Dictation word in english

Dictation words are a set of words that are given to a person to write down as they are dictated. Dictation is conducted typically in the context of a language or typing exercise. These words are intended to improve the person’s ability to listen, process and write down information accurately, and quickly. In this article we will discuss Dictation Words in English.

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Use of Dictation Words

 Dictation words can be useful for a variety of reasons, including:

Improving language skills:

Dictation exercises can help improve listening, writing, and spelling skills. By listening carefully to a spoken passage and transcribing it accurately, learners can improve their understanding of grammar and vocabulary. They can also improve their ability to spell words correctly.

Building memory skills:

 Dictation can also help build memory skills. When transcribing a passage, learners must remember what they have heard and  recall it in order to write it down. This process can help strengthen memory skills and improve recall abilities.

Practicing transcription skills:

 Dictation exercises can also be useful for practicing transcription skills. This skill is important for a variety of professions, including transcriptionists, court reporters, and medical scribes. By practicing dictation exercises, learners can improve their ability to accurately and efficiently transcribe spoken words.

Enhancing focus and attention:

Dictation exercises require a high level of focus and attention. Learners must listen carefully to the spoken passage in order to transcribe it accurately. This can help improve focus and attention skills, which can be useful in many aspects of life.

Dictation Words in English – List

Dictation exercises can help improve a person’s spelling, vocabulary, listening, and concentration skills. They can be practiced in a classroom setting, in language courses, or on one’s own with the help of dictation software or apps. Dictation words can range from simple and basic words for beginners to more complex and technical words for advanced learners. They may also include commonly used phrases, idioms, and expressions that are used in everyday communication.

Overall, dictation words are a useful tool for improving language skills. They can help a person become a more effective communicator in various situations.

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Given below is a set of dictation words in alphabetical for the convenience of the students:

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How to Ace Dictation Words in English?

To ace dictation words in English, you can follow these tips:

Improve your listening skills:

Dictation requires good listening skills. You can improve your listening skills by listening to English podcasts, news broadcasts, audiobooks, or watching English movies or TV shows. Practice listening to different accents and speeds of speech to enhance your comprehension.

Practice writing:

Dictation involves writing down what you hear. You can improve your writing skills by practicing writing regularly, paying attention to grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

Build your vocabulary:

Dictation requires a good command of vocabulary. You can improve your vocabulary by reading books, newspapers, and magazines in English. Make a habit of looking up new words and learn their meanings and how to use them in sentences.

Take notes:

When listening to dictation, take notes of key words or phrases that you hear. This will help you remember the details when writing down the passage.

Start with easy dictation exercises:

Begin with easy dictation exercises, such as short passages with simple vocabulary and grammar. Once you feel comfortable with these, you can move on to more challenging exercises.

Repeat the dictation:

Listen to the passage multiple times, until you are comfortable with the content. Repeat the dictation exercise until you can write down the entire passage accurately.

Practice regularly:

Regular practice is the key to success in dictation. Set a routine and practice dictation exercises every day, gradually increasing the difficulty level as you progress.

Conclusion

Dictation words in English can be a useful tool for improving language skills, memory, transcription abilities, and focus and attention. To ace dictation words, you should focus on improving your listening and writing skills, building your vocabulary, taking notes, starting with easy exercises, repeating the dictation, and practicing regularly. With dedication and patience, you can improve your dictation skills and become more confident in your ability to accurately transcribe spoken English passages.

1.What is dictation in English?

Ans. Dictation is the process of listening to a spoken passage and writing it down word for word. It can be used as a language learning exercise to improve listening, writing, spelling, and transcription skills.

2. How can dictation help improve my English skills?

Ans. Dictation can  improve your English skills by enhancing your listening, writing, and spelling abilities, along with your vocabulary and memory. It can also help you become more familiar with English grammar and sentence structure.

3. What kind of passages can be used for dictation exercises?

Ans. Passages for dictation exercises can vary in length and difficulty level, but they should typically contain a variety of vocabulary and grammar structures. Common sources for dictation exercises include news articles, short stories, and dialogues from movies or TV shows.

4. How can I improve my listening skills for dictation exercises?

 Ans. To improve your listening skills for dictation exercises, you can practice listening to English audio sources such as podcasts, audiobooks, or news broadcasts. You can also try watching English movies or TV shows with subtitles to help you better understand the spoken language.

5. How can I check my accuracy in dictation exercises?

Ans. You can check your accuracy in dictation exercises by comparing your written transcription to the original passage. You can also use dictation software or websites that provide feedback on your accuracy and give you suggestions for improvement.

