At the beginning level, however, it would be greatly to the students' benefit for them to listen, understand and speak before they see the same material in print. At this point, it may be helpful to stop to reflect and consider your own personal experiences with dictation. Make a list of all of the possible advantages you can think of for using dictation in your lessons. Then, check your list of advantages with the list on the following page. Advantages of Dictatio n 1.
Dictation can help develop all four language skills in an integrative way.
As students develop their aural comprehension of meaning and also of the relationship among segments of language, they are learning grammar. Dictation helps to develop short-term memory. Students practice retaining meaningful phrases or whole sentences before writing them down. Practice in careful listening to dictation will be useful later on in note taking exercises. Correcting dictation can lead to oral communication.