scholarly journals Arab ESL Secondary School Students’ Spelling Errors

Author(s):  
Bandar Mohammad Saeed Al-Sobhi ◽  
Sabariah Md Rashid ◽  
Ain Nadzimah Abdullah ◽  
Ramiza Darmi

English spelling has always been described by many language researchers and teachers as a daunting task especially for learners whose first language is not English. Accordingly, Arab ESL learners commit serious errors when they spell out English words. The primary objective of this paper is to determine the types as well as the causes of spelling errors made by Arab ESL secondary school students. In order to collect the data, a fifty-word standardised spelling test was administered to seventy Arab student participants. The students’ types of spelling errors were detected, analysed and then categorised according to Cook’s (1999) classification of errors namely substitution, omission, insertion and transposition. In total, 2,873 spelling errors of various categories were identified. The study findings revealed that errors of substitution constituted the highest percentage of the students’ type of errors. In addition, the study indicated that the main causes of the students’ spelling errors were possibly attributed to the anomalous nature of the English spelling system, the Arab students’ lack of awareness of English spelling rules as well as L1 interference. Despite being conducted in an ESL context, the study was almost consistent with the findings indicated by other studies which were carried out in many Arabic EFL context. The findings suggest that spelling instruction should be emphasised while teaching English and should also be integrated with the skills and subskills of reading, writing, pronunciation and vocabulary in order to develop the students’ spelling accuracy.

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (04) ◽  
pp. 506-511
Author(s):  
Eunice a ◽  
◽  
N. Anumudu ◽  
Adedapo I. Yemi ◽  
◽  
...  

Mathematics is an essential part of the education system in Nigeria. However, it is perceived among learners as a tedious and challenging subject. The primary objective of the current study was to enhance the teaching and learning of mathematics using improvisation. The study also examined the role of students location on mathematics learning when the learning material is improvised. The population of the study included secondary school students in both rural and urban areas of Enugu State. A total of 68 secondary school students constituted the study samples. A quasi-experimental design was used. Two hypotheses were tested, and it was concluded that improvisation of learning material enhances students performance in mathematics. Also, the study found that students location does not affect performance in mathematics when instructional material is improvised. The findings and recommendations are discussed.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aixa Hafsha

Reading is one of the fundamental skills in language learning and all English as Second Language (ESL) learners need to acquire it in order to master a language. However, statistics show that Malaysians are not reading enough especially the school students who are labeled as reluctant readers. This is deeply reflected in their reading comprehension which is one of the tested components in the SPM examination. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the learners’ difficulties in ESL reading comprehension. Thus, a survey was conducted among 80 upper secondary students in Johor. Questionnaires were used in the survey and given out to the respondents involved. The data obtained from the survey were analysed using SPSS. There were five categories of reading comprehension difficulties among the upper secondary school students. Based on the analysis, it was found that most of the students have agreed that the main difficulty faced by them in ESL reading comprehension is related to the reading process. Finally, the implications of these findings on ESL reading comprehension difficulties were discussed from the aspects of what the teachers could do in their teaching practices to address this issue and provide ways to solve them.


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yusuf FLORENCE ADEOTI

One of the dominant and pervasive problems in Nigeria and Africa at large is the language. Language being a potent vehicle of transmitting cultures, values, norms and beliefs from generation to generation, remains a central factor in determining the status or nature of any nation. In Nigeria, English language is the official language of communication; it is referred to as “Lingua Franca”. However, its knowledge is not sufficient. The goals of the article were to define the types of spelling mistakes in the English Language and the most dominant errors made by junior secondary school students, to find out what the level of students’ performance in essays in terms of spelling is, and what the causes of spelling mistakes are among junior secondary school students. A conclusion was made that omission and addition of letters are the typical spelling errors, students’ attitude towards the second language was found as the major reason of low level of spelling skills. Male students were found less successful than female students and spelling skills’ level was found different according to private vs. state schools and urban vs. rural schools. 


