Dictation

Selecting and Sequencing Letter Sounds

There are two main groups of letter sounds: consonants and vowels.

Consonant letter sounds include consonants with a single letter (e.g. d, k, s), consonant digraphs (e.g. ch, sh, th) and consonant blends (e.g. bl, dr, st). Vowel letter sounds include short vowels (e.g. a, i, o), long vowels (e.g. ay, ee, oa) and other vowels (e.g. ar, u, ou). These sounds may appear in the initial, medial or ending part of words.

Teachers working in the same school need to develop a plan on the letter sounds to cover and the sequence for introducing them. Selection and sequencing can be based on whether words bearing the letter sounds occur frequently in the learning resources and on whether the letter sounds are likely to cause difficulties to learners in reading and spelling.

Both consonant and vowel letter sounds need to be covered in a school year so that opportunities are provided for learners to practise the skills of blending and chunking letters and syllables and of working out the pronunciation and spelling of a whole word.

English among young learners. If dictation is used for assessment purposes, it should not take up more than 10% of the total subject marks;

nor should marks be deducted for repeated mistakes. Teachers need to note the following when assigning dictation:

• Not every word found in the learning materials, including the textbooks, must be learnt by heart by the learners. It is not a good practice to ask learners to memorize large chunks of texts or long lists of words as homework to prepare for dictation.

• Except for the very young ones, learners need to be assigned sentences or passages from textbooks for dictation. Passages from set readers should be avoided as far as possible, since the purpose of using readers is for exposure rather than for intensive learning. A small number of useful vocabulary items selected from the readers may be assigned for dictation to enrich learners’ vocabulary in writing.

• Formulaic expressions (e.g. Good morning.) or classroom instructions (e.g. Stand up.) are often performed in the speaking mode; learners should not be asked to study them for dictation, especially when they are only in Primary 1.

• The spoken way of giving the date differs greatly from its written form (e.g. spoken – the thirty-first of October, two thousand and five;

written – 31^st October 2005 or 31-10-2005). Learners should not be asked to write the spoken form in full words, as it will only induce a wrong concept.

Dictation can be turned into an effective learning activity if it is used with well-planned teaching strategies rather than just being a testing device. The following examples illustrate how to make good use of dictation for effective learning and teaching of English:

• Dictation is not difficult if learners in primary schools are taught the enabling skills and prepared well in the learning and teaching process. Learners need to learn to relate sounds to spellings, so a good, accurate model in reading must be provided by the English teachers. Phonological awareness and phonics in general can facilitate pronunciation and spelling, although at appropriate points

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of time, learners’ attention should also be drawn to the “exceptions”.

Learners who are shown how to use analogy to decode words (i.e.

explicit teaching of the enabling skills) may find it easier to encode words in dictation. For more focused practice in phonics, dictation of letter sounds instead of whole words can be given at an early stage of learning. Learners can be asked to fill in some letters representing the target sounds as they hear the words in context or at a later stage, they write down the rhyming words in short poems.

• Dictation, like all English learning activities, should be contextualized to illustrate the communicative use of language and help learners progress towards the Learning Targets. To provide more encouragement for learners in primary schools, more seen dictation should be given than unseen. Rote learning of word lists, sentences and passages for dictation is not encouraged.

• Dictation can be designed and conducted as a listening activity for young learners. Instead of writing down words, learners listen to teachers’ reading and draw or complete a picture on a worksheet. This type of “listen and do” activity can become interactive, when learners work in pairs and compare and talk about the products in the tasks.

• Dictation for lower and upper primary learners should differ. For example, while it is too demanding to ask Primary 2 pupils to spell the name of common insects found in Hong Kong, they can be expected to recognize them in spoken or written texts. It may be appropriate to expect an upper primary learner to be able to spell some of them in meaningful contexts, e.g. in writing about a personal experience after listening to a similar experience.

• It is useful to teach learners what to look for when they check their own work in dictation and in other kinds of writing. The habit of self correcting and editing can start early. Learners should be taught to apply their grammar knowledge when checking what they have written in dictation. They can also be taught to check the use of punctuation.

• To motivate young learners and promote autonomy in language learning, theme-based “free dictation”

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short, meaningful activity to help learners achieve a specific learning objective. Learners study not only assigned materials from the textbooks but also materials they prepare for a theme on their own.

For example, learners prepare vocabulary on “animals” in “free dictation” by looking up picture dictionaries, word books, readers and their English textbooks. They decide the number of words to study on their own, but need not show the teacher what they have prepared. In the pre-dictation stage, learners are invited to write the words on the board for revision. They may learn a few more words from the collections of others. Even those who have not prepared for

“free dictation” may learn a few words from their peers. After completing the dictation on the assigned materials, learners are given one or two minutes to write down as many “animals” as they know in English. Extra marks are given to correct spelling but no marks are deducted for wrong spelling.

• Dicto-comp

One way of extending the use of dictation is to combine it with other English learning activities. Teachers may consider the use of a dicto-comp procedure that combines traditional dictation and task-based writing activities.

− In dicto-comp, learners listen to the teacher’s reading of a short text at normal speed but just jot down familiar words as they listen. Then they work in groups and reconstruct the text collaboratively, using their memory and the words they wrote down. After that, they edit the text in groups, using their grammar knowledge and practising their writing skills. Learners follow the original outline of the text and may use other words and expressions in the process of reconstruction.

− In dicto-comp, dictation is meaningful as it provides the content and necessary vocabulary for a writing task. When learners compose the writing, they are engaged in an interactive activity when they discuss and decide how to reconstruct the text. When learners draft, revise and edit the writing, they consolidate their use of grammar and further develop their writing skills in an appropriate context.

− Dicto-comp may be adapted for younger learners in primary schools, as in the following two examples:

♦ Learners listen to the teacher’s reading of a story at normal speed. Then, as in traditional dictation, they listen to the teacher’ reading of five to seven sentences from the story but in a jumbled order three times. In the first reading, learners just listen and do not write down any words. In the second reading, the teacher breaks each sentence into sensible groups so that learners can write down the sentences in their dictation books. Then the teacher reads the sentences a third time for learners to check their work. Afterwards, learners reconstruct the text by arranging the sentences in the right order in groups or individually.

♦ Learners listen to the teacher’s reading of a story at normal speed. Then they listen to the teacher’s reading of some words from the story and fill in a mind map or a concept map. The class and the teacher discuss the mind map and work out the sequence of the words according to the content of the story.

Based on this sequence, the class and the teacher compose the story in a shared writing activity.