Dictation

A technique in which the teacher reads a text aloud and learners write down what they hear. Despite its reputation as old-fashioned, dictation simultaneously tests and develops listening, spelling, punctuation, and grammar. It has experienced a revival as research confirms its effectiveness for developing sound-spelling connections and Bottom-up Processing skills.

Standard Procedure

1. First reading: Teacher reads the whole text (100–150 words) at normal speed. Learners listen without writing, building a mental model of the text.
2. Dictation reading: Teacher reads phrase by phrase (5–7 words per chunk), pausing after each for learners to write. Chunks follow natural phrase boundaries, not arbitrary word counts.
3. Checking reading: Teacher reads the whole text again at normal speed. Learners check and correct their work.
4. Marking: Learners compare against the original text. Teacher discusses common errors.

Why It Works

• Sound-spelling connection: Dictation directly practises the mapping between spoken and written forms, a persistent difficulty for English learners
• Bottom-up Processing: Learners must decode individual sounds, words, and phrases, training the fine-grained processing that underpins real-world listening
• Grammar in context: Function words, articles, prepositions, and inflections, often lost in casual listening, must be heard and written accurately
• Active listening: Unlike comprehension questions (which can be answered from gist), dictation requires processing every word
• Consolidation: Works best with texts containing mostly familiar vocabulary, strengthening partly known language rather than introducing new items

Variations

Variation	Description
Running Dictation	Text on wall; runner memorises and dictates to writer
Dictogloss (technique)	Text read at speed; learners reconstruct collaboratively from fragments
Guided dictation	Content words on board; learners focus on function words and grammar
Peer dictation	Learners read to each other
Completion dictation	Progressive versions with increasing words missing
Perfect dictation	Same text repeated over several days, aiming for 100%
Unexploded dictation	Recorded at normal speed; learners control playback

Design Considerations

• Use texts with mostly familiar vocabulary; dictation consolidates known language
• Read at phrase boundaries, not word by word; unnatural pausing distorts prosody
• Have learners use a different-coloured pen during checking to make self-corrections visible
• About once every two weeks is a reasonable frequency
• Dictation is not a test; it is a learning activity. The checking and correction stage is where the learning happens.

Listening Subskills Practised

Dictation develops discrimination of individual sounds, recognition of word boundaries in connected speech, perception of grammatical morphemes (plurals, tense endings), and awareness of punctuation cues in intonation.