TEACHING TECHNIQUES

Beyond Grammar Teaching:

Dictogloss Strategies for
Improving Literacy
by AIDA KOÇI McLEOD

This article describes a teaching technique Since then, though, the method has been
that can be useful in many classrooms and adapted to serve many other learning
with a variety of learner contexts. The objectives: vocabulary building, developing
technique is my adaptation of the original listening-comprehension and speaking skills,
dictogloss technique, as explained below. enhancing written language composition,
and in general the improvement of literacy.
When Ruth Wajnryb three decades ago Dictogloss is such a flexible and adaptable
developed the teaching technique of procedure that it has been applied to all
dictogloss (or “grammar dictation,” as she kinds of different ends, yet without losing its
sometimes preferred to call it), the main essential nature in a wild welter of derivations
focus was to improve grammar learning but and deviations. For example, dictogloss has
in a collaborative–communicative mode. The even been shown to improve the emotional
guiding principle was always to sidestep or intelligence of learners (see Mehdiabadi
bypass the conventional “deductive grammar 2014). Another likable, popular, and fun
instruction” approach, current at that time, reinvention of the original method is Kevin
whereby grammar rules and structures were Stein’s pictogloss, “an image-based variation
directly stated and explained by the teacher, on the dictogloss activity” (Stein 2012, 24).
occupying most of the lesson time, after Stein is rightly proud that pictogloss was
which the students would apply the rules, as actually invented by his learners, emphasizing
knowledge given and received, by doing drills the collaborative and learner-focused heart of
and exercises. This conventional pedagogy the procedure.
meant that students were most likely to be
passive learners. As Wajnryb (1990, 16) states, To clarify the difference: pictogloss is
essentially about getting students to transcribe
Dictogloss is a task-based procedure each spoken sentence of a target text into
designed to help language-learning picture form. In a pictogloss activity, students
students towards a better understanding of are given a worksheet with an exact number
how grammar works on a text basis. It is of small empty boxes printed on it, one box
designed to expose where their language- for each word of the target text, with an
learner shortcomings (and needs) are, empty space representing the period at the
so that teaching can be directed more end of each sentence. The teacher reads out a
precisely towards these areas. In this sense text, slowly, a number of times, and students
it is eminently learner-needs based. draw a little picture in each box to represent

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Dictogloss is such a flexible and adaptable procedure that it has
been applied to all kinds of different ends, yet without losing its
essential nature in a wild welter of derivations and deviations.

each content word. The pictures they draw text. In the final stage the various versions
are like a visual encoding of what they have that the students have produced are
understood. Of course, each student’s subjected to close analysis and comparison.
completed sheet will contain boxes left empty, Through both the task of reconstruction
where the student could not grasp or depict and the following error analysis, students
a particular word; however, in Stein’s group refine their understanding of the language
collaboration phase, students swap papers and they have used. (Wajnryb 1990, 6)
help each other complete the “pictorialization”
of the entire text, whereupon they decode Illustration of the Practice
their final agreed picture-script into language The original dictogloss procedure consists of
again: a recount of the original target text. four basic steps:
Stein (2012, 25) was impressed with how
“the pictogloss activity resulted in highly a. Preparation: Learners find out
idiosyncratic function word images,” as his about the topic and do preparatory
students—a group of 16 Japanese high- vocabulary work.
schoolers—found creative ways to depict
words like and, with, and the. b. Dictation: Learners listen to the text
read at a normal speed by the teacher
From Dictation to Dictogloss and take fragmentary notes. The learners
There has been a historic aversion to dictation, will typically hear the text twice. The
perhaps stemming from the belief that the first time the teacher reads the text, the
main purpose of dictation is to provide learners just listen but do not write. The
practice in listening comprehension and that, second time, they take notes.
even as a testing device, it is uneconomical
and imprecise (Morris 1983, 121; Kidd 1992, c . Reconstruction: Learners work
49). However, as Wajnryb (1990) explains, together in small groups to reconstruct
dictogloss is in fact quite distinct from old- a version of the text from their
school dictation, both in its procedure and in shared resources.
its objectives, because it involves a sequence
of learner-to-learner collaboration moves and d . Analysis and correction: Learners
aims to get learners to progressively form analyse and compare their text with the
their own understanding of their learning reconstructions of other students and
needs. Here is how she defines her original the original text and make the necessary
concept of dictogloss: corrections. (Wajnryb 1990, 7–9)

