THE EFFECTS OF SPELLING ERRORS ON STUDENTS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

THE EFFECTS OF SPELLING ERRORS ON STUDENTS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1     Background to the Study

For decades, English has enjoyed the title of the most widely spoken and fastest growing language in the world.(Yang, 2007 as cited in Kenneth, 2022). Absolutely, English as an international language occupies a very prominent place in Nigeria. It is considered as one of the effective marketing tools in the economy mainly trading, health, media, press and education sectors. English is a very common language in an educated society such as Nigeria since it is used in official discussion by the students and teachers.

Most of English language learners need to study the basic four language skills i.e. reading, listening, speaking and writing. Writing makes very difficult skills for learners of English language (French, 2005 as cited in Kenneth, 2022).

Many linguists and researchers treat writing as a process rather than a product. Obviously, the main goal of this process is to generate a written work. Thus, that will function as a tool of interaction between the writer and the reader according to the information they possess. (Al-Abed Al Haq and Ahmed, 1994 as cited in Kenneth, 2022).

In any case, spelling is the writing of a word or words with the necessary letters and diacritics present in an accepted standard order and an arrangement of letters. That form a word or part of a word, the process of forming words by putting letters together.

Holmes and Castles (2001) asserted that for languages that have an alphabetic orthography. Such as English, an understanding of the alphabetic principle contributes to skill in both spelling and reading.

Hence, correct spelling is indispensable because one misspelling might spoil the meaning of an original message that a writer wants to convey.

Ahmed (2017) observed that misspelling is one of the commonest mistakes that English as a second or foreign language learners encounter. Students have been communicating in English language and they may also be experiencing errors during their communication process. Also, one of the most frequent errors in students’ written English is spelling errors.

THE EFFECTS OF SPELLING ERRORS ON STUDENTS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

Moreover, the majority of students keep committing the same spelling mistakes. Even after they are admitted to the College which often makes their written works difficult to understand. Such errors do not allow them to write in English with confidence. Due to fear of making spelling mistakes which influence their academic performance.

Ahmed (2017) asserted that spelling mistakes influenced the clarity and intelligibility of written works in a negative way. Thus, damages communication between the author and the reader. Students face difficulties with English sounds that do not exist in the local dialect. Also, most spelling mistakes done by students are brought forth by lack of reading and writing (Ahmed 2017).

Nyamasyo (2019) agree that spelling difficulties amongst the students is brought by sounds or pronunciation and this influence the academic performance of students. Dada (2015) found that student’s errors in essays included omission of letters, addition of letters, and re-duplications to mention a few.

In some cases, the fact that students do not usually take the pain to go through their work.after writing. This was also a major contributor making teaching even more complex and students losing marks. It is against this background that this study investigates the effects of spelling errors on performance.

1.2       Statement of the Problem

Obviously, the majority of Students wrongly spell words in their written English. This has caused many inconsistencies of meaning in their write ups, test scripts, notes and notices. Sometimes, such wrong spelling of words makes the students’ writing unintelligible.

The above problem motivates the researcher to investigate if spelling errors could lead to poor academic performance of students?  It is on this note that the research is conducted on the effects of spelling errors on the performance.

1.3       Objectives of the Study

The main objective of this study is to investigate the effects of spelling errors on the performance. Specifically, the study seeks to:

1. determine the extent omission spelling error influence performance.
2. ascertain the extent substitution spelling errors influence performance.
3. determine the extent insertion spelling errors influence performance.
4. investigate the extent ambiguous spelling errors influence performance.

1.4       Research Questions

1. To what extent does omission spelling error influence performance.
2. To what extent does substitution spelling errors influence performance.
3. To what extent does insertion spelling errors influence performance.
4. To what extent do ambiguous spelling errors influence performance.

1.5       Significance of the Study

This research will appeal particularly to students, lecturers, teachers in secondary schools, public speakers and text book writers with knowledge of the guidelines on spelling and how to avoid spelling errors. This study will also serves as a reference materials to researchers on the important of correct spellings and the effects of spelling errors in narrative writings.

1.6       Delimitation of the Study

This research work was delimited to the effects of spelling errors on performance of students.

1.7       Limitation of the Study

The research being an academic assignment will have a time limit and lack of enough time for the researcher due to the duration of the project defence.

1.8       Operational Definition of Terms

Spelling: Spelling is a set of conventions that regulate the way of using graphemes to represent a language in its written form.

Spelling Error: Spelling errors are those errors in which a learner consistently makes because the learner do not know what is correct.

Error: An error is an action which is inaccurate or incorrect.

Academic performance: Academic performance is the measurement of student achievement across various academic subjects.

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