For most teachers, dictation is a relic of the grammar-translation method that dominated language teaching until the last couple of decades of the 20th century. In the 1988 book Dictation: New Methods, New Possibilities, Davies and Rinvolucri talked about different attitudes towards dictation and how it was considered a “reprehensible and old-fashioned” method. But is dictation really only an age-old exercise? Or is it still useful and relevant in today’s language classroom?
More recently, Nation and Newton (2009) talk about how dictation continues positively contribute to language learning, provided it is used in a considered manner and allocated a suitable amount of time in the class.
As we all know, the traditional aim of dictation in class has been for students to write down what is said by the teacher, word for word, later checking their own text against the original and correcting the errors. All sorts of texts can be dictated, from single words of a vocabulary list to sentences from a dialogue to full paragraphs. The text can be anything: a poem, song, mini-story, anecdote or newspaper article. All teachers use dictation either regularly or from time to time in their teaching and they do it with a good reason. That is why we believe EFL teachers should reflect for a moment on the benefits students can get from dictation and on what dictation can actually do, as follows:
- can be an effective tool for working on accuracy and fluency in all four skills. (It practises first and foremost listening and writing skills and a range of sub-skills from letter formation to spelling, punctuation and layout; it also practises vocabulary, syntax, grammar and reading. (In short, it gives practice in almost everything);
- can develop speaking and pronunciation skills if the dictation is approached in a slightly different way (One idea would be for the students to do the dictating rather than the teacher);
- can increase students’ ability to notice aspects of the language that are sometimes overlooked, as well as spelling mistakes they commonly make. (The comparison also helps students to become better at identifying errors in their own written work);
- can be done with any level, depending on the text used;
- can be used with small and large groups, with homogeneous and mixed-level groups;
- can calm and quieten learners down;
- can provide teachers with feedback about the accuracy (for example, if the text contains lots of present perfect constructions and the students are not writing down the have or has part, this might be a clue that they need more grammar practice);
- can be used to reinforce or introduce particular structures or topics, to present the first paragraph of a text, to revise an area of vocabulary, to provide a summary of a reading or listening exercise;
- can help students become more aware of the mistakes they are making; (Increased awareness and noticing of the gap between their language use and target language use is a step in the learning process);
- can help students to learn unfamiliar language; (The memorisation and repetition process helps with learning);
- can be a truly integrative activity (The students listen, write down what they hear, read it to check it over, and then talk about what they have heard/written/read afterwards);
- can develop students’ self-evaluation and peer-evaluation skills;
- can help teachers manage their time better as it involves little preparation.
But what are the potential problems? Dictation is usually a challenge for EFL teachers because students may find it boring. That is why they have developed an aversion to dictation. Consequently, one problem that needs to be addressed is the perception that students may have of doing a dictation activity. It is important to ensure that teachers vary the ways they do dictation in class and encourage the students to focus on meaning as well as accuracy. Moreover, teachers and students should see these activities as learning experiences rather than simply testing the ability to listen and write down words and sentences. An alternative is using the well-known ‘running dictation’ technique which can be highly motivating and fun for the students.
A second common problem is that some students may find dictation more difficult than others, especially in the case of multi-level classes. One way of preventing this is to know how much of the dictation we expect our students to produce. (We can give weaker students gapped texts to fill in as they go along).
It is obvious that dictation does not work for everything or for everyone, but if it has a clear and unambiguous purpose, students will probably enjoy it. Only when it is used as an end in itself it will appear to be boring and a waste of time. With a little innovation and imagination, teachers can turn dictation into a flexible and entertaining activity.
References
www.teachingenglish.org.uk
www.expresspublishing.co.uk/
www.onestopenglish.com/
Davies, P., & Rinvolucri, M. (1988). Dictation: New methods, new possibilities. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Nation, I.S.P., & Newton, J. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL Listening and Speaking. London: Routledge.