Dictation as a measure of Japanese proficiency

Abstract

While a number of researchers have reported positive and high reliability and validity for dictation as a measure of language proficiency in English and French as second languages, not much research on dictation has been con ducted with other languages, particularly where there is a close correspondence between pronounciation and orthography. Stansfield (1977) found that dicta tion was only a moderately valid measure for Spanish as a second language. The study reported here examined whether a form of modified dictation called 'graduated dictation' would be able to discriminate between different language proficiency levels in students learning Japanese at an American university. ANOVA showed that there were significant differences between proficiency levels. Results also suggested that dictation would be an effective measure of language proficiency even if a target language has a very close relationship between its pronounciation and orthography.

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