by Lorenzo Sclocco
When I was doing the DELTA course, I came across this teaching technique named “dictogloss”, and I decided to use it for one of the experimental parts of the course. I had never heard about it before that moment. Since then, I have been using this task-based technique in my classes. This article provides an overview of what a dictogloss is and it explains how this teaching technique can be implemented in the class. On a personal note, I like to call this activity “4 in 1”: with one activity, you have your students use all of the four skills.
What isn’t a dictogloss?
For those of you who might not be familiar with the term “dictogloss”, let’s look at what a dictogloss is not. The dictogloss is not the usual dictation you might have encountered back in school, which is very teacher-focused, and which would likely involve the teacher reading a short text to the students, with the students expected simply to put what the teacher says down on paper. Such dictation exercises do have their place in the classroom - especially if your students are preparing for the Pearson Test of English - but we’re not looking at straightforward dictations today.
What is a dictogloss?
A dictogloss is the reconstruction of a text delivered to the student.
Such texts are commonly delivered by the teacher, but that doesn’t mean the teacher has to be involved - the source could be a video or podcast or essentially any source of language that the students can listen to. It could even be generated and delivered by text-to-speech software.
The reconstruction is collaborative, meaning that the students (first in pairs and then in a large group) rewrite the text. When the students are recreating the text, they will do so only by using the key words they had noted down while the teacher (for instance) was speaking. This is one of the key components of the dictogloss. The focus is not on being able to re-write the text word for word (remember - dictogloss, not dictation). However, the emphasis is on recreating the text, keeping the meaning as close as possible to the original version.
An additional key component is promoting learner autonomy. The students are in the driver’s seat and they are the ones who will have to negotiate meaning with each other in order to preserve the meaning of the text.
What does the dictogloss look like in practice?
This is how I would generally approach a dictogloss task.
Step 1
Lead-in. For example, if your text is about your language learning experiences, you can ask “What languages do you speak?”, “How long have you been learning them?”, “What is one language you would like to learn?” and so on. This will activate the learners’ schemata, to borrow that old piece of terminology. You don’t want to launch straight into your dictogloss without first helping your students to warm up.
Step 2
Tell the students you are going to tell a story and they will have to listen to the main idea. Here you can ask “What is the main idea of the story?”, so that the Ss have a reason for listening, and they will feel more motivated. I usually record my story (using my phone), so that the words in the story are the same for the other steps; some teachers prefer to prepare their dictogloss text in advance, and read from a sheet of paper.
Step 3
After you finish reading the text, have the students summarize orally what they understood - with the focus obviously being on the answer to that gist task from the previous step. It does not matter if they do not remember everything.
Step 4
Now, tell the students they are going to listen to the story again (from you or through the recording) and they have to write down only the key words. Demonstrate by having the students listen to the recording (but only the first sentence) and ask which of the words are the key words. For example, in one of my dictogloss activities, I said “In 2009 I decided to take up Spanish because I was doing my master’s in Germany and my roommate was from Colombia”. The key words might be: 2009; Spanish; Master’s; roommate from Colombia.
Step 5
After listening to the text a second time, have the students share the key words they wrote down. This part is important because the students help each other to figure out what they were able to catch and what they missed. This is the part where meaning is to an extent being negotiated, and it is all taking place collaboratively. If you need to, you can play the recording again and repeat this step. Otherwise, you can move onto Step 6.
Step 6
Ask the students to recreate the text. Remind them that their new text does not have to have the exact same words. The focus is on making a reconstruction that is as close as possible to the original version in terms of meaning.
Step 7
Before showing the students the text so that they can see how they did, ask them: “Why did we do this activity? What did we practice?” This reflective portion of the task is important because it helps the students see the value of what they’ve just done - and the value of what we do in class is not always immediately apparent! I’m sure your students will come up with the following: speaking; sharing words; reading; working together; writing and spelling; taking notes; listening to the teacher and to each other. It is important to explain the rationale behind the activity.
As you can see, all of the four skills are covered.
Step 8
Show the original text and ask the students “What are some of the similarities between the original text and your text? What is different? And why?”
I particularly like these comparison exercises, because there are so many occasions on which different forms of expression are equally valid - but many coursebooks, and many grammar exercises, work on the assumption that one thing is right and one is wrong. Comparing the students’ means of expression against the teacher’s might well reveal times when both past simple and present perfect are possible - though they carry different shades of meaning, and the students can take this opportunity to discuss what these are.
Are there ways we can exploit the dictogloss?
After having reflected on and discussed the target language and the challenging points, one way you can exploit this technique is to have the students write their own story in 100 words (for example, their own language experience). Then, you can pair the students up and have them do a mini-dictogloss: student “A” will tell their story and student “B” will take notes and reconstruct the story.
A few factors to consider during the planning and the delivery of the dictogloss
The target language
What do you want the students to be better able to do by the end of the lesson? This will be the focal point of the dictogloss. In my case, I wanted the students to use phrasal verbs around language learning (take up, hold back). But you don’t necessarily have to use your dictogloss text as a grammar delivery method - the task is worthwhile even if it is only being used to practice the four skills.
The material
You can create your own text based on your personal experience, or you can select a snippet of a video that has the target language you want to cover, or you can select one part of a reading that covers the language items for the lesson.
Usually, the text itself should be 1 minute long (1 minute corresponds to around 100 words). The longer the text is, the more challenging the students will find rewriting the text. Remember: less is more. (That said, one teacher I have spoken to actually used the first page of Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment as a dictogloss in a C2-level class - he said he was astonished by how well the students did in recreating the text, and that they seemed just as astonished themselves by what they were able to do!)
The length of the activity
Usually, the students might need to be exposed to the text two or three times, depending on their level. Some students - you’ll know who - dislike the potential for what they perceive as failure here, with failure meaning the inability to produce a perfect copy of the original text. It is worth reassuring your students of the goal of the activity when you consider how much time you want it to take up.
The level of the students
One of the aspects I love about dictogloss is that you can use this technique at any level (from beginners to advanced). The key is how you stage the activity, along with how many language times you want to cover in your lesson. You can scaffold the activity by either pre-teaching any task-blockers or by showing some pictures that will help the students brainstorm what the content of the dictogloss will be about. You could even use a series of pictures to represent the developing theme of the text.
Feedback
Feedback is important in the dictogloss because the students will need to notice whether they were able to reconstruct the meaning as accurately as possible. Comparing and reflecting on the versions the students came up with will be of great help - so budget some time in your lesson for this. I’ve had experiences where the feedback stage was almost as long as the original activity!
Conclusion
The dictogloss has been around for decades, and there is sometimes the suggestion that it is old-hat, something for a bygone age. But hopefully I have convinced you in this article that it deserves a revisit - it can be a fun activity that adds an element of challenge to the communicative classroom, and that offers practice in all four skills.
Author Biography
Lorenzo Sclocco is an ESL teacher based in Toronto (Canada). He has been teaching English (General, EAP and Business) at language schools, universities, and colleges since 2009. Being a language learner himself, he knows the difficulties that students encounter when learning other languages. Therefore, he focuses his classes on communication skills and creates his own material. He is a two-time recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Award at the University of Toronto, School of Continuing Studies.