Dictation as a Testing Device : based on error analysis

抄録

The purpose of dictation is to test the students' aural comprehension and spelling. Though often criticized, dictation has effectively been used as a testing device. However, some feel that dictation does not test much of the examinee's language abilities except for, perhaps, inflectional forms and spelling, because sounds, vocabulary and word-order are all given in a relatively short message read slowly. In fact, considering the redundancy of language, dictation seems to test nothing but spelling. In contrast, others acknowledge the validity of dictation from results of their own tests which show the high correlations between the scores of dictation and other language tests, such as vocabulary, grammar, composition, etc. Moreover, dictation involves not only passive but active skills demanding appropriate grammar application. Dictation results in informing the instructor of the examinees' overall language abilities. The purpose of this article is to validate dictation by providing support from an error analysis based on a dictation from the final examination for a freshmen English Listening Comprehension Class in the LL.