8. Dictation - an old tool, new perspectives in teaching English as a foreign language

Abstract

Dictation is a learning tool that has been handy for all language teachers for many decades. Nevertheless, its presence has been so obvious and evident that we could say it has gone unseen and undervalued most of the times. It has become a tedious evaluation and correction activity for the teacher as well as for the students. The following essay is aimed to expose the virtues of dictation and so, rescue an old but potentially effective way to evaluate the growth, advance and performance of learners of English as a foreign language. When knowing about the many different ways in which a dictation can be administered, we gain not only the interest from the teachers but also the motivation of the students and the rupture of their fear barrier towards an activity from which we can obtain multiple benefits.