See the hole in the pictured element....

This is probably the most common way for an oven element to go bad....a spot in the element gets weak ( may even glow brighter in that spot before the element actually quits ) and blows a hole through itself and the outer shell. This sparking/arcing may remind you of an sparkler you use on the 4th of July ( USA ) or Victoria Day ( Canada ). If this happens to your oven element = new element time.

 Tips on changing a common bake element

What a common element is made up from....

Parts help:

Link for range parts from P&C

Link for range elements from A1Parts