Getting started with Dictatext
The texts have been designed to target different aspects of English and to suit different language levels. Simply choose a text which suits your aims and level by listening to the first audio recording, or choose a sequence of texts to help develop your English skills more deeply.
Once you have found a text that interests you, your first task is to try to write it down from an audio dictation. The dictation repeats the text four times and is the beginning of memorising the text. Once you have entered into a text box what you heard in the dictation, you can check your text for accuracy with a single click.
You should now make sure you understand the text fully and then memorise it. To help you memorise the texts, use the exercises that go with each text. After a day or more, enter the text again to check how well you have remembered it.
You should go back to certain texts every few weeks, to revise them and consolidate your learning.
In more detail
1. Listen to the whole text at once. Just try to understand it as well as you can. The whole text audio is read at normal speed.
2. Now listen to the dictation audio. The dictation is read slowly, in short chunks, with pauses so you can write down what you hear. In this part of the recording you will also hear about punctuation with punctuation words like ‘comma’, ‘question mark’ and ‘full stop’. Once a set of chunks comes to a complete sentence, you will hear that sentence again.
3. Once you have heard all of the sentences and had a chance to write them down, you should listen to the whole text audio one more time, so that you can check what you have written.
4. When you are ready, type, or copy and paste, the text you have written into the text box to check your accuracy.
5. Make sure you understand the text, using dicitonaries and other software if you need them. Then start memorising the text until you are ready to test youself by writing the text again in the text box. Remember to use the gap fill and drag and drop exercises to help you memorise each text.
Using the longer texts
The longer texts on the website are not aimed for memorisation They are authentic texts which have been published for English speakers.
You can listen to these texts and then try to the exerises which folow them, to gain familiarity with the texts or some aspects of the language which are featured in the texts.