Abstract
Written English is one area in which Nigerian linguists and grammarians do not accommodate variations of spelling for any sociolinguistic reason, even though they at times misspell or forget the spelling of some confusing words. Most people agree that English spelling system is problematic and therefore needs urgent reform, but who bells the cat? This article examines the English spelling system against the backdrop of Educated Nigerian English and the concept of nativization, stressing the need for reform or nativized spelling in Nigerian English. Questionnaires, library research, and the Internet were used to gather data for this study. The qualitative approach has been adopted in the main for the interpretation of data. The educated Nigerians studied admit that the English spelling system is in part so confusing that they misspell words at times. Therefore, they support the reform or nativization of English spelling. Consequently, this article presents and illustrates proposed reformed spelling by deleting redundant letters, unnecessary clusters of letters, dropping useless silent letters, regularizing digraph, and spelling compound words in one form only. These changes will enhance spelling skills, teaching, reading, and writing in English as a Second Language.
Highlights
This article looks at the English spelling system against the background of Educated Nigerian English (ENE), stressing the need for the nativization and reform of English spelling to distinguish the variety called ENE from Standard British English (SBE) and American varieties and to enhance teaching and learning written communication in English as a Second Language (ESL) settings
In addition to concord errors, spelling errors annoy examiners and receive institutionalized penalty during English language paper examining in the West African Examination Council (WAEC), National Examination Council (NECO), General Certificate Examination (GCE), and in language and communication-based fields of study in higher institutions
This article deals with the perennial challenge of the confusing English spelling system and the necessity of spelling reform
Summary
This article looks at the English spelling system against the background of Educated Nigerian English (ENE), stressing the need for the nativization and reform of English spelling to distinguish the variety called ENE from Standard British English (SBE) and American varieties and to enhance teaching and learning written communication in English as a Second Language (ESL) settings. ENE application of spelling rules and punctuation marks has consistently remained British and sometimes American. Syntactic, and semantic variations may be condoned in ENE, spelling variations are treated as errors. A critical examination of the situation shows that the same psycho-sociolinguistic factors that cause grammatical and semantic variations cause spelling variations. This article critically examines the challenge of spelling in Nigerian English (NE) in particular and World English in general. Several research questions guided the examination of issues in this article: Do educated Nigerians misspell English words? Do educated Nigerians support spelling reform or nativization? What sorts of spelling reform do educated Nigerians prefer?
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
