Analysis of spelling errors in elementary school teacher education student papers at Mulawarman University: a study based on PUEBI

Abstract

This study aims to identify and discuss spelling errors made by students from the Elementary School Teacher Education Program at Mulawarman University, referring to the General Guidelines for Indonesian Spelling (PUEBI). This study uses a qualitative descriptive approach with a document analysis method. We selected two papers written by students in 2025 to obtain information from these papers, we conducted several studies and then examined the papers in five steps: we identified errors, we grouped them, we described them, and we tried to understand their meaning. Until we arrived at a conclusion. The results showed that there were 90 spelling errors found in both papers. Misuse of capital letters was the most common type of error found, namely 40 cases, followed by misspellings of words with 29 cases, and errors in the use of punctuation with 21 cases. These findings indicate that students' accuracy in self-editing still needs to be improved, as does their understanding of the application of Indonesian spelling rules. Thus, the results of this study are expected to be a consideration for lecturers in developing more effective academic writing learning strategies for prospective elementary school teachers.