An Investigation of the Most Common Spelling Errors in English Writing Committed by English-Major Male Students: At the University of Tabuk

Abstract

The objective of the present study is to investigate the spelling errors committed by the Saudi English- major students (male) who are majoring English language at Department of Language and translationat the University of Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. This study adopts Cook‘s classification of errors, which categorized errors into four categories: substitution, omission, insertion, and transposition. The participants of this study included 45 male students whose first language is Arabic. The researcher used one research instrument which is the written composition essay. An analysis of errors established that errors of substitution reported (36.7%) constituting the highest proportion of errors whereas insertion spelling errors occur as the lesser frequency with a percentage mean of (14.4.%) producing13 errors. The major cause of the of learners‘ spelling errors is the wrong use of vowels and pronunciation as well as mother tongue interference. The findings of this study emphasized more focused attention to learners‘ spelling errors, as spelling teaching is an essential aspect of language learning.

Keywords: Writing Spelling Error, Omission Errors, Substitution Errors, Transposition Errors, Insertion Errors.