2006;Al-bereiki, 2016;Al-Busaidi & Al-Saqqaf, 2015;Al-sobhi, Rashid, Abdullah, & Darmi, 2017;Sawalmeh, 2013;Trimasse, 2016). Those authors have considered English spelling a daunting and a difficult skill, particularly to learners whose first language is not English, such as Arab students of English.…”

“…On the other hand, the lack of connection or a close similarity between English graphemes and phonemes makes the English writing system more difficult. As a result, the English writing system tends to create difficulties for Arab students and consequently most of these learners fail to spell out English words correctly (Al-sobhi et al, 2017). Fender (2008) (EAP).…”