Integrating Language Skills through a Dictogloss Procedure

N ot long ago it was common to find instructors teaching languages, particularly Eng-lish in non-English-speaking countries, without a degree and with little to no experience or expertise. But today, governmental agencies like Mexico's Secretaría de Educación Pública (Ministry of Public Education) have begun to require that teachers have a degree that demonstrates sufficient skill and language proficiency. Nevertheless, being able to speak English and having a degree do not necessarily lead to purposeful language teaching, particularly with a traditional instructional approach that isolates language skills without appropriate contextual clues in a classroom environment where the teacher is didactic expert and students complacently follow along. Traditional methods of teaching English often include translating structures from the target language to the mother tongue; although this method may seem antiquated, it is still commonly practiced. Indeed, those teachers who were taught by traditional methods tend to continue teaching with similar methods. Teachers tend to teach the way they were taught (Prabhu 1987), and if an English language teacher learned English via the translation method, this same method is likely to reappear when the teacher plans, implements, and evaluates instruction. Many Eng-lish teachers around the world—in Mexico, for example—may still prefer direct instruction even though they are often free to choose from a variety of methods or strategies (Bollin 2003). The purpose of this article is to demonstrate interactive and student-centered examples of dictogloss activities that offer an alternative to traditional dictation (usually reserved for listening comprehension) and that can be applied both within and outside the English language-learning classroom (Wajnryb 1990). Dictogloss procedures are practical, yet flexible enough to account for the needs, interests, and learning preferences of each learner. But more than that, the dictogloss activities allow English learners to be active and reflective during the learning process.