Abstract

This paper aims at investigating the spelling mistakes made by students of English language in The World Islamic Sciences and Education University (WISE) in Jordan. The researcher adopted Cook‘s classification of errors in this study. Students mistakes were categorized into four classifications: substitution, omission, insertion, and transposition. Fifty students were participated in the study by enrolling in the "Error Analysis" course in two semesters of the academic year 2016/2017. The data for the study were derived from three exams: the first, the second, and the final exams, given to the students during the two semesters. Then the data were analyzed after completing the course in the second semester of 2016-2017. The results of the study revealed that (38%) of the errors referred to omission and (28%) to insertion. However, the study showed that (22%) of errors referred to substitution, while only (15%) of them referred to transposition. This study showed that using vowels and pronunciation incorrectly is one of the major causes of the learners' errors. Further, the interference of the first language plays a significant role in this regard. The study concludes that more efforts and concern should be given to spelling errors made by students since the learning of spelling is an integral part of language learning. The researcher suggested some recommendations and pedagogical implications to be studied in the future.

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