A dictation exercise can have many purposes. It is an excellent listening exercise and can by used to sharpen the skills of listening and comprehending. It also helps to develop reading and writing skills by exposing the student to the written form of the language as he listens to the spoken form.
Students begin to recognize sight words and to make associations of sounds with letters.
The dictations can also be used to develop spelling skills by leaving a blank in place of the words you want the student to practice. Finally, it can help the student to learn the structure of the language by focusing his attention of structures which he does not yet control. You can have the students write directly in the blanks or if the materials are not consumable, you can have the students number the blanks and write the answer on a separate sheet. Play the tape or read the passage at normal speed with a pause after each sentence allowing the students to write in the missing words. Do not repeat the sentence.