P. CHIDHAMBARAM, J.N.V GANJAM.

Why do the school students commit spelling

mistakes?

By

P.Chidhambaram

P. CHIDHAMBARAM, J.N.V GANJAM.

Why is it a problem?

Wrong spelling brings communication breakdown between the writers and the readers.

e.g, His diseased (deceased) aunt left a will. A person’s intelligence and his level of education are judged by his spelling.

The wrong spelling misleads the teacher.e.g, Antony is jealous (zealous)

P. CHIDHAMBARAM, J.N.V GANJAM.

Spelling and Misspelling

According to Hornby “Spelling is the act of forming words correctly from individual letter”. According to Al-Jarf (2010), Any word that does not match the target word in part or in full is marked as a misspelling. e.g, reminiscince (reminiscence)

Further Al-Jarf states

“any graphemes that are added, deleted, substituted by another or reversed are counted as misspelling”.

P. CHIDHAMBARAM, J.N.V GANJAM.

The spelling Error Corpus

The spelling error corpus is divided into the following groups:

(i) whole word error; e.g, otients (audience)

(ii) words containing one error; e.g, bisy (busy), battl (battle)

(iii) words containing two errors; and so on. e.g, koech (coach), krasy (crazy)

P. CHIDHAMBARAM, J.N.V GANJAM.

Why do the school students commit spelling mistakes?

1. Complicated spelling rules:- example,

”Words ending in “y” following a consonant usually change “y” to “I” before any suffix. Hence, Carry + ed ……………………………….carried. Marry + ed…………………………………Married.

But, Carry + ing………………………………….Carrying instead of Carring. Marry + ing…………………………………Marrying instead of Marring.

P. CHIDHAMBARAM, J.N.V GANJAM.

2. Lack of correspondence between spelling and pronunciation e.g., rendezvous, bourgeois.

3. Mother Tongue Interference

e.g.,

Wake…………vake rhythm…………..ritham Good………..gud

P. CHIDHAMBARAM, J.N.V GANJAM.

4. Confusing Homophones e.g., Sea and see Here and hear

5. Silent letters e.g.

/k/ sound /b/ sound /h/ sound and /l/ sound in the below words are not pronounced.

Knee, Kneel Talk Psalm Comb Crumb Honour Honest

P. CHIDHAMBARAM, J.N.V GANJAM.

6.Variation in British and American spelling

1.Final –l is always doubled after one vowel in stressed and unstressed syllables in British English but usually only in stressed syllables in American English. Words British English American English Rebel rebelled rebeled Travel travelled traveled

P. CHIDHAMBARAM, J.N.V GANJAM.

2. Some words end in-tre in British English and –ter in American English. e.g., American English British English Center Centre

Theater Theatre

P. CHIDHAMBARAM, J.N.V GANJAM.

7. Carelessness / Inattention, Many spelling mistakes are caused by inattention e.g., Compasion (compassion) Satarize (satirize)

8. Dyslexia “Dyslexia is a broad term defining a learning

disability that impairs a person’s fluency or

accuracy in being able to read, speak and spell”

P. CHIDHAMBARAM, J.N.V GANJAM.

Suggestive Measures to overcome spelling mistakes

Spelling games,

Teaching phonetics,

Teaching group of words, e.g,1. Words ending in –ence, Convenience, difference, experience. 2. Words ending in –ness, cleanness, greenness,plainness

P. CHIDHAMBARAM, J.N.V GANJAM.

Providing ample opportunities to practise

Computer programs

Word study Analysis of words by breaking them down into their component (base, prefix, suffix)

Unknowingly Base…knowing, prefix….un suffix…….ly