127 Using Dictation to Teach ESL Grammar Robert Mark It is a fair guess that the majority of ESLj EFL (Eng li sh as a second language or Eng li sh as a foreign language) t eac hers in this modern communi ca tive era pr oba bl y r eg ard dictation as an old -fas hi oned and rath er sterile me th od of language ins tru ction. Our aversion to di c tati on ma y be rooted in personal memories of hi gh school Fr ench " di ctees" or other FL di ctati ons . Th ose exe rcises, of cour se, tended to foll ow the traditional form at : th e teacher r ea d a passage to the s tude nt s phrase by phra se , th e student s copied th e pass age, and th e passage somehow got co rr ect ed (Vale tt e, 19 77; Speer , 198 0) . Thi s so rt of procedur e hardly seems e ff ective in pr omoting communi ca - tion, inte racti on, or creative language use, f ea tur es that we va lu e hi g hl y in today 's enlig ht ened world of ESL j EFL ins truction. I should add that our di sdain ma y stem also, at l eas t in part , from th e tacit be li ef th at th e main purp ose of dictation is to pr ovide practice in li stening co mpr ehension. Di ctation la cks appeal under this assumption, s in ce a number of far more interesting activities for impr ov ing li stening skills are readily available (e . g. , Ur , 1984 : Schecte r, 1984 ). But di c tati on has been ex periencing a kind of revival of lat e, as ev id enced by th e recent appear anc e of two ex ce ll ent books on th e to pi c. Th e first , Davis and Rinvoluc ri 's (1988 ) Dictation : New Methods , N ew Possibilities , manages to di spel many of our doubts about the ins tru ctional appropriateness of dictation. A compendium of 69 different classroom ac tivities utilizing dictation pr oc edures of various types , it demons tr ates qui te ni cely th at dictation should be regarded as a general method that pe rmit s a wid e variety of di ffe re nt techniques, many of whi ch are potentia ll y interesting and motivita ting because they are designed to pr omote meaningful communi ca tion between stude nt s as we ll as to pr ovide opportunities for cr ea tive language use . The second boo k, Wa jnr yb's (1 990 ) Grammm' Dicta tion , also succeeds in layin g our doubts to rest , though in a different way. It focuses ex clusively on a single di ctation technique ca ll ed "dictogloss" which is interesting , motivating, communicative, and - of major import ance here - spec ifi ca ll y designed for the t eac hing of ESL g ramm a r. Dictog lo ss is a sophis ticat ed and in ge ni ous pr ocedur e, an ex ce ll ent exa mple of th e fl ex ibility of the di cta tion format . Th ere ar e oth er di c tati on pr ocedur es which , like di ctogloss, have potential va lu e fo r th e teaching of Eng li sh g rammati cal s tru c tur es . My obj ective in this article is to invest i- gate this parti cul ar application of di cta ti on, namely its use for ESL gra mmar teachin g, in some detail . Although descriptions of dictation var ia nt s useful for gra mmar t eac hing can be found in a number of sources, some of whi ch ar e cited below, none of these offers
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Using Dictation to Teach ESL Grammar
Robert Mark
It is a fair guess that the majori ty of ESLj EFL (English as a second language or
English as a foreign language) teachers in this modern communicative era probably
regard dictation as an old- fashioned and rather steril e method of language instructi on.
Our aversion to dictati on may be rooted in personal memories of high school French
"dictees" or other FL dictations . Those exercises , of course, tended to follow the
traditi onal format : the teacher read a passage to the students phrase by phrase , the
students copied the passage, and the passage somehow got corrected (Valette , 1977;
Speer , 1980) . This sort of procedure ha rdly seems effective in promoting communica
tion, interaction, or creative language use , features tha t we va lue highly in today's
enlightened world of ESLj EFL instruction.
I should add that our disdain may stem also , at least in part , from the tacit belief
tha t the main purpose of dictati on is to provide practice in listening comprehension.
Dictation lacks appeal under this assumption , since a number of far more interesting
acti viti es for improving listening skills are readily available (e . g. , Ur , 1984 : Schecter,
1984).
But dictation has been experiencing a kind of reviva l of late , as evidenced by the
recent appearance of two excellent books on the topic . The first , Dav is and Rinvolucri 's
(1988) Dictation : New Methods , New Possibilities , manages to dispel many of our doubts
about the instructi onal appropriateness of dictati on . A compendium of 69 different
classroom activities utili zing dictation procedures of vari ous types , it demonstrates qui te
nicely tha t dictation should be regarded as a genera l method that permits a wide va riety
of di fferent techniques, many of which are potentia lly interesting and motivitating
because they are designed to promote meaningful communicati on between students as
well as to provide opportunities for creative language use . The second book, Wajnryb's
(1 990 ) Grammm' Dictation , also succeeds in laying our doubts to rest , though in a
different way. It focuses exclusively on a single dicta tion technique ca lled "dictogloss"
which is interesting , motivating , communicative, and - of major importance here -
specifica lly designed for the teaching of ESL grammar. Dictogloss is a sophisticated and
ingeni ous procedure, an excellent example of the flexibility of the dictation format .
There are other dictation procedures which , like dictogloss, have potentia l value fo r
the teaching of English grammatical structures . My objective in this a rticle is to investi
gate this particula r application of dicta ti on, namely its use for ESL grammar teaching,
in some detail . Although descripti ons of dictati on variants useful for grammar teaching
can be found in a number of sources , some of which are cited below, none of these offers
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a comprehensive account of the issue. I shall attempt to fill in the gap, at least on the
methodological level, by examining four different dictation techniques (including dictog
loss) designed specifically to assist ESL students in acquiring or learning English gram
mar structures. My ultimate goal is a practical one: I hope that teachers wishing to
utilize dictation for this purpose may find this article to be a helpful resource .
Why dIctation is useful for teaching grammar
Before turning to the specific techniques I have selected, I would like to briefly
consider the question of rationale: why might dictation, as a general method, be useful
for teaching grammatical structures?
Oller's notion of a "grammar of expectancy" (e . g., Oller, 1975, 1978), which
includes syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic knowledge, comes to mind immediately as
one theoretical construct bearing directly on this question . A learner's expectancy
grammar, according to Oller, is the nucleus of his or her predictive capacity, the ability
to make sense of speech by "continually formulating, modifying, and reformulating
hypotheses about the underlying structure and meaning of "input signals" (Oller, 1978).
Dictation obviously provides an excellent means of practicing and improving this general
capacity, as it encourages the learner to attend not only to the forms but also to the
meanings - both semantic and pragmatic - of grammatical structures. Dictation thus
promotes grammatical competence in a holistic fashion , not as an isolated component of
the learner's overall proficiency. This approach accords with the modern view that the
learning of the grammatical forms must always occur in association with semantic and/
or pragmatic factors, the latter including both sociolinguistic and discourse- related