LISTENING DICTATION

Why is it so useful?

by Arun Warszawski January 20, 2013

Watching TV, listening to the radio, doing listening practice tests or course book exercises are all excellent ways of improving your comprehension. However, the single most useful listening exercise I have ever done for my own language learning and, I would like to think, for that of my students, is listening dictation. The beauty of this exercise is that it's self-paced and, yet, students will listen intently again and again to the same section, priming themselves for valuable language discovery. It helps students make sense of what can often sound at first like a string of meaningless connected sounds. It shows each student the value of understanding and also producing a more native-speaker-like pronunciation. This is particularly evident when it comes to minimal pairs and "simple" words such as articles, auxiliary verbs and prepositions. Often, it's challenging to find a way to get students to focus on these elements. And, of course, this exercise also allows each student to identify problematic grammatical structures, new expressions and spelling issues that pop up. With the right listening sample, this exercise will really challenge students of any level to go beyond just understanding gist. Is it enjoyable for students? I've had very mixed responses. Some have loved it, a few have hated it, but most recognise its value. For me, it all comes down to my belief in its value as a learning tool for my students. LESSON PREP Choosing the sample Start by choosing a juicy sample, approximately 1 minute in length (between 50 seconds and 1:30 is good). The most simple way is to take it from your course book CD. It could also be from TV shows, radio, online news videos etc. My personal favourite has been to use BBC news videos because they can be more interesting for students, they can be used as part of a separate online research activity on another day and theyre easily accessible outside of class for homework. Whatever sample you choose (course book, video etc.), you will need to put it on 3 separate CDs, computers or mp3 devices, or a combination of these. Personally, I think it's good to cut the minute sample out and not just give students a full CD or a 5-minute video where, for example, they might get distracted. However, I know other teachers who have successfully done this and, thus, saved themselves a lot of time by not cutting the sample out. For advice on editing samples and other related issues, see TECH ISSUES below.

Preparing the script If youre taking your sample from the course book, youll probably have the script already available at the back of one of the books. But whether you photocopy it from the back or type it up yourself, it is important to check that it is exactly the same as what is said. For example, scripts are occasionally inaccurate, and they dont always reproduce stuttering, repetition or sounds like um... and er.... These elements might seem inconsequential but, because they can throw students off, I think they are important. In short, the script is usually fine but check it carefully. THE LESSON Set up Form three groups of 3-5 students (one groups for a smaller class). I have experimented with having mixed-ability groups and having stronger/weaker groups: on the whole, I find the latter the most effective. In mixed groups, a stronger student will occasionally dominate and/or become frustrated. Conversely, a group of stronger students will often challenge each other and a weaker group will work at an appropriately slower pace. Before sending groups off to their three separate rooms/spaces, explain that they need a pen and paper and that they're going to listen to a 1-minute sample. They must work together to write down every word they can with correct spelling, and EACH student must write (this is important - if only one student writes for each group, the exercise is much less effective). The aim is to try to get every single word. They can listen to each part as many times as they like but they can also move on if they have no idea. Give them as long as they need (usually between 30 and 45 minutes). Monitoring Move from group to group to make sure students are on task and that there are no technical problems. I try not to interfere or help students with the actual task itself because it's the process of trying and trying and trying which prepares students for the "discovery" of the script at the end. Pacing When each group finishes, tell them that they can keep revising what they've done or simply chat; but tell them they will not get the script until ALL groups have finished (this puts the onus back on the faster groups to decide for themselves what to do). When all groups have finished, give a copy of the script to each student, tell them to correct their OWN work thoroughly (spelling included), and to take their time doing so. This is the "discovery" part. Tell them to stay where they are and explain that you will collect them when all groups are ready and bring them back into the classroom. Follow-up exercise 1 When you bring students back to the classroom, form new groups of 3 before students sit down (1 student from each of the old groups). Students then sit in groups

and discuss "which parts were easy/hard" with their new group. This is a very simple task but it's veeery useful and sometimes fun (students have a laugh about what they did/didn't understand). Follow-up exercise 2 Listen through once together. Tell students to read the script while they listen. Dont press pause or repeat parts; even though this would be really useful, students are usually too burnt out by this stage. And that's that! Additional exercises (same day) Additional same-day follow-up exercises have generally fallen flat for my classes. Considering the long and intense nature of the main exercise, I assume that this is a simple case of burnout. Instead, I assign the following homework: students simple read the script again and study the difficult parts. If its an online video, I ask them to watch it again. I also invite anyone of my students to borrow and take home one of my burnt CDs if Ive made any. Additional exercises (next day) To follow up the next day, I have made gap fill exercises focusing on trouble spots in the script. This doesn't seem to be remotely as enjoyable/challenging/exciting for students as the main task but I think it provides important revision. If you have more exciting ways of revising, go for it! The final frontier In my own language learning, I have then gone on to memorise and repeat the script while listening to the sample. This has been priceless for my speed, pronunciation and general fluency, not to mention the vocabulary and grammatical structures that I have internalised as a result. Despite suggesting to students that they do this in their own time, I have rarely had anyone follow this advice :( It goes without saying that I haven't tried this in class, either. If anyone does succeed in getting students to do this, please let me know how! TECH ISSUES Lots of things can go wrong, for example double-booked rooms and equipment problems, so this is not an activity to whip out at the last minute. That said, if you set things up in advance and give it a go once a week, you and your students will reap the rewards. Cutting out the sample (the simplest solution) Cutting out a sample from TV or online videos can require a bit of technical knowhow and software to extract the audio... If this is not your thang, then I have a few simple suggestions to avoid this process altogether:

 Find a track on your course book CD thats already the right length and copy it onto 3 CDs or 3 computers; OR find a video thats already the right length and set it up on 3 computers. Cutting out the sample (more complicated) If you have a longer track on a CD and, like me, you prefer to cut out the sample, heres the simplest way to do it in iTunes (note: this will not work for videos): 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Copy the track you're interested in from your CD to iTunes Right click on track Click "Get Info" Click "Options" tab Choose an appropriate "Start Time" and "Stop Time" for your sample (where possible, I like to leave a second of silence before and after because Ive occasionally had CD players that dont play the first second) 6) Click "OK" 7) Right click on track 8) Click "Create mp3 version" (this will create a new version which starts and stops where you told it to. At this stage, you might like to unclick the "Start Time" and "Stop Time" for the OLD version so that it goes back to normal!) 9) Rename your new mp3 version so you dont get confused with the old one 10) Finally, burn 3 CDs with your new sample (or put it onto three mp3 devices OR put it in iTunes on 3 computer stations OR any combination of the above) Computers and mp3 devices For mp3 devices and spaces where headphones are necessary (i.e. shared computer labs) you will need a headphone splitter so that more than one person can listen at a time. I bought myself one from JB HiFi for about $20 which splits into 5 headphone outputs. Each student will also need earphones/headphones (most students carry a pair with them but I always set things up in case they don't). Also, if using your iPhone, turn it on "Flight Mode" so students don't receive your phone calls/text messages!). Finally, Id like to say a massive thank you to Kyle Smith for his inspiring PD session a number of years ago on listening dictation which got me started on the topic. Good luck to anyone willing to give it a go and please feel free to contact me with any queries/comments at arun.sol.warszawski@gmail.com