Dictation—a technique in need

of reappraisal
Susan Morris

In this article, it is argued that dictation is a neglected technique in

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training learners of a second language. Evidence of mistakes actually
made by EFL learners on three dictations is used to support a plea for
the reappraisal of this technique, both as a testing device, and, more
importantly, as a learning activity through which students are
encouraged to develop accuracy in both listening and writing.

Mention the word 'dictation' to the majority of practising EFL teachers,

and the reaction is likely to be a grimace and a rejection of an 'old-
fashioned' activity that runs counter to communicative language teaching.
Where is the creative activity in writing down words spoken by the teacher?
The dearth of books specifically devoted to dictation bears witness to the
current unpopularity of the technique. Those teachers who admit to using
dictation at all often resort to using part of a text from an existing course-
book, and use dictation as a fill-in when there is some time unexpectedly
available at the end of a lesson when the main points of the lesson have
been used up. In this article, I want to argue in favour of a very much
underestimated teaching technique, by examining what errors learners
actually make, and by putting forward some suggestions as to how
dictation can form part of a teaching programme, and what sorts of texts
form suitable passages for dictation.
First, a few quotations indicating views held about dictation:
Dictation . . . on critical inspection, appears to measure very little of
language. Since the word order is given . . . it does not test word order.
Since the words are given . . . it does not test vocabulary. It hardly tests
the aural perception of the examiner's pronunciation, because the words
can in many cases be identified by context. The student is less likely to
hear the sounds incorrectly in the slow reading of the words which is
necessary for dictation. (Lado 1961: 34)
As a testing device, dictation must be regarded as generally both
uneconomical and imprecise. (Harris 1965:5)
Some teachers think it (dictation) is a teaching exercise, which it is
not. (Cartledge 1968:227)
Dictation is primarily a test of spelling. (Somartne 1957: 48)
These views (that dictation is a test of spelling, that it is a testing not a
teaching device, that it does not assess listening comprehension skills, and
that, as a testing device, it is both uneconomical and imprecise) are often
reiterated in staff-rooms where the subject is not completely taboo, and, if
justified, represent good reasons for the rejection of dictation in the class-
room. But before we accept them, let us consider the mistakes maH<> by EFL
learners on the three sample texts reprinted here.

ELTJournal Volume 3 7/2 April 1983 121

 Error analysis Tables la-3b below show a selection of the errors made when the texts
were dictated to EFL learners. An intermediate group did Text 1, a higher
intermediate Text 2, and an advanced group Text 3. Each of the texts was
read three times, the first time at normal speed for global understanding,
the second time slowly and in short sections (as indicated) so that the
students could write it down; then there was a pause for checking before a
final reading, again at normal speed. Before the text was read, lexical items
which were either unusual or considered to be beyond the level of the
group were explained and written up on the board, and the content of the
texts outlined.

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Text 1: Intermediate
Baby is stolenfrom hospital
Police / are hunting / for a three-day-old / baby girl / stolen yesterday /
from the maternity ward / of a north London hospital. / The baby / not yet
named, / was removed / from her cot / early yesterday morning. /
Police are anxious / to find a woman / seen wandering round the maternity
ward / earlier that night. / The woman was described / as about the same
age / as the child's mother, / who is 24. / A police spokesman said / 'We
want anyone / aware of a young woman / returning home / with a new-
born baby / who has not recently / shown signs of pregnancy / to contact
us. / We are not thinking / of punishment. / We just want / to make sure /
the baby is well / and to help the woman.' /
Table la: Meaning Errors

Text Student

a north London hospital an old London hospital

a nurse London hospital
was removed from her cot was removed for her cot
was removed from her coat
a police spokesman a police postman / a police bossman
shown signs of pregnancy show size of pregnancy
police are anxious police want answers
a three-day-old a three day all / a three years old /
a three days old
baby is stolen baby's history
we are not thinking of punishment we are not singing of punishment /
we are not thinking of punching it /
of Spanish man
as the child's mother as the child of his mother /
as the Charles's mother
the baby is well the baby as well

Table lb: Spelling Errors

Word Error

stolen stollen
recently receintly
sure shure
punishment punishmen
cot cott

Text 2: Higher Intermediate

Judge gets tough with muggers
A judge / yesterday answered criticism / that the law was weak with muggers

122 Susan Morris

/ when he jailed four teenagers / for three years each / at Stratford Crown
Court. / One was of previous good character, / but Judge Ronald Green
told them: / 'My main concern / must be for the victim / and for the
protection of the public generally.' / The court had been told / that the
victim of their robbery / was an eighty-year-old widow / who walked with a
stick / because of rheumatism. / She was chosen / after the teenagers had
driven along / looking at pedestrians / and deciding / whether they were
suitable victims. / The youths pleaded guilty / to one offence of robbery.