In dictogloss, a short text is read at normal Here is what I have recently done, in my
speed to a class of learners who jot down English classes, with an adapted dictogloss
familiar words as they listen. At the end method, using it not so much in pursuit of
of the dictation stage, most learners have grammar-improvement goals, but rather as
only a small number of isolated words (or an autonomous/collaborative framework to
fragments) which together make up a very guide student written text composition. My
incohesive, ‘battered text’. In small groups, project had the secondary goal of creating a
the students then pool their resources to space for student critical thinking about media
reconstruct their version of the original texts to arise.

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 Figure 2 … illustrates how messy the students’ initial
word-jottings can be, and this is fine because all the
jottings feed into the cooperative process of progressive
refinement through student-to-student discussion.

The students were intermediate learners with and how likely it is that they might be attacked
a varying but generally low level of English. To by a wild creature in their lifetime. I then
give them writing practice, as well as practice divided the class into groups of three and asked
in critical thinking, I chose a commonplace them to think about the way animal attacks are
example of an online news item about a reported in the media. To focus the discussion,
shark attack at an Australian beach. For these and to set the stage for some critical thinking,
learners, given their language level, I reduced I asked the groups to name three reasons why
the longer original to the following shorter the media might exaggerate the danger of shark
version with seven numbered sentences, attacks and sensationalize their reports on this.
which I read out to them. Sentence 1 (S1) is When the groups reported back to me and to
the headline. the class, I organised a whole-class discussion
to compare the various responses and note any
TEXT TO READ differences of opinion. (There were many.)

S1. Headline: Surfer dies after shark attack Dictogloss would not work if the teacher
at Greenmount Beach on Gold Coast near were to spoon-feed the class with the key
Queensland border vocabulary that they are supposed to pick out
while listening to the reading; it has to be the
S2. A man has died after being attacked by a student’s job to recognize and jot down the
shark while he was surfing at Coolangatta on words. But by giving them the words shark and
the southern end of the Gold Coast. attack, I had given them enough of an initial
pathway into the lesson material. I also pre-
S3. Queensland Ambulance Service was called taught the place names from the dicto-text, as
to Greenmount Beach shortly after 5 p.m. on these would otherwise have been a stumbling
Tuesday evening. block for the students. For the purpose of
guiding their progress later, when they came
S4. Paramedics said the man, in his 50s, died to Step (c), the collaborative reconstruction
from critical leg injuries. stage, I had previously prepared a list of the
key words and phrases from the text, as shown
S5. Lifeguards and other people on the beach in Figure 1.
rushed to help the man after the attack.

S6. Chief Lifeguard Warren Young said despite pretty severe paramedics
their best efforts the man could not be saved.
to no avail lifeguards
S7. Mr.Young said, “It was a pretty severe
attack, and the ambulance and paramedics surfer ambulance
were here and did what they could, but it was
to no avail.” surfing critical
southern saved
Prior to the reading, as a warm-up, I asked the
class to think about the topic of humans’ fears Figure 1. Key vocabulary reviewed for the
of nature, fear of wild creatures in particular, reconstruction stage

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LANGUAGE POINTS • Time-references precede place-references
(S1 and S2), although there is a reversal,
Part of my preparation for the activity was to with place before time, in S3.
analyse the most salient features of language
use and rhetoric that I felt should be modeled • Preposition usage for place-reference:
and explained in the feedback stage, after the “at Greenmount Beach on Gold
students had finished the collaboration stage Coast near Queensland border” and
of reconstructing the text. “at Coolangatta on the southern end
of the Gold Coast.” These examples
The main grammar points I highlighted are (at + on + near and at + on + of )
as follows: indicate moving the place-reference
from the specific spot to the general
• Verb-tense usage and preposition usage for area to the wider region (S1 and S2).
time and place (important in a news report).
• Preposition usage for time-reference
• Sequence of verb-tense constructions also moves from the smaller to the
(expressions of time) to represent an event: larger scale: “after 5 p.m. on Tuesday
“has died … after being attacked … while evening” (S3).
he was surfing … .” Use of present perfect
+ past continuous passive for single action • Relative (adverbial) clause of time: “while
+ past continuous for duration (S2). he was surfing … ” (S2).

