IN THE CLASSROOM
Dictation
diversity
Ana García-Stone demonstrates that dictation has moved on since she was at school.
W
hen I was learning French at school, we often
had to do dictation. The teacher read out a
text very slowly, and we had to write it down,
word for word. We then gave our texts to the
teacher who would subtract one mark for
every word that was spelled wrong. It was all rather dull and
time-consuming. Fortunately, teachers now use dictation for
many reasons other than merely consolidating spelling, and I
have found that if it is used judiciously and the dictation text
is exploited in a variety of different ways, it can be an activity
that students enjoy.
Reasons for using dictations
Here are some things that dictation can be used for:
■■ integrating the skills of listening, writing, reading and
speaking
consolidating grammatical knowledge
■■
■■ introducing a grammar point
■■ developing editing skills
■■ providing prompts for other activities, eg paired speaking
The advantages of dictation are that it can be used with any
size of class, and stronger students can help weaker ones. In
addition, a short dictation can be used to arouse interest in a
topic which is going to be covered, or a text that is going to be
read. It is also a useful activity because it requires little in the
way of resources – apart from the students’ notebooks and pens
and, of course, a text.
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There are, however, some things that need to be
remembered when using dictation:
■■ It is a good idea to read the text at normal speed, to help
develop the students’ listening skills. If a sentence is too
long, break it up into units of meaning.
■■ You need to choose a text that is appropriate to the activity,
paying particular attention to the length.
■■ Think about who will correct the written text and how.
■■ Give the dictation a context, eg a title, and ask the students
to predict the content first.
■■ Follow Paul Davis and Mario Rinvolucri’s tips for reading
out loud: make sure you can be heard and that you are easy
to listen to; gauge the speed you read at; make eye contact
if you can; look interested in what you’re reading; raise and
lower your voice where appropriate, and remember to pause.
Different dictations
Dictation has certainly moved on since the days when I was
learning French, and there are now many different techniques
and styles to use. Here is a list of different types of dictation
which I have used with my students:
1 Dictogloss
In a dictogloss, the students reconstruct the text they hear,
rather than merely writing down word for word what the
teacher says. Ruth Wajnryb’s excellent book on the subject has
a selection of texts, organised by grammar point and level.
Issue 114 • January 2018 47
IN THE CLASSROOM
Give the text a context, either through the title or by
eliciting what the students know about the topic. In order to get
my students to engage with the content, I sometimes give them
a question and they listen to the text once to find the answer
without writing anything.
Once you get to the dictation stage, explain to the students
that you will read the text at normal speed without stopping,
so they must listen carefully and make notes of key words
(usually nouns and verbs). Put the students in groups of three
or four, read the text a couple of times and then allow them to
work together to try to reconstruct it. Insist that their version
must be as close to the original as possible.
You can read the text as often as the students need, but
always at normal speed. Don’t choose a long text, as the
activity may become too time-consuming and laborious. I
usually find that four or five sentences are plenty. I use this type
of dictation to give a context for a grammar point, which we
can go on to discuss after we have finished the activity.
2 Running dictations
In this type of dictation, the students work in groups and
dictate a text to each other.
Place several copies of the same text in different places in
the classroom. Put the students into groups and tell them
which particular text they are to read (make sure the texts are
at an equal distance for each group). One student at a time
from each group runs to the text, reads a sentence, returns to
the group and dictates that sentence. Make sure the students
take turns to run to the text and to write. This can be done as
a race and can get noisy! If you like, the text can have gaps, in
which case, once the students have finished writing out the
text, they then fill in the gaps.
3 A/B/C or three-way dictations
Put the students into groups of three and give each student a
colour, eg within each group, one student might be red, another
yellow and the third blue. Dictate different sentences from a text
to each colour, reading the sentences in a jumbled order. You
need to keep track of which sentences you’re reading as there will
be three sentences on the go at any time. Once the students have
written down their sentences, they work together to put them in
the correct order. Give each student three or four sentences each.
This dictation is excellent for storytelling, and you can check the
answers by having the students read the text in the correct order.
4 Paired dictations
The students work in pairs and there are two options: one is
for Student A to dictate a text to Student B and then they
correct it together; alternatively, Student A and Student B
have the same text but with different gaps in it so they dictate
the missing information to one another. Students enjoy this
activity as it gives them some autonomy and they can be
‘teacher’ when they correct their partner’s work.
5 Dictations as a prompt
When I set up a controlled speaking activity, I often dictate the
prompts. This serves two purposes: the students develop their
listening skills and have a model of the target language in their
48 Issue 114 • January 2018
notebooks. For a focus on conditionals, I dictate one half of a
sentence, eg If my partner found some money in the street, ... or
My partner would scream if ... . Each student completes the
sentence for their partner without speaking to them, and then
checks if their sentence is correct, eg I think if you found some
money in the street, you’d keep it and spend it on clothes. The
students then measure how well they know their partner by
seeing how many sentences they completed ‘correctly’.
6 Drawing dictations
These types of dictation are useful with young learners as the
students don’t have to write anything. You describe something,
and the students have to draw what you describe. This is useful
for practising shapes, prepositions or directions. You can check
the answers by asking the students to describe what they have
drawn. You then draw it on the board, and they can see if their
drawings match yours.
Alternatively, the students can describe their room or house to
a partner who has to draw it. My students enjoy doing this, as it
personalises the activity.
Finally, here is an idea from a colleague of mine, Janet Prior,
which she uses with young learners.
The students draw a grid with nine squares and the teacher
asks them to draw something in each square, eg a colour which
shows how they feel that day; their best friend’s name; a word
with the sound ‘ee’, etc. Depending on the level, they can be
asked to draw or write; for differentiated tasks, the students can
be asked to do either.
This activity can be used for assessment, to find if the
students have learnt certain items of vocabulary.
Texts for dictations
Both the books in the references section below have suitable
texts for dictation. Other useful resources are your coursebook
(either the opening paragraph or the first few sentences of a
reading text or story) and newspapers, particularly those that
have a ‘News in brief’ section.
t t t
There are other possible types of dictations, but those
described in this article are ones that I have used successfully
with my students.
Davis, P and Rinvolucri, M Dictation: New Methods, New Possibilities
CUP 1989
Wajnryb, R Grammar Dictation OUP 1990
Ana García-Stone is a teacher and teacher
trainer at the British Council, Madrid
Teaching Centre, Spain. She also works on
Diploma-level courses and CPD, and she
has run short courses in the UK, Lisbon,
Vietnam and India, and in different teaching
centres in Spain.
anagarciastone@britishcouncil.org
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