Analysis of Spelling Errors Among National University of Lesotho Undergraduates Students

Abstract

Spelling errors are often considered a sign of carelessness on the part of the writer. This is because it is assumed that if one is able to read and speak a language fluently, one can also spell the words in that language correctly. Unfortunately, this is not necessarily the case, particularly with English. This study investigates the spelling errors committed by first year undergraduate students at the National University of Lesotho in their written essays. The spelling errors were identified and classified intoerrors of omission, insertion, substitution, transposition, and another category, “others”, was added to accommodate errors outside this classification. Findings indicate that the most frequently occurring error was the error of substitution. Most of the errors were due to the complex phonological structure of English language as students could not distinguish different sounds of the language. To a limited extent, some errors were caused by carelessness on the part of students. The study concludesby suggesting strategies that lecturers can use to help students minimise spelling errors.

 Keywords: Error Analysis, Contrastive Analysis, Omission, Substitution, Transposition