Reconceptualizing Dictation-Based Listening for Young EFL Learners: A Cognitive–Phonological Perspective

Abstract

Dictation has been viewed as a mechanical for a long time, accuracy-oriented classroom activity, and as such, it has received limited attention in communicative approaches to English language teaching. However, researchers and practitioners have begun to reconsider dictation as a form of listening practice, particularly in relation to bottom-up processing and phonological awareness. In spite of this new interest, little theorizing has been done on dictation-based listening among young EFL learners, particularly regarding the developmental nature of learners.

This paper aims to explore dictation-based listening for young learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) from a cognitive-phonological perspective, adopting the conceptualist perspective rather than an empirically designed study to explore how dictation activities can facilitate listening comprehension through the involvement of processes such as phonological decoding, attention, working memory, and sound-meaning mapping. It also argues that dictation becomes pedagogically meaningful only when tasks are developmentally calibrated and appropriately scaffolded.

As a conceptual contribution, the paper offers a theoretically grounded reconsideration of dictation within EFL listening instruction. It discusses implications for the design of developmentally appropriate dictation tasks and suggests directions for future empirical research, including investigations into technology- and AI-assisted dictation for young EFL learners.