Spelling Errors of Omani EFL Students: Causes and Remedies

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the causes of the spelling errors students of grade ten make and to explore the possible remedies for the treatment of the misspellings. The sample of the study included 91 grade ten teachers in North Batinah and South Batinah governorates in Oman. A questionnaire was designed to cover the causes and remedies. The findings revealed that the highly rated causes of the misspellings as perceived by the teachers were the complexity of the English spelling system, letter(s)’ combinations in English, poor reading proficiency, students' carelessness, sounds that exist in English but not in Arabic and the fact that sound-letter correspondence in English is not regular. The most frequent suggestions for remedy of the spelling errors as perceived by grade ten teachers were breaking long words into smaller parts, drawing students' attention to silent letters, keeping personal dictionaries of challenging words, including tasks that stimulate both sound-to-letter phonic spelling and spelling of irregular words, noting down the most common spelling errors and praising the students for spelling difficult words correctly. In light of the findings, the study presents some recommendations and suggestions for further studies.