Figure 2. Student notes taken during the second reading of the sample text

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 • Noun clauses as object of the verb said S3: Factual style puts priority on precision.
but with relative pronouns omitted: We are told precisely when and where and
“Paramedics said the man, in his 50s, who was there: “Queensland Ambulance
died from critical leg injuries” (S4). Service – was called to Greenmount Beach
– shortly after 5 p.m. – on Tuesday
• Mix of direct speech and indirect speech evening.”
(S4, S6, and S7).
S4: Precision again: The man’s age and the
TEACHING NOTES exact cause of his death are quoted from a
reliable source (paramedics).
Finally, I prepared in advance the following
teaching notes on the grammar and rhetoric S5: This is a simple declarative statement.
points from each of the seven sentences so
that I would have a clear plan about what S6: Here is an indirect quote from another
to mention to students at the end. These authoritative source (the chief lifeguard). The
notes intentionally contained a secondary use of the passive voice in “could not be saved”
focus on critical thinking about news-media makes it a general statement, omitting any
language use. reference to an agent (in this case, a person)
doing the saving, or failing to save. This
S1: Note the interesting use of the present- shifts the emphasis away from the would-be
for-past tense here—“surfer dies”—even helpers—“lifeguards and other people”—and
though the event is over, all in the past. This places it back on to the action—the failing
usage often appears in headlines. (Why? To to save.
create the feeling of immediacy and recency,
sometimes called “up-to-dateness.” Note that S7: Note the calm, matter-of-fact, and
in the body text, the writer immediately uses nonsensational vocabulary and phrasing here:
the perfect tense instead: “A man has died.”) “pretty severe” and “it was to no avail.”

S2: Why the passive voice here: “A man has From the above, the reader can see how
died after being attacked by a shark”? Why much grammar knowledge and how much
not say, “A man has died after a shark composition skill can be conveyed by this
attacked him”? What’s the difference? method, even based on the type of short and
(Possible answer: The passive voice puts simple text that a dictogloss activity uses.
the spotlight [the focus] on the man and
the attack, not so much on the shark. Figure 2 is an example of the words noted by
It means the fact of the attack and the death one student, jotted down during the second
is more important than the fact of who—or reading of the text. The sample illustrates how
what—did it.) messy the students’ initial word-jottings can

Figure 3. A handwritten collaborative recount of the news story

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be, and this is fine because all the jottings feed 6 . Next will be the feedback stage.
into the cooperative process of progressive Together, we will all discuss our
refinement through student-to-student work and reflect on the experience,
discussion in Step (c). Most readers will have and explain together any mistakes or
some difficulty deciphering this student’s misunderstandings.
writing, but the example is given here to
show how “battered” the initial notes can Important reminder:You don’t have
be, yet still usefully contribute to the group to create an exact copy of the original.
reconstruction stage. The goal is to include the essential
information from the original, in a
Most important of all, to me, is the student coherent and grammatically correct text.
collaboration phase, for which I gave students
the following instructions: Figure 3 shows an example of the final
recount produced collaboratively by a group
1. You will make a group of three, around of three students, prior to being given the
your table, to discuss your reconstructed original text for comparison. In case some
“surfer dies” texts. readers may find this sample hard to read, a
transcript of it is given in Figure 4.
2 . You will have ten minutes to look at
each other’s work and discuss what’s Notice how these three students have
good in each one and what can be succeeded in capturing the essential
discarded or improved. information from the seven sentences,
in a clear and grammatically correct form.
3 . Then you will hear a third reading of the Notice also that although there was a scribe,
original version. three different hands have worked together
on the recount text to add or correct some
4 . In each group, you will pool all your words. The collaborative recount gives
texts with the best bits of captured evidence of grammar competence beyond
words and phrases, and pick a scribe to mere “correct” transcription of a dictated
write down a “consensus edition.” This text; dictogloss is about reconstructing the
should take about ten minutes. [Note meanings that have been understood and
that the scribe has an important job and remembered, and as such it both exercises
must have pretty solid English skills.] and reveals the learner’s level of knowledge
of grammar structures and patterns (i.e.,
5 . You will then get a copy of the original “rules”). Furthermore, the process gives
to compare with your group’s consensus the students targeted and mission-focused
edition.You will still be in your groups speaking practice, as they negotiate meaning
for this step. with each other.

