ASSESSMENT OF SPELLING ERRORS IN STUDENTS' COMPOSITION WRITING IN QUA'AN-PAN LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA

ABSTRACT Spelling errors in composition writing can hinder communication and comprehension of written contents. There is a notable issue of spelling errors among secondary school students' composition writing. This study was conducted to assess spelling errors among senior secondary school students in Qua'an-Pan Local Government Area. The research design adopted for this study was the descriptive survey design. The total population of the study consisted of all the SS 2 students from Qua'an-Pan Local Government Area. The sample of the study consisted of 1 ()() students from four secondary schools. Each school had a sample of 25 students who participated in the exercise. The method of sampling applied in this work was the stratified random sampling technique, The instrument for data collection was an essay writing test. The method of data analysis was simple percentage. The findings revealed that the types of misspellings found in the students' writing were omission, substitution. misordering, and addition. The highest frequency of errors in spellings in students' writing was omission, followed by addition errors, with misordering and substitution being less common. In line with the findings of the study, it was recommended, among others that students should be properly acquainted with the morphological rules of English to forestall inflectional omission errors in writing. Additionally, teachers should take their time to teach students oral English, as correct pronunciation could significantly aid in correct spelling