Investigating Spelling Errors Committed by EFL Students at the University of Tripoli
الملخص
The purpose of this research is to categorize the most frequent types of spelling errors made by EFL 8th-semester students at the University of Tripoli, and investigate the underlying causes. A quantitative research method was used by collecting composition data from 30 EFL students, with a majority of 26 students exhibiting spelling difficulties. Cook's classification of spelling errors, which includes omission, insertion, substitution, and transposition errors, was used to categorize the errors. The most common errors were found to be omission (41%), followed by insertion (25%), substitution (22%), and transposition (12%). Pronunciation difficulties and the influence of the learners' native language were identified as the primary factors contributing to these errors. The former led to the omission of letters that are not pronounced in the native language, while the latter caused insertion and substitution errors. On the other hand, transposition errors were mainly attributed to the students’ carelessness. Recommendations were given for further studies.