Dictation

by Ayman Abou Karoum

I always remember when being a student having to do some boring listening and somehow tiring writing for about half an hour or so for what used to be called “Dictation”. We, as students, had to listen attentively for the teacher reading a text – of his choice. After the first reading we started writing, and as the teacher finished dictating us, he went for a final reading and students checked through and what was worse of all the task given as homework and assigned for a specific day to do “auto-dictation” .

Dictation has been used, as we know, for teaching the structure (morphology and syntax) of the new language according to the Grammar/Translation method; and for teaching the sounds and spellings in the traditional Direct Method. However, dictation hold within much more than this.

Advantages of Dictation

1. Dictation can help develop all four language skills in an integrative way.

2. As students develop their aural comprehension of meaning and also of the relationship among segments of language, they are learning grammar.

3. Dictation helps to develop short-term memory. Students practice retaining meaningful phrases or whole sentences before writing them down.

4. Practice in careful listening to dictation will be useful later on in note taking exercises.

5. Correcting dictation can lead to oral communication.

6. If the students do well, dictation is motivating.

7. Dictation involves the whole class, no matter how large it is.

8. During and after the dictation, all the students are active.

9. Correction can be done by the students.

10. Dictation can be prepared for mixed ability groups.

11. The students, as well as the teacher, can get instant feedback (if the exercise is corrected immediately).

12. The dictation passage can (and should) be completely prepared in advance. (It can also be taped.)

13. Dictation can be administered quite effectively by an inexperienced teacher.

14. While dictating, the teacher can move about, giving individual attention.

15. If a meangful text is to be given for the students, it would be a good oportunity for the teacher to construct one that revises the spelling rules and the vocabulary words taught.

When the dictation consists of reading a text:

1. The voice should be audible (neither low nor high).

2. At first read the whole text at a normal speed and the students are asked just to listen.

3. Asking general questions about the text would help to call for the students' attention and craete interest in the text.

4. The teacher reads a complete sentence at a normal speed, before s/he divides the sentence into meaningful chunks (never read word by word).

5. When the sentence is divided into chunks, and the teacher is sure all the students have finished writing it, s/e repeats reading it at a normal speed.

6. The students are given a little time to review their writing before the teacher reads the text for the last time at a normal speed.

7. When the teacher finishes reading, s/he selects some students (3-4) from different corners of the room to read the whole text aloud in order to confirm that the reading was clearly audible by all the students.

Dictation activities:

1. Passing the Buck (also known as Roulette Dictation)

a. Students sit in groups of four.

b. T. reads the whole text at as normal pace one time.

c. T. dictates the first sentence.

d. Once the students have finished, they pass their copybooks clockwise.

e. The student now underlines and corrects any mistake s/he thinks is committed in the copybook s/he has received.

f. T. dictates the second sentence and the procedure continues.

g. The students work in groups of four correcting the texts they have ended up with until they are satisfied that they have a correct text.

h. At the end the teacher gives out copies of the correct text so that students compare what they have written with the original.

2. Correct Me

a. The teacher distributes a dictation text with underlined words to indicate that they are misspelled.

b. Students in pairs or individually try to correct these words.

c. The teacher distributes the original copy.

Variation: To make this dictation a bit more challenging the teacher may leave it to the students to guess which words are wrong to correct.

3. The Messenger and the Scribe

a. The dictation text is cut into meaningful sentences and pasted on the walls of the classroom.

b. The students are organized into groups of 4 -5, and each member in the group is named a letter (A-B-C-D)

c. In order a student from each group leaves his place to read the first sentence of the text.

d. After reading, s/he gets close to his group to dictate and write what s/he has read.

e. Another student from the group follows the same steps with the second sentence.

f. The teacher distributes the original text to the students to check their writings.

4. Cheating with mime

a. Have a copy of a text which lends itself to mime - the example below is for an elementary class.

b. Group the students, standing up, in a tight circle. Read through the text at normal speed. It is not important at this stage for the students to understand everything - the initial read through is just to focus attention on the text.

c. Now read the text a second time line by line. After each line pause and elicit an 'action' from the students.

(for example: If the line is 'open the can' then the students should mime opening a can, etc. ). Help with a little mime yourself if the students get stuck.

a. Read through a third time quickly again with all the students miming.

d. Finally, pair the students and have them sit down with a copy between each pair of the cloze type text below.

THE COKE MACHINE ROUND THE CORNER

You're standing in front of the Coke machine.

Put your hand into your back pocket.

Take out three 10p coins.

Put them in one by one

You hear the machine click. Choose your drink and press the button.

You hear a terrible groan from the constipated machine. Clunk! A can drops down.

Pick it up.

Open the can.

It squirts Coke in your face.