dictation

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of training memory enhancement skills on improving the dictation of female students with learning disabilities (writing). Methodology: The present study was a semi experimental design with pre-test / post-test design with control group. The population of the study consisted of all female primary schoolchildren with dictation disorders who were studying in Arak district schools in the academic year of 1995-94. Among the referral students had problems with dictation by a teacher of 30 students who had diagnostic criteria for dysfunction disorder. They were randomly assigned to two experimental groups (15 people) and control (15 people). Information was collected by version 5 of Stanford / Binet's Intelligence Lab and a researcher-made spelling. The experimental group was trained in memory enhancement skills in 10 sessions while the control group did not receive any training at this time. Data analysis was performed using multivariate analysis of covariance using SPSS-22 software. Findings: The results indicated that there was a significant difference between the post test scores of the two experimental and control groups at the level of 0.05 and the students' writing scores improved after the training sessions. Discussion: The training method used in this study can be suggested as a desirable method for improving the dictation of dyslexic students.

Dictation is a traditional technique for both teaching and testing overall language ability and listening comprehension. In a dictation, a passage is read aloud by the teacher and examinees write down what they hear. Due to the peculiar form of dictations, psychometric analysis of dictations is challenging. In a dictation, there is no clear boundary between the items and every word in the text is potentially an item. This makes the analysis of dictations with classical and modern test theories rather difficult. In this study, we suggest a procedure to make dictations analyzable with psychometric models. Our strategy entailed using several independent short passages instead of a single long passage. The number of mistakes in each passage was counted and entered into the analysis. Rasch model analysis was then applied to the passage scores (mistakes). Our findings showed that dictations fit the Rasch model very well and it is possible to measure examinees’ ability on an interval scale using dictations.

The study aimed to examine whether and the extent to which children’s self-concept of ability is predicted by their gender, parental and teacher’s beliefs. Next, this study aimed to investigate whether and the extent to which children’s dictation performance in their native language is predicted by their gender, parental and teacher’s beliefs, and self-concept of ability. Finally, the study investigated whether and to what extent children’s reading performance in their native language is predicted by their gender, parental and teacher’s beliefs, and self-concept of ability. A total of 89 Iranian Persian-speaking elementary school fourth-graders, along with their parents and teachers, took part in the study. Five instruments were used in the study: two tests measuring the students’ reading and dictation levels in their native language, one questionnaire assessing the children’s reading and dictation-related self-concept of ability, and two questionnaires assessing the teachers’ and parents’ beliefs regarding reading and dictation level of children. Descriptive statistics, correlation, and multiple regression were run to analyze the data. The findings indicate that children’s self-concept of ability is affected by parental and teacher’s beliefs. Moreover, the results showed that children’s dictation performance is affected by their gender, self-concept of ability, parental and teacher’s beliefs. Finally, the study showed that children’s reading performance is affected by their gender, parental and teacher’s beliefs. Overall, the findings of the present study highlight the importance of children’s self-concept of ability and teachers and parents’ awareness of how their beliefs benefit students’ attainment and development of self-concept of ability.