A Review on the Effect of Using Dictogloss Tasks and Fake Scoring on Children's Dictation Ability

Abstract

Writing is one of the important language skills that should be mastered by the foreign language learners to convey their concepts in written form, so teachers should contemplate on different applicable techniques to promote this skill. One of these techniques is dictogloss task. Dictogloss task is a technique of dictation method that can be used for teaching writing cooperatively. It has four steps which are preparation, dictation, reconstruction, and analysis and correction. Dictogloss procedure is practical and flexible enough to account for the needs, interests, and learning preferences of learners. Kids and even adults need reassurance and flexibility from their teachers while learning. They need not to be interrupted while producing, and sometimes their mistakes are better not to be announced and corrected at the time. A motivational strategy to reach that goal was to ignore their writing mistakes in scoring by simply and slightly showing them that the mistaken part could have been written in the correct form. Given the background of unsatisfactory number of studies on improving children language learning performance, especially, their writing in pre-school age, this review study is aimed to highlight a useful technique in the language teaching activities, not just English. It has an endeavor to find the influence of giving fake high scores in a dictogloss task on kids' dictation ability. It is recommended that teachers should be encouraged to voice their viewpoints and be capable of any required changes regarding their class situation and be able to rely on themselves rather than books. In spite of being fair, it is sometimes needed to lessen the strictness towards some students. It is concluded that fake high scoring on a permanent dictogloss task is a suitable, applicable, and appropriate device for EFL teachers and learners to achieve their educational aims.

Dictogloss in Saudi EFL Context: Potential Effects on Students’ Writing Skill and Attitudes towards Learning English

“…Due to the advent of technology, dictation has been deskilled. However, recently it has gained some of its pedagogical and academic fame in EFL practices (Faghani, Derakhshan & Zangoei, 2015). Dictation was not used to measure a learner's level of proficiency solely in spelling; it was also used to measure the learner's holistic command of the language.…”

Jigsaw and Dictogloss Tasks: Do They Facilitate the Development of Speech Acts?

“…Likewise, several studies have employed dictogloss to teach different aspects of language. For example, dictogloss has been shown to be useful in teaching grammar (Nguyen, 2017;Qin, 2008;Rashtchi & Khosroabadi, 2008), in promoting the writing ability of English language learners (e.g., Bataineh & Bani Younis, 2016;Murad, 2017), dictation (e.g., Faghani, Derakhshan, & Zangoei, 2015), and listening comprehension (e.g., Marashi & Khaksar, 2013;Vasiljevic, 2010).…”

To dictogloss or not to dictogloss

“…Dictogloss is potentially useful for improving students' written performance, as its practicality and flexibility comprise catalysts for integrating form and meaning (Abbasian & Mohammadi, 2013;Nassaji & Fotos, 2004), accommodating students' interests and learning preferences, providing context for negotiation (Kowal & Swain, 1994), working readily with cooperative tasks (Faghani, Derakhshan & Zangoei, 2015;Jacobs & Small, 2003), and allowing for a more interactive approach to language proficiency (Stewart et al, 2014). Therefore, DG has the potential to integrate communicative notions with the traditional concerns of grammar instruction (Al-Sibai, 2008;Pica, 1997), to work as a form-focused technique (Jacobs & Small, 2003;Shak, 2006) in which students aim not to reproduce the text word-for-word but rather to best approximate its meaning and style and to allow for the so-called 'meta-talk' or 'language related episodes', occasions in which students discuss or question their language use as they engage in a reconstruction task in L2 (Qin, 2008;Rashtchi & Khosroabadi, 2009).…”