Investigating Omani University Students� Spelling Errors

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate and identify spelling errors in writing essays written by Omani foundation students at Nizwa University. Error analysis technique was used in this research to find their errors, identify them, and explain their sources. The study investigated errors of 100 essays which were gathered from Omani university students enrolled in the �foundation program� during the second semester of February, 2014. The results of randomly selected 100 essays written by Nizwa University freshmen students enrolled in the College of Arts and Sciences, College of Engineering& Architecture, College of Economics, Management & Information Systems and the College of Pharmacy and Nursing. A total of 3208 spelling errors occurred in 100 written essays and subsequently classified them into four types: (a) Insertion (b) Substitution (c) Omission (d) Transposition. The results of this study have confirmed the hypotheses on which it was based. The conclusion is that there are different problems that these students face, which impede their proficiency in the target language