ACTIVITY 3

SPLIT
DICTATION

Nation (1996) advises that for a language course to be deemed effective, it must assist
learners in developing a “fluent use of known language items over the four skills of
listening, speaking, reading and writing”. Split Dictation involves two gapped versions of a
text or, in this case, sentences, in which the individual has differing gaps from the other.
This barrier activity involves a heavy emphasis on collaborative learning to complete and
fill in the blanks for the parts they do not have (Gibbons, 2015).

Firstly, the two-way gap prompts students to practice their pronunciation of known words
by speaking to their partner, as well as their reading skills as they utilize their knowledge of
phonemes. Secondly, this activity is beneficial for the development of their listening skills as
they must focus on what their partner is saying in order to fulfill their information gap.
Finally, the activity encourages the practice of writing in SAE as they are encouraged to
write down either the main or subordinate clause to complete their sentence in comparison
to simply joining the sentences together (Centre of Applied Linguistics, n.d.). The act of
writing words in “contextualized, connected sentences” increases the likelihood of spelling
retention as it moves away from isolated word learning (Oakley & Fellowes, 2016 as cited in
Robinson-Kooi & Hammond, 2020). Through these written compositions, students also
practice their punctuation skills using cues from either clause to inform their placement.
For example, opening and closing quotation marks, capital letters, and full stops are critical
as they act as cues to assist an individual’s placement to the matching clause.

This style of communicative activity also facilitates the discussions of differing perspectives
because different learners interact with one another, some of which may be of mixed
ability to their partner, who brings another level of understanding with them (Thornbury,
1997). It is also beneficial as it promotes trial and error, and negotiations with their partner
as they highlight mismatches which then triggers restructuring (Thornbury, 1997).

Overall, split dictation utilizes all four skills necessary to reach Phase 3 of the ACARA’S
EAL/D Learning Progression as they continue their development in both oral and print
literacy (2012).
 Activity 3

SPLIT DICTATION

Teaching Notes:

Subordinate Conjunctions are defined as words or phrases that link a dependent clause to
an independent clause. An independent clause can stand alone and does not require
additional information for it to operate as a sentence. A dependent clause adds extra
information and is not a complete sentence on its own. Conjunctions, therefore, join these
ideas together to create a functional, meaningful, and complex sentence.

The two focus subordinate conjunctions in this activity are before and because. The word
'before' suggests a time relationship between the two clauses and the word 'because'
indicates reasoning.

Instructions:

1. Teacher to print out the clauses below and cut then jumble.
2. Students are to work in pairs to match the following main and subordinate clauses
together considering the conjunction words - before and because.
3. The student with the main clause will read this aloud and the other student will find the
corresponding subordinate clause.
4. Once the pair have found the match, students will paste their clause into their
workbook and complete the rest of the sentence in written form without looking at the
cutout but rather using their listening and writing skills.
5. As an extension task, teachers can remove the conjunction word and ask students to
discuss why it is one or the other.
Activity 3

SPLIT DICTATION

I was a Chinese Merchant", recalled Uncle Beng.