2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 77
Author(s):  
Ahmad Idris Asmaradhani ◽  
Rindawanto Evendi ◽  
Ahmad Mursid ◽  
Ruslan Abdul Gani

As a Foreign Language, English is difficult for secondary school students in Indonesia not only in terms of grammatical systems but also in terms of phonetic systems. They find it difficult to pronounce most of the English words because in English there is no regular systems of how to pronounce the English words. For EFL/ESL learners in general, to pronounce the English words intelligibly they must refer to a standard dictionary which also means they have to understand how to use and read the dictionary systematically. To understand and improve the production of the various sounds and the supra-segmental features of English as a foreign language, it is suggested to use English songs. This research paper is discussed descriptive-qualitatively based on the authors’ experience as a foreign language learners and teachers. It is discussed how using songs in the English classroom can help students fix their English pronunciation. Supported with a simple questionnaire given to secondary school students, it is also found that most students can fix their pronunciation and they have a strong interest in listening and understanding popular English songs.


SAGE Open ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 215824401876347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bandar Al-Sobhi ◽  
Sabariah Md Rashid ◽  
Ain Nadzimah Abdullah

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 184-194
Author(s):  
Muhammad Mukhtar Aliyu ◽  
Gambo A. Danladi

Writing skill is described as an essential language tool for students. Studies have shown that Hausa ESL secondary school students commit various errors in their writing in English. Various factors have been identified as responsible for the problems. However, the students’ attitude towards spelling and writing has not been investigated. It is believed that students’ attitude plays an important role in motivating and influencing their second-language learning. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore the attitude and perception of Hausa ESL secondary school students towards English spelling and writing. The study adopts a survey research design where an intact class of 75 students from a secondary school in north-eastern Nigeria was selected. To collect the data for the study, a questionnaire was employed. The questionnaire comprises two sections: (i) attitudes toward English spelling and (ii) attitudes toward writing in English which include four writing purposes: (a) School Use, (b) Social Use, (c) Official Use, and (d) Creativity. Findings of the study revealed that the participants have a moderate positive attitude and perception towards English spelling and writing. The findings also indicated that the students’ attitude toward the School Use of English is the highest, whereas their Creativity in writing has the lowest means among the four purposes. In addition, the study revealed that there is a significant positive relationship between the participants’ attitude towards spelling and writing. To enhance students’ creative writing and thinking skills, the study suggests that literature in English should be made compulsory to all secondary school students. Story-reading and creative writing should be incorporated into the curriculum. Other extracurricular activities such as spelling completion should be organised to help the students.


2002 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 214-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heinz Neber ◽  
Kurt A. Heller

Summary The German Pupils Academy (Deutsche Schüler-Akademie) is a summer-school program for highly gifted secondary-school students. Three types of program evaluation were conducted. Input evaluation confirmed the participants as intellectually highly gifted students who are intrinsically motivated and interested to attend the courses offered at the summer school. Process evaluation focused on the courses attended by the participants as the most important component of the program. Accordingly, the instructional approaches meet the needs of highly gifted students for self-regulated and discovery oriented learning. The product or impact evaluation was based on a multivariate social-cognitive framework. The findings indicate that the program contributes to promoting motivational and cognitive prerequisites for transforming giftedness into excellent performances. To some extent, the positive effects on students' self-efficacy and self-regulatory strategies are due to qualities of the learning environments established by the courses.


2012 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 135-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jake Harwood ◽  
Laszlo Vincze

Based on the model of Reid, Giles and Abrams (2004 , Zeitschrift für Medienpsychologie, 16, 17–25), this paper describes and analyzes the relation between television use and ethnolinguistic-coping strategies among German speakers in South Tyrol, Italy. The data were collected among secondary school students (N = 415) in 2011. The results indicated that the television use of the students was dominated by the German language. A mediation analysis revealed that TV viewing contributed to the perception of ethnolinguistic vitality, the permeability of intergroup boundaries, and status stability, which in turn affected ethnolinguistic-coping strategies of mobility (moving toward the outgroup), creativity (maintaining identity without confrontation), and competition (fighting for ingroup rights and respect). Findings and theoretical implications are discussed.


2014 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 112-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Latsch ◽  
Bettina Hannover

We investigated effects of the media’s portrayal of boys as “scholastic failures” on secondary school students. The negative portrayal induced stereotype threat (boys underperformed in reading), stereotype reactance (boys displayed stronger learning goals towards mathematics but not reading), and stereotype lift (girls performed better in reading but not in mathematics). Apparently, boys were motivated to disconfirm their group’s negative depiction, however, while they could successfully apply compensatory strategies when describing their learning goals, this motivation did not enable them to perform better. Overall the media portrayal thus contributes to the maintenance of gender stereotypes, by impairing boys’ and strengthening girls’ performance in female connoted domains and by prompting boys to align their learning goals to the gender connotation of the domain.


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