Spelling Errors made by 4thYear English Department Students at Zawia University A thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

Abstract

This study investigates the spelling problems that many students in the Department of English at the University of Zawia face when they write. It aims to identify the most common types of spelling errors that university students encounter while writing, and specify appropriate strategies to respond to them. To collect the data required, quantitative and qualitative methods were utilized. The quantitative data was collected through distributing sixty writing exam papers to 4th year students. These exam papers were chosen randomly. SPSS software program was used to analyse the quantitative data. Whereas, Semi- structured interviews were employed to collect the qualitative data. A purposive sampling technique was employed to select four teachers and four students to be interviewed in semi-structured way. Thematic method was used to analyse the data gained from the interviews. The findings obtained from this study showed that ‘omission’, ‘substitution’, ‘addition’, and ‘disordering’ were the most common error types committed by university students. Other problems were related to language interference, lack of strategies used in teaching spelling and lack of teaching spelling resources. The research findings also showed an insufficient awareness of spelling, phonological, morphological, and phonetic rules, which were the main reasons of writing difficulties that university students face. The study provides a number of useful insights and effective techniques that can be adapted by language teachers to improve their students’ writing skills. Suggestions for further research were also provided.