The Variations of Spelling in the Standard Form of Information Technology Transliteration of Undergraduate Students in Different Program.

Abstract

This study aims to (1) study the variations of spelling in the standard form of information technology transliteration and (2) compare the spelling variations in the standard form of information technology transliteration used by the 30 fourth-year students from the department of Thai, English, and Information and Communication Technology, Mahidol University.

It is found that students correctly spell the standard form of information technology transliteration according to the Royal Institute’s transliteration for 31.13%, while another 68.87% of the students misspell the words. The variations of the misspelled transliteration are classified into three characteristics: addition, substraction, and change of form. These characteristics occur to consonants, vowels, tones, markers and spacing. It is also found that the most variable transliterated word has 23 spelling variations. The cause of the misspelling are twofolds: first, students spell the words according to their own pronunciation. Second, students spell the words according to media.

Furthermore, the comparison of the spelling variations between the three groups of students shows that the students from the department of Thai misspell the words with the highest percentage. But the percentage of the variations of the three groups of students is not statistically significant.