SPELLING ERRORS ON WRITING

BY:

M. ABIMANYU ABDILLAH

E1D116043

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND

EDUCATION
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 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

The phenomenon of errors in students’ writing occurs in paragraphs, punctuation, articles,
spelling, and conjunction. One of the most common errors that plague Indonesian students’
written work is spelling errors.The child produced words, phrases and sentences, including
the “free style” sentence. For example, a student might “Becouse” for “Because” or “Chiken”
for “Chicken”. The students use their knowledge of their first language in learning to read,
write, and spell in their second language (Figueredo, in Allaith, 2009).
This study will apply only for the learners at the third stages of second language
acquisition namely speech emergent learners. Speech emergent learners of seventh grade
students at SMPN 14 MATARAM, the reason why this study choose the students at the third
stages of second language acquisition because the speech emergence learners the learners
experiments more freely with the language, combining words and phrases. The English
understanding of the students in this level is still low. Speech is more complex and at the
same time errors in syntax are obvious. As speech emergence level students, they are prone to
make errors either in their L2 spelling or writing.Therefore, this study is quite necessary to do
because many spelling errors will surely be found among them, and mapping the errors they
make would be very helpful for English teachers in anticipating the errors they would likely
make. Furthermore, this study would explain the language-based factors that influence the
occurrence of sound system of letters interference.
Language learners use knowledge of their first language, when they learn how to spell in
English, refers to the influence that the L1 may have on L2 acquisition as a transfer.In the
study of second language acquisition, such kind of these phenomenon is called the
interference of the first language into second language (negative interlingual transfer).
Interference generally leads to the errors (Krashen, in Fanani, 2012).The spelling errors in the
second language that often occur are caused by the distinction betweenBahasa Indonesian
sound system and the pronunciation of English words (Fanani, Achmad, 2012).

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 Particularly in the written language, many English learners of Indonesia often make errors
in spelling English words. This is because the pronunciation system in Bahasa Indonesia is
different from that of English.Learners are likely to have problems acquiring L2 in particular
areas where the L1 has no equivalents for some of the linguistic features found in the target
language. In Bahasa Indonesia, each letter indicates a distinctive sound/sounds (e.g. ‘satu’ is
pronounced (satu)) (Fanani, Achmad, 2012). On the other side, in English letters do not
always represent distinctive sound (e.g. ‘know’ is pronounced (nǝʊ)) (Fanani, Achmad,
2012). Moreover, English has sounds of letters that cannot be found in Bahasa Indonesia, for
case the sound (ð) as in “the” and “θ” as in “think”. Such differences often make Indonesian
students have difficulty spelling English words.
Based on the explanation above, a research on the interference of L1 (Bahasa Indonesia)
sound system of letters into L2 (English) spelling is necessary to do. Language interference is
one of the central studies in the second language acquisition process (Gass and Selingker in
Fanani, 2012). Therefore, the result of this study is really expected to be able to be used by
English teacher to identify the common spelling errors made by the English learners,
especially the beginner level when they write English.
This study is going to describe the interference of Bahasa Indonesia (L1) sound system of
letters into the English language (L2) spelling acquisition especially concerning the
acquisition of English phonemes/sounds/letters. More exactly what phonemes/sounds/letters
are commonly incorrectly spelled and how the errors occur. Error analysis is an important
support for the teachers of English in understandingand mastering the remedial teaching and
regular teaching in the future. By usingerror analysis, the teacher will be able to know how
far their students have comeand what they must still learn (Corder, in Sofendi, 2010). In other
words, the teachers ofEnglish will be able to determine which parts of the teaching materials
should beremedied and which parts should not. Therefore, the teachers of English have
tounderstand the concept of error analysis and how to apply it in his teaching.Another
important concept that a teacher of English should know is the differencebetween mistake
and error.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Based on the background of the study above, the study would like to resolve the
following problems:
1. What are the spelling errors made by the students in their English writing tasks as
a result of L1 interference?

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 2. Which type of spelling error that most frequently occurs in students‟ writing of
SMPN 14 MATARAM?

