Dictations are fun!

No, I haven’t gone insane. I really think they are. On top, dictations are also powerful EFL teaching tools if used judiciously.

Yes, I know. The very sound of the word DICTATION can immediately make some go red with embarrassment. Others may shudder with trepidation.

Nervous sweat rolling down your brow. Clasping and unclasping your hands. The monotonous voice of the teacher lulling you to sleep. And all those incomprehensible French and Latin looking words you can’t and never will be able to spell: opprobrium, abstinence, acquiesce and trousseau. What are they even supposed to mean?!

You would very much like to formally plead the teacher to be mag-na-ni-mous and to spare you the suffering if only you knew how to spell the damn word…

Sounds familiar?

Now a teacher yourself, you’ve probably been trying to save your students from going through the same trauma, long ago banning any form of dictation from your classroom. If you indeed have, then open the barred classroom door just a little, please.

Dictations are great teaching tools, especially in a one-to-one setting. Some of their often unnoticed advantages are:

extra listening practice
zoom in on a language point
vary the pace of the class
on the spot language reformulation
pronunciation (minimal pairs, sentence stress, sounds vs spelling, etc.)

And last but not least: practise correct spelling.

You’re still not convinced? Don’t worry – I wasn’t either when the idea was first introduced to me during a course on 1-1 teaching in IH Budapest. But I’ve changed my mind as soon as I’ve tried the first activity in the class. I hope you will too.

And if I’m preaching to the choir, please share your dictation ideas below.

As a disclaimer, I don’t pretend to have invented any of the below. Far from that. Those activities have been around for years, and I’ve picked them up as I went (taught) along. But the greatest credit is due to the teacher training team on my 1-1 course in IH Budapest (you know who you are), who showed me the value of using dictations in class.

So, ready, steady, dictate!

1. Banana Dictation:

T removes a language item (e.g. preposition)
instead of the word T says: banana
dictate the sentences. I got banana the airport a bit late.
Idea: use for on the spot error correction
Idea 2:with the student come up with your own “code” word instead of BANANA (i.e. I like choosing something the student finds funny, e.g. a blend of an L1 and English word)

2. Transformation Dictation:

T dictates sentences
student transforms (e.g. tense, aspect, register, style, passive vs active etc.)
e.g. T: Police interrogated the criminal. S: The criminal was interrogated.
Idea: for extra challenge, do it orally (i.e. the student is not allowed to write anything down)
Idea 2: encourage varying responses (i.e. often there are numerous possible options)

3. Error Correction Dictation:

T dictates sentences with errors
student writes the correct version
Idea: use it for immediate correction to upgrade students output
Idea 2: don’t only focus on grammar – think about the lexis, language chunks, appropriacy, etc. and how it could be upgraded

4. Intensive Dictation:

T selects and reads a text
student writes down all examples of the language item T plans to zoom in on (e.g. verbs of movement)
feedback against the original
Idea: add a gist listening question if you think it will help the student
Idea 2: choose a motivating text your student can relate to

5. Dictogloss:

T reads a short text
student notes down the key words
2nd listening to expand the words into phrases
student reconstructs the text
check against the original to notice the gap
Idea: use especially if your student is vehemently opposed to being taught any grammar – dictogloss is designed in such a way that the language queries comes directly from the student noticing their own language gap, therefore any language teaching afterwards should be more motivating
Idea 2: Carissa Peck suggests a few interesting variations on the classical Dictogloss, which offer extra challenge for students

6. Running dictation:

as suggested by English Eso and described on Teaching English BC here

7. Drawing Dictation

get your students drawing 🙂 by Jo Budden

8. Mutual Dictation:

students work in pairs and dictate to each other by Ellen Darling

9. Homophones Dictation:

raises students awareness of homophones by Shaun Dawling

10. Other:

over a dozen dictation ideas from the British Council
Rachael Roberts came up with 10 ideas for using dictations, so four more than here! 🙂 You can read her post here.