Dictogloss is an activity that uses all four skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking. It can be used to review content or to investigate the language features of a model text that you are expecting students to write. It is a great activity for drawing out the language features of a particular genre that you may have been working on in class.
Directions
- The teacher reads a short paragraph on a familiar topic at normal speed, writing any new subject vocabulary on the board to helper students that are newer to English and the students just listen.
- Read again and this time student make notes.
- Students pair up and compare and share their notes.
- The teacher reads the text a final time at normal speed allowing the students to make notes.
- The student pairs join with another pair and reconstruct the text from their notes with the aim of getting as close to the original as possible.
- Compare to the original to find similarities and differences, and to discuss the features of the text.
I’ve also written a blog post of how I have used the dictogloss strategy. You can read it here https://ealdaylight.com/2019/01/27/using-the-dictogloss-strategy-for-eal-learners/
EAL in the Daylight 