Table 2a: Meaning Errors

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Text Student

my main concern my mind concern / my name concern

four teenagers fourteen ages
who walked with a stick who walks with steaks
eighty-year-old eighty years old / eighteen years old
the court the card
when he jailed when he jail
had walked along had lived alone
the youths pleaded guilty the judge pleaded guilty

Table 2b: Spelling Errors

Word Error

character caracter
chosen choosen
rheumatism reumatism / reumatismus
whether weather / wether
decide deceide
weak wick / week
offence offense
concern consern

Text J: Advanced
Why Plain Janes land all the best jobs
Beautiful women attract admirers / —but Plain Janes win out / when it
comes to landing jobs. / The lovelier the lady, / the more she is considered
too feminine / to handle responsibility and power. / Dr. Frank Caprio, /
author of about thirty books on beauty in business says: / 'Pretty women, /
regarded as more feminine, / are also considered weaker. / In a way, / they
are like glittering diamonds / —something beautiful that will impress
people / —so they tend to be hired for "female" jobs, / like secretarial and
receptionist work. / But they definitely are not thought of / as real go-
getters.' /
But, / according to a recent study, / with men, / it's the other way
around. / While average-looking / sometimes downright ugly women /
were snapped up for high-powered, typically 'male' jobs, / attractive men /
always did better / than their less handsome brothers. /
'Apparently, / the unattractive men / are seen as being less masculine, /
and therefore less ambitious', / a university spokesman said. / 'Yet
unattractive men / were preferred for jobs considered traditionally
"female". / Whenever a man succeeds at a "masculine" job, / people tend
to think / it's because of his ability. / But when a woman is successful, / it's
usually attributed to luck.' /

Dictation—a reappraisal • 123

 Table3a: Meaning Errors

Text Student

author although
hired higher
go-getters girl getters / goal getters
thought of sort of
fault of
the lovelier the lady the lovely young lady
the lovely of the lady
like secretarial like secretaries
as more feminine a/the small feminine

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why Plain Janes land Why Plainjane lands
therefore they thought
on beauty in business on duty and business
as being has been
did better than their less handsome did better them they less

Table Jb: Spelling Errors

Word Error

responsibility responsability
business bussiness
typically tipicaly
attractive atractive
definitely defently
masculine masculin
preferred prefered
traditionally traditionaly
lovelier lovelyer

The errors made fall into four major categories. The most serious are
those of comprehension, some of which involve gross distortions. The meaning
errors included misunderstanding of words and phrases, the insertion of
extra words, and the omission of words. There were also structural errors:
of tense and person; in articles; nouns substituted for adjectives; and total
'misrendering', as in 'has been' written 'as being'. Ignorance of spelling
rules was shown in the mis-spelling of'lovelier' and 'traditionally', and the
final group of mistakes was spelling errors as shown in tables lb, 2b and 3b.
These errors suggest that, far from being a test of spelling, these
dictations have involved the students in an active reinterpretation of
material presented to them aurally. The most astonishing mistakes are
diose that result in distortions of meaning, especially where there has been
a failure to utilize the context to help arrive at the meaning (a three-year-
old baby, an eighteen-year-old widow who walked with a stick because of
rheumatism, etc.). But the structural errors are worrying, too, in a text that
was presented in its correct form. It seems reasonable to infer that the
mistakes recorded here are those that these learners would produce in
other settings, whether spoken or written. Dictation as a testing technique
has here revealed much about the language proficiency of the learners, and
in a most economical way, as the dictations took a short time to administer
and mark. They have shown quite precisely the varieties and types of errors
these learners make and need to rectify. All these facts indicate the value of
dictation as a testing tool. Let us now consider how it can be used for
teaching purposes.