1.3 Objectives of The Study

In line with the statement of the problems above, the study would like to:
1. explain the spelling errors found in the students’ English writing tasksas a result
of L1 interference.
2. Explain the impact of the errors analysis on the development of teaching strategis.
1.4 Significance of The Study
Theoretically, this analysis hopefully contributed to the field of the development of
teaching material. Practically, this analysis hopefully useful for the teacher or learners and the
reader. New insights into the spelling problems that face students and possible teaching
strategies that could help overcome spelling problems especially for students.
1.5 Scope and Limitation
The scope of this research focus on the development of learning material. Error analysis
is an important support for the teachers of English in understanding and mastering the
remedial teaching and regular teaching in the future. By using error analysis, the teacher will
be able to know how far their students have come and what they must still learn (Corder, in
Sofendi, 2010). In other words, the teachers of English will be able to determine which parts
of the teaching materials should be remedied and which parts should not. Therefore, the
teachers of English have to understand the concept of error analysis and how to apply it in his
teaching. Another important concept that a teacher of English should know is the difference
between mistake and error. The limitation of this research will be described on the Second
Language Acquisition but it is specified on describing learner the linguistic factors of learner
language. This study will applied only to the seventh grade students of SMP 14 MATARAM
in the Academic Year of 2014/2015 and this analysis just for students in the second stages of
acquisition is speech emergence.
1.6 Definition of Key Terms
1. SLA (Second Language Acquisition) is a research field that focuses on learners and
learning rather than teachers and teaching.
2. L1 is refers to the first language or the mother tongue.
3. L2 is refers to the second language.
4. Error is something that is not correct. An ‘error’ is a deviation from accuracy or
correctness.

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 5. Interference is learners fall back on their mother tongue to help create their language
system. This is now recognize not as a mistake, but as a process that all learners go
through.

CHAPTER II

REVIEW ON RELATED LITERATURE

A. Error and Mistake

In order to be able to analyze the students’ error clearly, it is important enough for the
teacher or researcher to distinguish between error and mistake. Many linguistics have defined
differently what an error is based on their own concept. According to Edge (1989:9) state
that: Mistakes are divided into three those are: slips, error, and attepms. Further explanation,
Edge explain that slip are mistakes which students can correct themselves once the mistakes
has been pointed out to them. Errors are mistakes which students cannot correct themselves
and need more explanation. Attempts are when a student tries to say something but does not
yet know the correct way of saying it. In addition, according to Ellis (1994:51), a mistake is a
performance fail that happen in their competence. Brown (2000:217) state that, a mistake is a
performance error that students can correct themselves and be able to recognize their mistake.
While error is a performance error that students cannot correct themselves and need another
person to correct their errors. Ellis (1997:19) states that, an error occurs because the learner
does not know what is correct, and a mistake occurs when the learners are unable to show the
knowledge that they have.
Based on the explanation above, a mistake is performance error that students can
correct themselves, and an error is performance error that students cannot correct themselves,
they need more explanation from the other. In this research the researcher only studied about
the errors. That was why the researcher chose error analysis in this research.
B. Error Analysis

Error analysis deals with a process. James (1998:1) states, Error analysis is the
process of determining the incidence, nature, causes and consequences of unsuccessful
language. Ridha (2012:26), error analysis is the examination of those errors committed by

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students in both the spoken and written medium. Besides, error analysis is a process to
observe, analyzed, classified and reveal what is error that learner made Brown (2000:218).
Richard and Schmidt (2002:184), explaines that, error analysis is identifying the process,
whether identifying the strategies of the learner in language learning, identifying the cause of
learner’s error, or identifying the common difficulties in language learning.
Error analysis is a method to observe, analyze, and classify student’s errors. Error
analysis can also focus on specific language. Error analysis is a linguistic analysis that
focuses on the error that the learners make. Based on the explanation above, it is clear that
error analysis is a technique to investigate an error in word and sentence in writing or
speaking form. So, error analysis is suitable for this research. It is because this research
analyzes spelling errors in students’ writing.

C. Spelling

Spelling deals with the form of words. Good spelling is an important thing in writing
activity. Croft (1983:9) state that, spelling is an aspect of written language, so the teaching
learning of spelling must take place as far as possible within the context of writing.
According to Hornby (1974:108) “spelling is defined as the act of forming words correctly
from individual letter” Besides, Perveen and Akram (2014:2604), spelling is a linguistic skill,
the learners should be aware of phoneme (sound) and words. Moreover, according to Harmer
(2001:156), An issue that makes spelling difficult for several students is the fact that not all
varieties of English spell the same words in the same way. Which is correct: color or colour,
and theater or theatre? How do we decide between the use of s and z in words like apologise
and customize.
That explanation means that spelling has its rules to form word correctly. Letters must
appear in a correct sequence to be meaningful. However, it will lead to the spelling error.