6. Can dictation exercises be done alone or with a partner?

Ans. Dictation exercises can be done alone or with a partner. Working with a partner can be helpful for practicing communication and collaboration skills. However, doing dictation exercises alone can also be beneficial for improving focus and attention.

7. How often should I do dictation exercises to see improvement in my English skills?

Ans. The frequency of dictation exercises depends on your personal goals and schedule. However, it is generally recommended to practice regularly, at least a few times a week, to see improvement in your English skills.

Dictation has been used in language teaching and testing for a long time. Although it has been questioned recently as being not communicative enough, it still has a number of benefits. Dictations develop learners’ awareness of sound-spelling relationship in English and features of connected speech. They are used as a powerful diagnostic tool and can test various skills at once. We use dictations to provide students with models of target language or to revise the language previously taught. 

As the ELT world has moved away from traditional dictation procedure, now there are tons of dictation types that can be successfully used with all ages and levels. A lot of teachers nowadays are familiar with picture dictations, running dictations and dictogloss. In today’s article let’s take a look at less known but yet effective ways of using dictations in class.

Half the story or Skeleton dictation

In this kind of dictation, the teacher reads the story to the students and they write what they hear. Sounds obvious, right?  However, when the teacher dictates a question, learners should come up with their own ideas to answer it and write them down. When the dictation is over, the class will have several stories with basic things in common, but also a lot of differences. As a possible extension, you could ask them to vote for the best, the funniest or the most surprising story at the end of the task. This activity can be run to practise certain vocabulary sets, e.g. appearance or clothes, or just to give students more of listening and spelling practice. 

Last Saturday I went to a pet shop to buy some food for my dog. In front of me, there was a woman.

What did she look like? (students’ own ideas)

The shop was very busy and we had to wait for a long time. I started talking to the woman.

What did she tell me? (students’ own ideas)

Questions for discussion

Instead of printing out questions for a lead-in or a discussion activity why don’t you dictate them? This way students will practise spelling some bits of the target language or even have more exposure to the grammar. For example, if you are studying second conditional, you could dictate the following questions and then get students to discuss them.

What would you do if you met an alien in your kitchen?

If you were an animal, what animal would you be?

If you could travel to any country in the world, where would you go?

Dictation transformation 

This type of dictation is most often used for grammar practice. However, you can exploit it when you focus on formal/informal register or study synonyms and antonyms. Prepare a set of sentences for dictation. Ask students to write them down, transforming in some way: present to past, an adjective to its extreme synonym, formal to informal. You can make it more student-centred by asking them to work in pairs and dictate the sentences to each other or practise peer correction afterwards.  

This city is old. (This city is ancient.)

My brother makes great coffee. (My brother made great coffee.)

Write back asap! (Looking forward to hearing from you)

Keywords dictation

This one is a great way of not just checking the previously learned vocabulary, but also practise using that. Prepare a set of 10-12 words or collocations that you want your students to practise. Dictate them to the learners either in English or in their L1 if you’d like to check the translation component. After that, ask the students to write a story using all this vocabulary. They can work individually or in pairs. If you opt for pairwork, you can ask them to check the spelling before they start discussing the plot and writing. 

Also, you can find an interesting short story and pick the keywords from there. Dictate the words to the students without telling the original story. After they’ve written their own story based on these words, invite them to compare it with the original.

Shuffled dictation

Take any text that you’d like to dictate and break it into lines.  Give the students the corresponding number of blank paper strips. Then, read a random line from the text and ask the students to write it down on one of the paper slips. Move on with the next random line. When there are no more lines left, ask the students to put all the slips in the correct order to reconstruct the text. Here the students can work in pairs. Finally, they are given the original text to compare with their version.

Digital dictation

The teacher doesn’t necessarily have to voice the dictation themselves. There are a lot of websites which contain specially recorded dictations for different levels. If your students have trouble dealing with features of connected speech or are preparing for IELTS where they have to be quick spellers as they only hear a recording once, you can provide them with extra practice. Just share a link to one of the websites below. and ask students to have a dictation as part of their homework. They will be able to play the recordings many times and get used to various accents and individual pronunciation features of English speakers. Try out Breaking News English dictation page, English Club online dictations, or these dictation exercises. 

As an option, you can record some text yourself and send it to the students as a sound file for them to transcribe at their own pace. This activity will be really helpful for those with weaker listening skills as the students will not feel embarrassed to ask for a listening activity to be repeated but just replay it themselves.

