DICTATION

Nabielah A. Dagandar
Mindanao State University-Maguindanao
Graduate School
Objectives

 To define what dictation is

 To recognize the advantages and disadvantages of dictation
 To track what skills does dictation measure
 To provide sample activities and online links of dictation
 To determine the difference of Dictation from Dictogloss and
Dicto-comp
What do you
know about
DICTATION?
Description

-is a decoding-recoding activity.

-is psychologically real system
that sequentially orders
linguistic elements in time and
in relation to extralinguistic
context in meaningful ways
(Oller, 1979).
 WHAT ARE THE
COMMON OBJECTIONS
TO DICTATION?
Objections to Dictation

It might cause high affective filter especially for

“frightened”, “insecure” learners.

It doesn’t require any talent nor information on

the part of the teacher.

It’s only the aural skills that are developed in

dictations.

It is old-fashioned, boring, uncommunicative and

teacher centered.
But, is dictation Is it really old-
without any fashioned and
merit? uncommunicative?
 “Decoding the sounds of
English and recoding them in
writing is a major learning
task.”
-Davis and Rinvolucri (1998)
“Dictation can be an effective way to
address grammatical errors in writing
that may be the result of erroneous
aural perception of English…..
Dictation can help students to
diagnose and correct these kinds of
errors as well as others.”
-Frodesen (1991)
Advantages of Dictation
1. Dictation makes the students and the teacher aware of the students’
comprehension errors—phonological, grammatical, or both.
2. It shows students the kinds of spelling errors they are prone to make.
3. It gives students practice in comprehending and transcribing clear
English prose.
4. It gives students valuable practice in note-taking.
5. It gives practice in correct forms of speech.
6. It can help develop all four language skills in an integrative way.
7. It helps to develop short-term memory.
8. It can serve as an excellent review exercise.
9. It is psychologically powerful and challenging.
10.It fosters unconscious thinking in the new language.
Advantages of Dictation

11. It involves the whole class, no matter what.

12. During and after the dictation, all students are active.
13. Correction can be done by the students.
14. It can be prepared for any level.
15. It can be administered quite effectively by an inexperienced
teacher.
 DICTATION, Dicto-
comp and Dictogloss?
Are they distinct from one
another?
 Dictation, Dictocomp, and Dictogloss

Dicto-comp and Dictogloss

are VARIANTS of Dictation.

(Paul Nation, 1991) DICTOCOMP focuses on the mental

The main difference between Dictation and process of listening, without interference
Dicto-comp is that in DICTATION the from the process of writing.
learners have to remember a phrase of DICTOGLOSS in contrast of the dicto-
several words as accurately as possible. In comp, does entail note taking.
DICTOCOMP the learners have to
remember the ideas in a text that is more
than a hundred words long and express
them in the words of the original or in their
own words.
 Types of Dictation
A. Questions to Statements
-Dictate a question and ask the
students to change to
statements.
B. Changing Tenses
-Dictate sentences or texts in
the present tense, for example,
and ask the students to change to
the past, making any other
necessary changes.
C. Cloze Dictation
-Select a short text for dictation.
Delete every sixth word, or all the
prepositions or articles, etc.
-Give each student a copy of the
prepared passage (with the
blanks), or write it on the board
for the students to copy.
-Read the passage while the
students fill in the blanks with the
missing words.
D. “Paired Dictation Combined with
Composition
-Choose two-paragraph story. Duplicate
(write out) one set of Paragraph 1 for half
the class, and one set of Paragraph 2 for
the other half.
-Ask the students to work in pairs. Give a
copy of paragraph 1 to student 1 in each
pair.
-Student 1 dictates the P1 to S2; then S2
dictates the P2 to S1.
-Students check each other’s work on the
dictation.
Then the pairs work together to compose
the P3.
-Titles and paragraphs may be read aloud
and discussed.
E. Numbers
F. Dictation Quiz Games
-Dictate 3 or 4 sentences that either tell a
story or give information about someone
or something. Then read a series of
statements based on the above sentences.
Ask the students to listen and decide
whether each statement is true (T), false
(F), or possible (P). Then each student
writes his/her version of the passage
trying to remember all the facts and
trying to use appropriate vocabulary and
grammar.
G. Dicto-comp
H. Dictogloss
I. Acting Out the Story
- Choose a short story no longer
than half a page, that lends
itself to acting out or
pantomime. Read the story
slowly and clearly, acting it out
as you read, and pausing
between sentences. Ask a
student to volunteer to do the
acting out, while you read the
story a second time.
Next, distribute copies of the
story, so the students can read
along with you the third time.
Now, have the students turn the
page over. This time,
pantomime the story, (acting it
out without reading it). Ask the
students to write one sentence
for each action. Have individual
students read their sentences
aloud or put them on the board
for correction and discussion.
J. Running Dictations
-Photocopy examples of the text. Pin the examples up on the walls.
Explain that each group or pair must choose one person to write
down the dictated text. Explain that the other members of the
group will go and read the text on the wall, call them runners if
you like. Runners remember as much as they can and dictate it to
the scribe. You continue like this until the group has written down
the whole version of your text. Monitor for excessive cheating and
other naughtiness. The group that finishes first is the winner.
Giving and Scoring of Dictation

1. The first reading is at normal speed. The testee

just listens.
2. The second reading is divided into thought
groups or phrases. The testee writes the text.
Sufficient pauses are allowed between phrases.
3. The testee checks the passage while 3rd reading is
done with short pauses at the end of each
sentence.
4. Last reading is at normal speed allowing students
to gain confidence.
 Common Errors in Dictation

1. Miss-hearing Sounds
E.g.: Teacher says: I saw a ship.
Students write: I saw a sheep.
2. Wrong Forms
E.g.: Boxes may be heard as box is.
3. More Missing Grammatical Clues
E.g.: Teacher dictates: He ate an orange.
Students write: He ate and orange.
4. Errors of Omission
E.g.: Teacher dictates: Is it an interesting book?
Student writes: It an interesting book? or Is an
interesting book?
5. Errors of Addition or Insertion
E.g.: Teacher dictates: Do you think history is an interesting subject?
Student writes: Do you think the history is an interesting subject?
6. Creative Errors
E.g.: One student is assigned the task of listening to the weather report, wrote: “For
the Washington and Senate” instead of “For Washington and vicinity” which seemed
logical to the student.
7. Mechanical Errors
These are errors of capitalization, punctuation, and spelling.
 Online Dictation Links:
1. Learn English Network-
http://www.learnenglish.de/dictationpage.htm
2. Handouts-
http://www.smic.be/smic5022/handoutsgrammarand.htm
3. Using Picture Dictation-
http://iteslj.org/Techniques/leong-Dictation.html
4. Interactive Dictation Exercises-
http://ressources-cla.univf-comte.fr/english/listen_index.htm
5. Real English Interactive Dictation Exercises (beginners)-
http://ressources-cla.univ-fcomte.fr/english/dictations/realenglish/realindex.htm
6. Homophone Spelling Exercises-
http://spelling.wordpress.com/2007/08/09/dictation-exercises-homophone-spelling-practice/
7. Dictation Practice-
http://web.uvic.ca/hrd/hist455/dictation/index.htm
Thank You…