A CRITICAL SURVEY OF ENGLISH COMMON SPELLING ERRORS

A CRITICAL SURVEY OF ENGLISH COMMON SPELLING ERRORS

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BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Though many people would agree that the standard of education in Nigeria has deteriorated, no one could have predicted that University Education in Nigeria has deteriorated to an abysmally low level, according to a World Bank report that University Education in Nigeria has degraded in the last fifteen to sixteen years (Darko, 2009).

On the 19th of February, 2001, the stunning news was revealed in one of the leading headlines of the Guardian, one of Nigeria's main daily newspapers. "World Bank report rates Nigerian graduates low," the headline screamed.

"Nigerian university graduates are terrible in their use of English language, including spelling problems, and they are unproductive on the job," the Guardian newspaper said, citing the World Bank.

"Over the last few decades, graduate skills have gradually degraded" (p.l). According to the survey, Nigerian graduates' poor performance is mostly due to two factors: inadequate knowledge of the English language in both written and oral form, and a lack of essential technical expertise. According to the survey, Nigerian graduates from the last fifteen years are unsuited for the labor market and occasionally for society as a whole due to weaknesses in two critical areas (Anyidoho, 2002).

Oral and written communication were found to have significant flaws. According to the survey, there is a significant gap between academic training and labor market demands. Despite the fact that the study revealed key areas of loss in university education, the real issue may be at the secondary school level (Anyidoho, 2002).

The future undergraduate is provided an appropriate basis in the usage of English at the secondary school level. There are numerous misspellings and incorrect pronunciations of English terms in our secondary schools. This has been a major source of concern and setbacks for English language teachers in Nigerian secondary schools (Agor, 2003).

Teaching spelling in Nigerian secondary schools is always a difficulty, because many of these pupils struggle to spell correctly for various reasons, which will be the major emphasis of this project. Teachers are baffled when pupils properly spell terms on weekly tests yet misspell the same words, as well as simpler, more frequent ones (Agor, 2003).

Spelling, like reading, is a written language ability that depends on an individual's linguistic vocabulary, including phonological awareness. Mastery of written and spoken English is very desirable in order to improve our country's deteriorating educational standards.

The English language is the official language of Nigeria, and it is a regulated medium of communication. Every language has a distinct structure than the others. Every language in the world, for example, has a consistent pronunciation system, a consistent word order, and a consistent sentence structure. The English language, for example, allows consonant clustering both initially and at the end, but other languages do not.

The English language is regarded as a standard language in the United Kingdom since it is widely acknowledged as a medium of formal communication. As a result, all pupils in this nation are not bound by the normal usage of the language.

"Competence in English and the usage of this language represent a transformation, an enhanced possibility for monetary and social gain and benefits," writes Kachuru (1986:1). This mindset may be seen in the sign's meaning: "English is seen as a symbol of modernisation and an additional arm of success and mobility in a culturally and linguistically complex and pluralistic society."

English has a larger geographical reach in Nigeria than any other indigenous language. A substantial commercial deal is sealed in writing in English, regardless of the language of negotiation. The same is true for political campaigns, which may be conducted in the local language, but manifestos and other papers are written in English. In Nigeria, English is a language of education, publication, and government. It is utilized to stimulate thought and broaden our perspective on life. It contributes to the formation of a coherent political community and to the expression and development of Nigeria's personality (Agor, 2003).

It is a diplomatic and national connection medium, as well as a social tool that allows you to feel at ease in any area of the world. All of this demonstrates the importance of English language proficiency.

The topic of this research will be "Common English Spelling Errors."

The study of English spelling errors is a type of linguistic analysis that focuses on the mistakes that students make. Error inquiry can serve as both a diagnostic and a prognostic tool. It's diagnostic in that it can tell us where a learner's language skills are at any given time during the learning process, and prognostic in that it can tell us if language learning materials need to be reoriented based on the learner's current issues (Agor, 2003).

From the beginning of time, linguists and foreign teachers have been concerned about and arguing about learner error while learning a foreign language. Because the most distinguishing difference between foreign language learners and native speakers is the size of their English vocabulary, lexicon learning is becoming increasingly important.

This study will be based on the analysis of spelling errors and patterns.

There will be examples of spelling errors as well as a psychological analysis of spelling errors.

1.2    STATEMENT OF PROBLEMS

When looking at typical spelling mistakes in the English language, it's important to figure out what's causing them.

The following issues will be emphasized throughout the course of this project: the problem of 'ough' words, The impact of memory on spelling inconsistencies, Anxiety's detrimental impact on spelling, as well as the problem of spelling patterns.

1.3    AIM OF THE STUDY

The aim of this project is to provide a theoretical assessment of English spelling error analysis, models for spelling error analysis and then to look into the sources of errors.

1.4    SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The significant of the study will be drawn as we progress in the course of this project work.

1.5    RESEARCH QUESTIONS

In the course of this project work, the following questions will be addressed.

1. What is the effect of spelling errors in the study of English language?
2. To what extent does spelling errors affect the learning and teaching of English language?
3. What is the source of English language spelling error?
4. What can be done to avoid English spelling errors?

1.6    SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The scope of this study will be confined to the common English spelling errors, starting from the word origin.

1.7    LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

This study can be limited by time, financial constraint and non-availability of data etc.

1.8    DEFINITION OF TERMS

Different terms used in the course of this research work are hereby defined as follows:

COMPOUNDING: occurs when a person attaches two or more words together to make them one word. The meanings of the words interrelate in such a way that a new meaning comes out which is very different from the meanings of the words in isolation.

DERIVATION: is the formation of a new word or inflectable stem from another word or stem. It typically occurs by the addition of an affix. The derived word is often of a different word class from the  original. It may thus take the inflectional affixes of the new word class.

PROPONENT: one who argues in favor of something

IDIOSYNCRASY: A structural or behavioral characteristic peculiar to an individual or group.

PSYCHOUNGUISTICS or psychology of language is the study of the psychological and neurobiological factors that enable humans to acquire, use, comprehend and produce language.

COINAGE: The invention of new words or phrases.

DIACRITIC is a glyph added to a letter, or basic glyph. Diacritic is both an adjective and a noun, whereas diacritical is only an adjective. Diacritical marks may appear above or below a letter, or in some other position such as within the letter or between two letters.

SPELLING ERRORS: These are the errors we make when attempting to learn spelling. The process of skill development that is learning something new involves making errors. These errors occur irregularly and are usually self-detected and self-corrected.

HOMOPHONES: These are words which sound the same but are spelled differently.

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