Cross-Linguistic Examination of Spelling Errors Made by Iranian EFL Learners

Abstract. Patterns of spelling errors by EFL learners can reflect poor linguistic competence on different levels. With the purpose of examining factors affecting spelling errors of Iranian EFL learners, the present study aims to investigate writing skills of 465 Iranian high-school female students (mean age = 15.8) attending grades 1, 2, and 3 in Iran. Fifty selected words in each grade according to their textbooks were read to the students. For data analysis, the errors were classified into five major error categories including phonological awareness, knowledge of orthography, vocabulary, morphological and semantic relationships, and mental orthographic images. The content analysis of the data revealed that phonological skills were a strong predictor for spelling skills and pupils were relying on spoken language in deriving the written forms of words. Additionally, different types of spelling errors did not follow any distinct patterns based on the age. On the other hand, patterns of spelling errors for both areas (speaking Persian language at home versus speaking Arabic language at home) experienced similar patterns though at varying percentages.