All in all, dictations can be run in many ways. They can be used in and out of the class, individually or in pairs, at word or text level. They make an excellent springboard for extension activities such as story writing or discussions. This is also a fast and easy way to make your students get used to peer correction or self-checking. So, get your pens ready and let’s write it down!

Improve your listening skills, writing skills, reading skills, spelling and punctuation!

You will need a set of headphones, somewhere quiet, a pencil and a sheet of paper.

The sound files are large, so be patient.

Instructions:-

Choose your level Elementary or Intermediate.

Play the .mp3 files (they are large so be patient).

Listen to the first file — Just Listen. I will speak, quite quickly, in a natural voice.

Listen to second file — listen and write. I will speak more slowly.

Listen to the first file again — Check and correct.

Check what you have written. You will find the text at the bottom of each dictation page.

We are adding videos to each dictation test. Please be patient, it takes a lot of time to create these.

Elementary Dictation Exercises

Teachers and other users — You are welcome to link to this page and to use the following dictation files in the classroom. Please do not link directly to the sound files.

Dictation in EnglishBETA

To practice writing from dictation is a perfect way to improve learning English. By listening to the spoken version of the text, you will hear both the natural pronunciation and word-order. By hearing, reading, and pronouncing what you see, you will also improve your grasp of English. We have hundreds of online dictations for beginners through advanced students.

How does it work?

• Listen carefully to the audio file. The speaker will read each sentence twice. Once at normal speed, then a slower speed for easier writing. You can replay these files as needed.
• Write the text into the text field.
• Once you are done, you can click the button to have your dictation evaluated.
• We instantly check and correct your text, allowing you to see mistakes and receive a final grade.

Intermediate (10th Form).

Planet is in danger.

Every day we hear our planet is in danger. A lot of people are trying to do something to protect the environment, but the situation is getting worse every moment. Take the water for example. It is really important for everything alive on the Earth. But there is little water that is drinkable and good to use for cooking. A lot of rivers and lakes are so polluted that even fish cannot live there. Beaches that were clean fifty years ago are very dirty now, so people can’t have their holidays where they liked to stay. Lake Baikal which was famous for its clean waters and natural beauty is in great danger because of the factories near it. In some places the water in the lake is so dirty that it kills everything in and around. If the pollution is not stopped, the lake will be lost.

 Pre-Intermediate (7,8th Form).

Gardening in the UK.

English people like gardening. They talk about it in their offices, factories, shops and at home. In the evenings or on weekends everyone works in their gardens. They can be large or small. You will see an Englishman working in his garden in any weather. They grow different flowers, vegetables and fruit there. But even if an Englishman lives in a flat in a big city he grows something in a window box outside his kitchen. It seems that they can’t live without a garden. If you want to please them, be very polite about their gardens. Make some compliments and perhaps the Englishman will show you his garden and tell you everything about it. And you should listen carefully and say something to prove that you like the garden and think it is the best one in the world.

Elementary (5,6th Form)

My Day.

At school we have English lessons on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. We speak English at these lessons. We read short texts and write exercises in our exercise-books. We have lessons up to two o’clock. When lessons are over, I come back home. At home I have my dinner, wash the plates in the kitchen, and then go out to the park and play. At half past four I sit down at my desk and do my homework. In the evening I play with my friends in the yard or read books. On Sundays I do not go to school. I go to the park or play.

Beginner. (4th Form)

My best friend.

This is my best friend Tom. He is nine years old. Tom has short dark hair and blue eyes. He is tall and quite plump. Tom is very kind and friendly. Tom can swim, ride a bike and play football well.  He is good at English and Maths. We like playing football in our free time. We play football on Mondays, Fridays and Sundays. Tom is a good friend and we do a lot of things together.

Do you want to improve your English listening skills? What about your spelling, writing, and typing skills? Dictation can help in many ways. It even helps you learn new vocabulary in context.

EnglishClub dictation exercises come in three different levels. Try the short dictations first and work your way up. The directions are only there to guide you. You can listen to the dictations as many times as you need to.

Elementary online dictation
Short recordings of one or two lines

Intermediate online dictation
Mid-length recordings of one or two sentences

Advanced online dictation
Long recordings of one or two paragraphs

Note: The easiest way to compare your answer to the transcript is to type in the text box provided (except on mobile). Your typing will improve along with your listening skills. Another option is to write on paper. This is a good idea if you are sharing a computer with a partner or group. Teachers may also be interested in this option as a class activity.