International Journal of Kurdish Studies

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate various types of spelling
errors and the causes of spelling inaccuracy of first year Kurdish college
students found in their compositions. Participants are 40 Kurdish learners of
English at two different universities, Koya University and Saladin University,
who were studying English language and literature. The present study first
displays general background about English writing system and definitions of
related terms followed by an overview of Kurdish writing system and its
orthography. In addition, differences between both languages’ writing systems
have been shown as is likely to be the cause of Kurdish learners’ spelling
mistakes. Spelling mistakes made by Kurdish college students are then
classified into eight main categories and analysed statistically. The eight
categories of English spelling mistakes incorporate Insertion, omission,
substitutions, transposition, grapheme substitution, space inaccuracy,
capitalisation and others. Despite lack of sufficient phonological and
morphological knowledge in English the dissimilarity between English and
Kurdish writing systems tends to be the main cause of spelling errors by first
year Kurdish college students. It is significant for both students and
instructors to be aware of the causes and types of English spelling mistakes so
as to try to minimise them. It can be thought that knowing these causes would
probably help not only English language learners but also its instructors to
solve erroneous spellings to a large extent.