E. Types of Spelling Error

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 The errors that occur on students are divided into several categories. According to
Bestgen and Granger (2011:5), the variables underlying the categorization are: the element
that carries the error (letter, word, boundary, and apostrophe), and the error type (single letter
addition, omission, substitution, transposition, and multiple errors letters). According to
Benyo (2014:362), many spelling errors are due to omission, addition, substitution, and
transposition of the sounds. Based on the explanation above, several types in spelling errors
could happen in writing. Bestgen and Granger (2011:5) state that, there are 9 categories of
spelling errors. They are letter, word, boundary, apostrophe, single letter addition, omission,
substitution, transposition, and multiple errors letters as seen in the following :

Categories of spelling error Example

Omission of a letter completly - completely
concious - conscious
distinc - distinct
throghout - throughout
Addition of a letter develope - develop
eightheen - eighteen
envolves - evolves
ridicoulous - ridiculous
Single letter instead of double letter especialy - especially
robed - robbed
ocurred - occurred
occuring - occurring
Double letter instead of single letter appartments - apartments
allmighty – almighty
detailled - detailed
loosing - losing
Substitution of one letter lifes - lives
dependend - dependent
confortable - comfortable
uncredible - incredible
Interchange of two adjacent letter concieved - conceived
birht - birth
peopels - peoples

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Involving an apostrophe Its - it’s
womans - woman’s
childrens’- children’s
Erroneous splitting or joining of words
(word segmentation error)
business_man - businessman
every_one - everyone
free_time - freetime
every_day - everyday
Two or more error of the same type or of
different types
unbalance-imbalance
politic - political
payed - paid
weter - whether
F. Writing

According to Harmer (2001:79), writing is a form of communication to deliver

through or to express feeling or idea through written form. The other words, according to
Barnet and Stubs (1983:3) “Writing as a physical act, it requires material and energy. And
like the most physical act, to be performed fully, to bring pleasure, to both performer and
audience, it requires practice”. It is important for the writers doing practice to improve their
writing skill, not only that they can also have to explore their knowledge to develop their skill
in writing because more knowledge is for better writing.
In addition Rise B. et al (1986:1) stated, “Writing makes a special contribution to the
way people think. When we write, we compose meanings, we put together facts and ideas and
make something new”. It means that writing can make people reconstruct their thought, and
then they can make a new thought through their ideas or facts that occurred.
To sum up, writing can be said as a media for students to develop their language skills
because from writing they can use their knowledge of target language that has been learned.
Writing is one of the most difficult skill because it combines receptive skills and productive
skills. Writing is also the way to make spoken language permanent.

CHAPTER III
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 RESEARCH METHODOLOGYA.

The Research Design

This research took a basis on a descriptive qualitative research. It means this research
employs the descriptive and qualitative method of analysis. According to Bogdan and Taylor
(2012:11), qualitative research is a research method that reports descriptive data of a certain
kind of written or oral form from the people as the participans of the research. Qualitative
research is aimed to get the deep understanding about individuals or particular groups as
describe to a social or human problem (Creswell, 2012:4). Moreover, qualitative research is
aimed to reach the basic understanding through researcher experience that is directly
processed and integrated with the subject and location which is in the real report.
In this research, the researcher uses descriptive qualitative research design. The
descriptive research is a kind of method in which the researcher collects, classifies, analyses
the data, interpreting the data and finally drawing the conclusion (Surakhmad, 1991:139).
This researchaimed to describe the types of spelling error on students’ writing of SMPN 14
MATARAM, so the qualitative design was suitable for this research. The researcher also
made calculation on the errors occurrence of spelling that were found from the students’
writing. According to Perry (2008:17) numbers in the form of frequencies of certain
phenomena can be used in qualitative research.

The Technique of Data Collection

According to Hasyim (2002:43), error analysis is an activity to reveal error found in

writing and speaking, and this reseach is related to error analysis in writing. Therefore, the
document analysis is suitable asthe technique for collecting the data of this research. Data is
collected by document analysis. Cresswell (2012:223) states that, documents represent a good
resource for text (word) in data qualitative study, and they give the advantage of being in
language and words of the participants. They are also ready to analyze without a necessary
transcription. The researcher collected the students writing tasks of writing recount text
subject. The researcher got the students’ writing by giving a test in a class. The researcher
assigned all of the students to write a text based on the topic that had been determined before
for writing recount text. The length of the text written task was adequate and the time was
sufficient. It was with the English teacher permission.

