Abstract:
The importance of teaching students to spell accurately has been lost in the age of computers and spell checkers (Anderson, R.E. 1992). Reading and spelling are closely related and poor readers tend to be poor spellers. The research in spelling acquisition has shown that children acquire spelling in a gradual and systematic way (Bergstrom, 2013). Students do not become proficient spellers by the single strategy of memorizing the spelling of words and teachers cannot teach students how to spell every word. The purpose of this investigation is to systematically explore the spelling errors made by first year students of the University of Kelaniya. This research places attention specifically on a few major errors identified amongst first year students under seven categories. Moreover this study was significant in terms of identifying and analyzing the most frequently occurring errors in students’ writing. In order to achieve the objectives of this research, the methodology used was administering a questionnaire which included seven categories: identify incorrectly repeated consonants, identify mistakes done with wrong consonants and vowels, identify mistakes of reversed order of double vowels, identify mistakes of extra letters , identify mistakes of missing letters and identify mistakes done with confusion of similar words. Finally the areas in which the students failed to show the maximum performance it were investigated. The research was carried out from 2nd of September to 16th of September 2015. It was found that students have problems in their spelling skills in the questioned areas. According to the research results; the majority of students have problems when identifying mistakes in the wrong use of consonants. This study suggests that poor spellers display similar error patterns as better spelling peers, but with higher frequency. Based on these findings, the researchers suggest that more practices in spelling recommendations: dictation, peer correction, reading correctly spelled writing, giving knowledge of transcription, referring dictionaries which help students to be good at their spelling.