Surfer dies after shark attack at Greenmount beach on the Gold coast near Queensland
border. A man has died after being attacked by a shark while he was surfing at coolangatta
on the southern end of the Gold coast. The Paramedics said the man, in his 50s, died from
critical injuries. The lifeguards and other people on the beach rushed to his side to help
after he got attacked. The Chieflifeguard Warren Young said despite their best efforts
the man could not be saved.

Figure 4. Transcript of a typical final group recount

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 FURTHER READING AND RESOURCES chosen from the vast repositories of the
internet. Figure 5 gives an example of a
There are many useful articles describing short text—again, an adapted news report—
and explaining various ways of including a that would be suitable to use with the
dictogloss in a lesson or a series of lessons. For dictogloss technique.
instance, an article from a scholar in Indonesia
(Myartawan 2014) describes ways to use REFERENCES
dictogloss at the college level to improve
students’ listening ability in understanding Kidd, R. 1992. Teaching ESL grammar through
news texts. This focus on listening skills does dictation. TESL Canada Journal/Revue TESL du Canada
not entail a reversion to old-school dictation; 10 (1): 49–61.
the element of collaborative reconstruction is Mehdiabadi, F. 2014. The effectiveness of collaborative
paramount here. output task of dictogloss in enhancing EFL learners’
emotional intelligence. International Journal of
Linguistics 6 (6): 128–142.
Teachers can find other suitable texts to use Morris, S. 1983. Dictation—A technique in need of
in a dictogloss activity in Wajnryb’s original reappraisal. ELT Journal 37 (2): 121–126.
1990 book, which contains 60 complete Myartawan, I. P. N. W. 2014. Using dictogloss to foster
lesson plans, each with a dicto-text and a college students’ listening ability in understanding
set of implementation steps. The lessons breaking news texts: A classroom-based action
are grouped according to learner level—pre- research. PRASI 9 (17): 4–14.
intermediate, intermediate, and advanced— Stein, K. 2012. Pictogloss: A student-driven process of
and are indexed for the specific grammar activity development. ETAS Journal 30 (1): 24–26.
points addressed in each. Of course, her texts Wajnryb, R. 1990. Grammar dictation. Oxford: Oxford
are more than 30 years old, and naturally University Press.
some are out of date, but many of them
remain engaging and relevant for present-day Aida Koçi McLeod taught at the South East European
learners. To obtain new texts adapted for your University (Tetovë, Macedonia) for 14 years and moved
context and for your learners, you can make to Australia a few years ago. She is an independent
your own relatively easily—as I have shown researcher and curriculum adviser.
in this article—by shortening and simplifying
an appropriate news report or a short story

S1. Headline: 2021 was one of Earth’s hottest years

S2. Last year was the sixth hottest year on record.

S3. This is according to a new study by the government space agency.

S4. The government agency for oceans and the Earth’s atmosphere also made a study.

S5. These two scientific agencies have tracked global temperatures for decades.

S6. The two new studies show a key finding.

S7. The year 2021 is part of an important climate-change trend.

S8. The last eight years have been the hottest on record.

Figure 5. Example of a suitable dicto-text

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