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The Technique of Data Analysis
research focused on error analysis on spelling in writing made by eight grade
students. In this case, the researcher used error analysis method of Corder (1981:51). The
followings steps to conduct an error analysis research:
1. Collecting the sample of learner’s language
This step was to decide the sample of learner’s language to use for analysis.
2. Identifying the errors In the second step,
the researcher tried to find out the error in sample of the research by underlining the
errors.
3. Classifying the error
After underlining, the researcher classified the errors. The errors were classified based
on Bestgen and Granger’s theory.
4. Explaining the errors
The researcher explained why the sentences were called erroneous.
5. Accounting the errors and identifying the dominant error
This step was additional step done by the researcher to accounting the percentage of
the errors. The researcher used the formula (Sudjiono, 2010:43)

P = f/N x 100%

Which are:
P = Percentage number
f = Frequency of error
N = Number of Case
After accounting the percentage of the errors, the researcher identified the most
frequent error made by students based on the classification of the data.

CHAPTER IV
DISCUSSION
Discussion
Based on the data analysis of the research findings, it can be seen that most frequent
error is omission of a letter with 45 errors or 22,5%. The researcher concludes that students
still lacked in spelling skill especially in writing texts. The student did not pay attention how

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to write English words correctly, because they thought that when pronounced an English
word it was the same with in written word, and they did not know how to differentiate some
letters or sounds. They were still confused to differentiate for example in letter s, k, from
letter c that had the same sound when they were pronounced. According to Al-Jarf (2010: 10)
spelling problems can be classified into phonological problems. Phonological problems refer
to the errors in which the mispelled words do not sound like the target word because the
whole words, consonants, vowels, syllables, prefixes, grapheme clusters is not heard at all or
misheard, or added with another letter.
The second common error which is committed by the students is multiple error with
28 errors or 14%. This category occurs when two or more errors are contained in a word. For
example in the word “bicycle” which is pronounced as /ˈba .s .kl / which was erroneously
written as “baycikle”. The sample means that the student made error by adding two letters a
and y that was categorized into substitution type of error andaddition error. Besides, the
researcher also found words errors seem like in the word “jins” that means “jeans”, and
“cuss” that means “chose”. Based on the researcher analysis, it occurred because of the
influence of students‟ L1. In students‟ L1, there are several words adopted from foreign
language. Indonesian language, such as Sanskrit, Portuguese, Arabic, Dutch, Chinese, and
English Yulianto (2014:5). Based on the explanation above, students‟ L1 can influence their
writing especially in spelling. It can be proven from several samples above, and those
findings confirms Hourani‟s (2008: 1) statement who pointed out that there tends to be
intervention from the beginning ESL students‟ first language (L1) in the process of writing in
English.
Another error which is committed is substitution of a letter with 23 errors or 11,5%.
The students committed this error because they were still influenced by their first language in
writing English. The researcher interprets that the students substituted wrong letter especially,
in the words that had the same sounds. For example in the word “other” which is
pronounced as /ˈʌð.ə r /, sound like a, so the students wrote in the word “ather” in which
letter o substituted by a letter a. The fourth error which is comitted by students is involving an
apostrophe with 22 errors or 11%. The students committed this because they wrote in
incorrect positions when using an apostrophe and they were still confused how to use it in
possessive forms. For example in the word “brother‟s home” which is incorrectly written as
“brother home”. The students wrote that phrase without an apostrophe. The findings is

