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The Dicto‐Comp Revisited
Author(s) -
Kleinmann Howard H.,
Selekman Howard R.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
foreign language annals
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.258
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1944-9720
pISSN - 0015-718X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1944-9720.1980.tb01359.x
Subject(s) - rhetorical question , composition (language) , computer science , reading (process) , cognitive science , focus (optics) , linguistics , epistemology , philosophy , psychology , physics , optics
The dicto‐comp exercise has generally been used as a technique to stimulate writing. Based on auditory memory expansion, it consists of a passage which is read to students several times. After the final reading, students are asked to reproduce the passage, adhering to the original version as closely as possible. The technique is designed to tap students' ability to write both a dictation and a composition. The present paper discusses and illustrates the structured use of the dicto‐comp where the focus is on composition rather than auditory memory expansion. Our concept of the dicto‐comp entails the following features: (1) A dicto‐comp exercise occurs within an orderly sequence of teaching/learning events in the composition classroom; and (2) each dicto‐comp exercise has a specific teaching point, either a particular syntactic pattern or a particular rhetorical pattern. Recent classroom experiences with the use of the dicto‐comp are discussed.