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Addis Ababa University Libraries Electronic Thesis and Dissertations: AAU-ETD! >
Institute of Language Studies >
Thesis - Teaching English as a Foreign Language >
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http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/3856
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| Title: | AN ANALYTICAL STUDY OF PATTERNS OF SPELLING ERRORS OF FRE8r.MEN ETHIOPIAN STUDENTS AT A~U MAIN CAMPUS |
| Authors: | Guta, Kedida |
| Advisors: | Dr. R.B. Hicks, |
| Keywords: | SPELLING ERRORS
ETHIOPIAN STUDENTS |
| Copyright: | Jun-1989 |
| Date Added: | 21-Nov-2012 |
| Publisher: | AAU |
| Abstract: | The main objective of this study is to examine
some of the causes anci occurrences of the spelling errors
of the freshmen Et hi oni en students and thereby account for
these errors.
According to Error Analysis (EA) theories and interlanguage
(IL) studies, the learners' errors are developmental
and systematic by nature. The systematicity in
the error data indicates a more or less natural progression
(development) in the learners' acquisition of English
language showing adherence to "learner-generated' or 'builtin'
syllabus" (see Corder 1981) i.e, the stages of development
in learning English.
To verify the c leirns of E.A and IL studies with regard
tot he 0 ccu rrences 0 f the 1ear n8r s' spell ing ..a tot a 1 0 f
140 freshmen Ethiorian students with differing mother-tongue
(MTl and backgrouncis were given two tests i,e, dictation and
composition writing. The same composition tests were also
given to 24 multilingual group of children at the English
Community School (ECS).
The spelling errors obtained from each test written by
the Ethiopian group were superficially c16ssified into
categories induced by the error types, These errors were
then further classified into the clearest error patterns
that emerged and were given psycholinguistic explanations,
- ii -
These patterns were cross-checked with the nature of
the spellinB errors obtained from the ECS ~roup of children.
Moreover. spelling error patterns ~f the Ethiopian group
were compared to the stases in the developmental spelling
errors of the native (English) children that Marr,o Wood
has established.
The result of this study, therefore. revealed that
the spelling errors of the freshmen Ethiopian students
could be accounted for by three factors n~mely: (a) those
errors directly related to LI interference upon TL (English)
(b) those errors of intralinGual confusions (c) those
errors caused by LI interference but also reinforced by
intralina,ual confusion.
Moreover, the soelling errors of the freshmen group
matched si~nificantly, with the phonetic and transitional
stages of dev8lopmental spellin~ errors established by Wood.
The majority of the error patterns were also found out to
be similar to the nature of the ECS group of children. In
addition. it was found that students are likely to make
less spellins errors in composition than in dictation
writin~ tests when the error percentages are computed
against words correctly spelt in these tests. |
| URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/3856 |
| Appears in: | Thesis - Teaching English as a Foreign Language
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