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refelction of the error in suing an apostrophe. The words written by students were not in
accordance with Straus‟ (2008: 63) theory. According to her, using the apostrophe with
contractions, the apostrophe is always placed at the spot where the letter s has been removed,
for example “don‟t”, “it‟s” and many others. Meanwhile, when using the apostrophe with the
possession, the place of apostrophe is before the s to show singular possession, for example
“Mr.Chang‟s house”. Therefore, the teacher should give more explanation about how to use
apostrophes especially in the possessive forms.
Then it is followed by double letter instead single letter with 10 error or 10%. Here,
too influence of the learners‟ L1 appears as a likely factor. As pointed out by Bebout (1985:
583), although consonant doubling is a difficulty for any learner or writer of English, it is
particularly treacherous for students or teachers who are less used to pay attention to the
presence or absence of doubled consonants or to make decision about doubling when writing.
So, the students confused when they write double consonants that was necessarily only one
consonant letter. As the example in the word “hottel” which is pronounced as /h ə ʊ ˈtel/
which is incorrectly written as “hottel” it shows double letters t. The next error is interchange
of two adjacent letter with 18 errors or 9%. The students committed the errors because they
were still confused how to write English word clearly, although they were right in how to
pronounced the words. For example in the word “people” which is pronounced as /ˈpiː.pl / it
is incorrectly written as “people”, the student did not pay attention to letter e and o in the
right position. So, the students did error in ordering two letters e and o.
Another error which is committed is addition of a letter with 17 errors or 8,5%. As the
researcher explained earlier, that many words in English that have same sounds. For example
in the owrd “after” as pronounced with /ˈæf.tɚ/ which is incorrectly written as “afther” the
students added a letter h after t. it was happened because the students did not familiar with
how to pronounce a word that contains “th”or not, because is almost same in the pronounced.
Based on the findings is in conformity with Al-Jarf (2010: 10) who stated that misspelling
happen when any graphemes are added, deleted, substituted by another or reversed. Then,
single letter instead double letter with 15 errors or 7,5%. This error occurs when the students
miss a letter in a word that contains double letters. Based on the researcher analysis, this error
occoured because it is related students‟ L1. This findings is similar to Hourani (2008) as the
researcher explained before. In students‟ L1, there is seldom found a word that contains of
diagraph or double letters, and it is found only in a word that contained of suffix, inserted,

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and prefix. For example like in the word menunjukkan, menggunakkan,menggarisbawahi,
and others.
The last error which is committed is word segmentation error with 12 errors or 6%.
The students did not pay attention to the words whether they use a space or not. However, it
could change the meanings. For example in the word “waterfall” it was incorrectly written as
“water_fall”. The student wrote with added a space. Those words have different meaning,
“waterfall” means air terjun, but if with space it means word by word “water” as air and
“fall” as jatuh. Itc can be made the reader confused to understand the real meaning. Based on
the researcher analysis, those nine categories of errors occurred because several words in
English have the same sounds. Besides, the students‟ first language (L1) is also one of the
influnces in students‟ spelling errors in their writing.

CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

A. Conclusion

This study focused on the types of spelling errors made by the eight grade students at
SMPN 14 MATARAM in their writing tasks. Based on the findings and the discussions, it
can be concluded that students at eight grade in this study have committed nine categories of
spelling errors. Those categories include omission of a letter, addition of a letter, single letter
instead of double letter, double letter instead of single letter, substitution of one letter,
interchange two adjacent letter, error involving an apostrophe, word segmentation error, and
multiple error. Those categories answer the first research question of this study. The errors
were found by collecting the documentation of 37 students’ writing recount text from eight
grade. According to the researcher’s analysis, the errors occured because the influence of the
sound of a word and the way to spell it was not always clear. In addition, errors can also
occur in the students writing because of the influence of students’ first language (L1).
Related to the second question of this study, the errors that most frequently occurs in
the students’ spellings were omission of a letter with the precentage of (22,5%), and the
second highest error was multiple error (14%), followed by substitution of a letter (11,5%),
involving an apostrophe (11%), double letter instead of single letter (10%), interchange

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of two adjacent letter (9%), addition of a letter (8,5%), single letter instead of double letter
(7,5%), and the lowest frequency of errors were word segmentation errors (6%). The number
of the percentage above shows that spelling errors still happened in students’ English writing
activities.

B. Suggestions
Based on the result, this research provides several recommendations for the students
or readers, teachers, and the next researchers.
1. For the students or readers
In order to increase students mastery in spellings, the researcher suggests them to be
aware in writing, especially in spelling, particularly for students of English Education of
Department of UNRA, as the prospective teachers. The students or the readers should
practice more concerning spelling English words, so they can avoid spelling errors in their
writing.

2. For the teachers

Based on findings of the research about spelling error analysis in students’ writing at
the eight grade of SMPN 14 MATARAM, the researcher suggests that the teacher should
know the problem in spelling, especially in writing English words and also give more
practice about spelling in writing course to avoid spelling errors in students writing.

3. For the next researchers

Based on findings of the research about the types of students’ spelling errors at the eight
grade of SMPN 14 MATARAM, the researcher suggests the next researchers who are
interested doing the same topic to intensely research on different focuses or different
methodologies, such as using quantitative approach to explore the facts.

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REFERENCES
http://eprints.umm.ac.id/27761/1/jiptummpp-gdl-rivaatinmi-33954-1-pendahul-n.pdf
http://academia.edu/2012/237/2/spelling-errors

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