An Analytical Study of Patterns of Spelling Errors of Freshmen Ethiopian Students at Aau Main Campus
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Date
1989-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The main objective of this study is to examine
some of the causes and occurrences of the spelling errors
of the freshmen Ethiopian students and thereby accounffor
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 Cord8r 1981) i.e. the stages of development
in learning English.
To verify the claims of EA and IL studies with rega~
to the occurrences of the learners' spelling, a total of
140 freshmen Ethiorian students with differing mother-tongue
(MT) and backgrounds 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 obtainerl from each test written by
the Ethiopian group were superficially classified 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.
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These patterns were cross-checked with the nature of
the spelling errors obtained from the ECS group of children.
Moreover, spelling error patterns ~f the Ethiopian group
were compared to the sta~es in the developmental spelling
errors of the native (English) children thAt Marr,o Wood
has 8sta~lished.
The result of this study, therefore, revealed that
the spelling errors of the freshmen Ethiopian students
could be accounted for by three factors namely: (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
intralin~ual confusion.
Moreover. the soellins errors of the freshmen group
matched si~nificantly, with the phonetic and transitional
stages of developmental 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 stud3nts are likely to make
less spelling errors in composition than in dictation
writin~ tests when the error percentages are computed
a~ainst words correctly spelt in these tssts.
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Keywords
Spelling Errors of Fresmen Ethiopian Students