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Dear Richard
The Cambridge Learner Corpus is exactly what you describe. Cambridge have used it as a basis for a number of products, including this worksheet, which might be useful for E3 or above.
The ESOL Exemplars file produced by SfL more than a decade ago should contain exactly this kind of thing, but sadly the texts they use to illustrate typical performance at E1-L2 contain remarkably few spelling mistakes. The first of the two E2 examples is perhaps the most useful.
Personal experience from pre-Entry upwards - there are several “minimal pairs” which cause problems when spelling (like “form” and “from”, as Dominic identified). Including,
· “then” and “than”
· “end” and “and”
· “quiet” and “quite” – this one is so common that it’s more noteworthy to find a learner, even at E2 or above, who doesn’t confuse the two words
· “two”, “to” and “too”
· “sun” and “son”
· “the” and “they”
· “bed” and “bad”
Other words that can cause problems:
· because.
· double consonants (as covered in the Cambridge PDF above)
· final “e” in “make”, “like”, “hope”, “use”
I’ve found adapting phonics techniques used in primary schools (such as RML) can be useful in helping learners to identify spelling patterns, especially of vowel sounds. I also use High Frequency wordlists, as used in primary schools (eg http://www.highfrequencywords.org/first-100-high-frequency-word-list-precursive.html ) , when planning pre-Entry ESOL/Literacy activities.
Best wishes
Eleanor
From: ESOL-Research discussion forum and message board [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Richard Gresswell
Sent: 10 April 2014 10:18
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Wordlist / Corpus - Difficult to spell words
Hi Nicholas, All
What might be useful here would be a corpus of learner written texts as opposed to a corpus of difficult words to spell. From such a corpus we would see which words cause the most difficulty to learners of English. I was wondering if there is such a corpus in existence?
Best wishes
Richard
From: Dominic Clarke <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Thursday, 10 April 2014, 10:08
Subject: Re: Wordlist / Corpus - Difficult to spell words
Hello Nicholas
I find that with the students I have taught L1 interference and other
factors can mean small words are often difficult or confused with
other small words , some examples from my own experience :
from confused with from
send/sand ( difficulty in distinguishing these vowel sounds in speech
leads to confusion in writing )
on confused with no ( possible influence of L1 eg Arabic first language
leads to confusion of left/right orientation )
kind spelled as knid
play spelled as pelay , gram/geram ( consonant cluster which has
no correspondence in L1 )
interesting spelled as intresting ( silent vowel ignored, L1 may have
strong correspondence between sounds and writing )
And so on
Regards
Dominic
Date: Thu, 10 Apr 2014 08:47:47 +0000
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Wordlist / Corpus - Difficult to spell words
To: [log in to unmask]
Hi Nik
I guess what counts as "difficult to spell" depends on the level you are looking at and the individual. I'd be interested to hear of any corpus or other sources of lists ; however, my experience is that what is difficult to spell is very individual -for many of my dyslexic learners, it is short words such as how/who which are frequently more problematic than so called difficult words like "necessary" or " accommodation".
Recently a family member has been taking the Professional skills tests for teachers and I have been looking online at spellings identified as essential for passing that test, e.g. http://www.passtheqtsskillstests.co.uk/Spellings%20you%20should%20know%20for%20the%20QTS%20Literacy%20Test.pdf
With my students, I sometimes use the lists of commonly misspelt words in Functional skills practice workbooks, e.g. Roslyn Whitley Willis FS English Level 2. However, we more frequently use words which they consistently have problems with, which would not necessarily be considered "difficult".
I look forward to other postings.
Ros Wright
Dyslexia Specialist Tutor
Tel: 0800 111 6311 | Ext: 1086 | DDI: 0121 702 1086 | www.sccb.ac.uk 
South and City College Birmingham
Digbeth Campus
High Street Deritend
Digbeth
Birmingham
B5 5SU
From: ESOL-Research discussion forum and message board <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Nicholas Peachey <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 10 April 2014 08:54
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Wordlist / Corpus - Difficult to spell words
Can anyone help me find a corpus / wordlist of difficult to spell words??
Best
Nik Peachey | Learning Technology Consultant, Writer, Trainer
My Digital Classrooms Book: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/digital-classrooms-online-video
On Teacher Development: http://nikpeachey.blogspot.com/
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*********************************** ESOL-Research is a forum for researchers and practitioners with an interest in research into teaching and learning ESOL. ESOL-Research is managed by James Simpson at the Centre for Language Education Research, School of Education, University of Leeds. To join or leave ESOL-Research, visit http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/ESOL-RESEARCH.html To contact the list owner, send an email to [log in to unmask]
*********************************** ESOL-Research is a forum for researchers and practitioners with an interest in research into teaching and learning ESOL. ESOL-Research is managed by James Simpson at the Centre for Language Education Research, School of Education, University of Leeds. To join or leave ESOL-Research, visit http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/ESOL-RESEARCH.html To contact the list owner, send an email to [log in to unmask]
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