Peer Dictation

Peer dictation is one of my favorite activities to do with English language learners (ELLs), who have some ability to write in English. After we've perfected students' writing through various means, e.g., teacher and peer feedback, learners dictate their writing to a peer. The writing selection should be fairly short, no more than a short paragraph or so. For lower level students, one or two sentences can be enough.

This is a great activity for ELLs since students get to write and revise a piece of writing, and then practice reading the piece aloud, which gives them good pronunciation practice. Partners must negotiate a lot during the dictation. After the dictation, partners check the work together and fix any mistakes.

There are countless variations to this activity. Sometimes I number student sentences, cut them apart, and place them around the wall in the room. Students work in pairs. One is the "messenger" and goes to the wall to read the sentence, then returns to his or her partner and dictates to the partner what to write. The "scribe" records the sentences on paper. Sometimes partners change roles half way through the task. The goal is to reproduce the piece of writing as perfectly as possible, including spelling and punctuation.

This week the advanced ELLs in my ABE class dictated a piece of writing they wrote using academic vocabulary they learned this week. With beginning students, I've provided the sentences to the scribe with only one or two words missing. The messenger, goes to the wall to read the missing word(s) and then dictates the word(s) to his or her partner. Students get a lot of practice orally spelling words during the dictation activity.

Students love peer dictation, especially when it's done with their own writing. The possible adaptations of this activity are almost endless!