An Analysis on Vowel Substitution in Spelling Errors by Junior High School Students

• Main Authors: Hu, Ming-yu, 胡明玉
• Other Authors: Yu, Hsueh-ying
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2003
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/51578207819970798074

碩士 === 國立政治大學 === 英語教學碩士在職專班 === 92 === ABSTRACT This study investigates Chinese subjects’ vowel letter substitution found in spelling errors. An empirical experiment designed in two stages is conducted to collect data from junior high school students. The first stage of experiment is to find hidden patterns behind the misspellings. Then data from the second stage serve to confirm the finding in the first stage. Data collected from the investigation shows that pronunciation plays a significant role in students’ spelling errors. In fact, spelling errors indicate subjects’ development in spelling ability; they are not random and groundless, and on the contrary, most of them are phonetically plausible. Major patterns found in vowel substitution include: (1) Substitute letter a, (2) Substitute letter e, (3) Substitute letter o, and (4) Substitute letter i. There are three main reasons for the substitution: (1) confusion of similar sounds, which may result from nearby tongue positions, (2) L1 transfer, such as the lack of awareness of tense and lax vowels, (3) confusion of different representing systems, such as the confusion of letter names and letter sounds and the confusion of alphabet forms and phonetic symbols. Finally, pedagogical implications and suggestions for further research are provided.