Orthographic Differences and English L2 Spelling Errors

Abstract

This study investigated English L2 spellings among Korean L1 learners of English on the basis of linguistic differences in their L1 and L2 orthography. Two groups of 3rd graders, Korean L1 English learners (N=36) and native English speakers (N=30), performed a pseudoword spelling task, in which they listened to an audio recording of a total of 10 pseudowords and dictated what they heard. The task material targeting orthographic difference consists of two types of pseudowords: more consistent vowels and less consistent vowels. Data were tested with an experiment with a 2 x 2 factorial design with “group” and “word type” as independent variables. Word type included two contrasting types: more consistent and less consistent. The results support the prediction that learners whose L1 is relatively transparent had difficulty in spelling L2 words whose grapheme-phoneme correspondence is less transparent. Further analysis on error types and pedagogical implications regarding English L2 spellings are addressed.