124 Susan Morris

 Dictation as a It seems evident that those students who did the dictations analysed above
teaching technique need training in essential listening skills: they need to be exposed to short
cohesive texts in order to develop the ability to handle a length of text and
isolate the key point/s for general understanding; on the same text they
need to develop intensive listening skills, with the opportunity to pay
attention to small chunks of the text presented to them in sense groups. It is
surprising to note that a number of the major points of misunderstanding
occurred in lexical and structural items that were already 'known'. This
shows what happens when there is a need for processing at speed. As the
skill of fast and accurate information processing is essential in the use of
language, it seems important to offer the student a chance to develop his or

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her short-term memory, and dictation seems an ideal means to this end. It
allows the teacher to increase the overall speed of presentation, lengthen-
ing the intervals between pauses to add to the amount of information to be
processed in each chunk. There is also the opportunity to present a variety
of texts which differ in subject matter and register, and, with the use of
tapes, a selection of voices.
The failure to use context clues to help in the recognition of words not
clearly heard was a serious handicap, and certainly one that is not unique
in my experience. It seems that many students need training in this skill,
and many reading comprehension textbooks now recognize this. How-
ever, dictation has a valuable role to play in this area too. Students can be
trained to be alert to any inconsistencies in the written text they produce as
a result of 'hearing' what the teacher has 'said'. The need to relate what is
heard to its graphological form is essential for those who will use English as
a second language, and it is necessary for the elementary grammar mistakes
that appear as a result of mishearing to be put right. Again, I suggest that
students can be trained to recognize slips of the pen and grammatical
inconsistencies, and short dictation texts presented regularly seem an
excellent means of doing this.
Spelling errors do form a large percentage of the errors made in
dictation, and the fact that students hold the traditional view of dictation as
a test of spelling is an aid to the teacher in using dictation as a means of
encouraging correct spelling in any piece of written work. Pre-teaching
may be useful here, with difficult words isolated and spelling rules
explained. Words frequently mis-spelt can be presented to students as a
challenge, and the fact that students make a spelling mistake in a dictation
should be seen as their opportunity for learning the correct spelling and
never making a mistake in that word again.
It may be objected that teaching through learners' errors is the wrong
approach, and that one should encourage them not to make mistakes at all.
However, intermediate and advanced level learners do make mistakes, and
giving them the chance to focus on them does help them not to make them
again. For many learners at this level, confrontation with errors they have
actually made is a stimulus. Pre-teaching is one approach to dictation that
many teachers like to adopt, and one that has in the past perhaps not been
often enough exploited, because dictation was seen merely as a test. The
potential of dictation as a means of reinforcing structure and vocabulary
should not be underestimated. However, certain students, mainly those at
intermediate and advanced levels, respond to a challenge, and material that
is new, or old material presented in a novel way, is a source of motivation
and interest. It is particularly for these students that I think dictation is
most valuable.

Dictation—a reappraisal 125

 Which texts are most suitable for use as dictations? As the major
emphasis in dictation is on listening comprehension skills and on the active
re-interpretation by the learner of a text presented aurally, it is essential
that the text should be self-contained and cohesive. I would also suggest
that the subject matter should be potentially interesting to the learner, and
the text relatively short. The texts reproduced here varied from 100 to 190
words (near the limit in terms of length). The shorter texts were sufficiently
long to demonstrate the learner's ability to reprocess the text, and to elicit a
number of errors that would form the basis of teaching points. Overlong
texts are less economical in terms of teaching points, as there are too many
things for the learner to concentrate on. Also, the longer the text, the more

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time is spent on reading by the teacher and the less time is available for
learning. A final point regarding length is that short texts can be
administered more frequently and provide variety within the syllabus.
Thus, dictation is a test of integrative skills and a most useful tool in
listening training and training in self-reliance. In my opinion, it is time for
us to reconsider its potential in teaching. •
Received February 1982

References The author

Cartledge, H. 1968. 'In defence of dictation'. ELT Susan Morris is Lecturer in EFL at Westminster
Journal XXI1/3: 227-8. College, London. After completing her B.A. in
Harris, D. 1965. Testing English as a Second Language. Philosophy, she worked in Finland and Germany
New York: McGraw Hill. before returning to London, where she took a
Lado, R. 1961. Language Testing, London: Longman. Cert.Ed. and an M.A. in Second Language Learning
Somartne, W. R. P. 1957. Aids and Tests in the Teaching and Teaching at Birkbeck College. The author of Love
of English. Oxford: Oxford University Press. and editor of a science-fiction reader for EFL students,
she is researching in psycho-linguistics at Birkbeck
College.

126 Susan Morris