Improving English by memorising short texts

[Matthew Teacher]

As an English teacher, I have sometimes noticed that students who memorised short texts reported that they could spontaneously reproduce chunks of language from those texts later on, improving their fluency and accuracy. I have created a website, dictatext.com, which helps students to memorise short texts. I would love people to try out the site and let me know what they think. I am also keen to hear about people's experiences of text memorisation and any techniques users have found useful for memorising texts.

 

[emsr2d2]

Welcome to the forum, @Matthew Teacher. I had a quick play with your website and I have to say it's beautifully designed. (I was also rather relieved that I scored 100% on every exercise!)

The only thing I don't understand is the Pelmanism "game". It's a basic "match the tiles" game and I know it's meant to improve memory but I'm not sure what it's helping from a language point of view. I turned over the first tile on the left-hand side and randomly clicked on one on the right. Of course, it wasn't a match. I clicked the same tile on the left but turned over a different tile on the right and again it wasn't a match. After about five failures (using the same tile on the left every time), I gave up. Perhaps I missed something in the instructions but I felt that it just took too long without getting anywhere.

I certainly think that the listening exercise is worth doing for a lot of learners. My only negative point about it is that most people can't type fast enough to keep up with the speech, even though it's slowish speech. I can type at 85wpm but I had to hit Pause on my keyboard about six times to get through the whole thing. It would be good if there were a slight delay after hitting Play each time because by the time you've got your cursor back in the typing box and your fingers back on the keys, you've missed the next couple of words.

I'd encourage our learners to try it out but I'm pretty impressed after just a short play around with it.

 

[Matthew Teacher]

Thanks very much for that feedback! Point taken regarding the pelmanism activity. I have tried them myself and can complete them, but they can be quite frustrating. I will have to have a think about it, but I am reluctant to remove them all at this stage, pending further feedback from users.

As for the dictation speed, did you notice that there are two speeds you can play the recordings at? It may be that it is not clear enough in the design of the activity. It's an H5P activity, but perhaps it can be modified.

 

[emsr2d2]

I did notice the changeable speed meter. I was simply making the point that I'm a native English speaker with a pretty high wpm typing speed and I struggled to keep up whilst regularly having to hit Pause, type the last few words, hit Play, get my cursor back into the typing box and catch up with the last couple of words that were spoken while I was moving my cursor. Even if I use the Pause/Play button on my keyboard instead, it took the cursor out of the typing box while on Pause and it had to be put back there manually after hitting Play. Do you foresee people mainly using that particular section on a laptop/desktop or on a mobile?

With hindsight, I've realised I was using it almost as a dictation (audio typing) test rather than a memory test. If I'd simply listened to it a few times, then tried to type the whole thing in in one go without the audio playing at the same time, it would have been a test of my memory instead. However, if it's a memory exercise, I'm not sure how it helps with learning English, other than the potential new vocabulary/grammar. However, without an explanation of the associated vocabulary/grammar, what's the objective of getting learners to memorise a sentence without understanding it? I think the potential new vocabulary/grammar points need hyperlinks that take learners to a dictionary or grammar site for further learning.

Also, I've just noticed that at the bottom of each screen is a transcript of the listening test. Surely once a user realises that the text is right there on the screen for them, they'll potentially just copy it into the text box and get 100% every time!

 

[Matthew Teacher]

Once again, thanks very much for the really helpful feedback. I get the point regarding the dictation. I'll need to see if there's any way I can modify it, but the problem is it's a readymade H5P activity. I may need to go for slower recordings, but they use more memory, which can cause problems with the responsiveness of the site as a whole. Anyway, I will look into this (with a bit of help from AI) – you’ve really given me something to think about here.

The way I conceived of the process is that users could use translation software and other EFL resources initially to get to understand the texts following the dictation. I felt that my own explanations of grammar and vocabulary might be redundant or make things too complicated.

By the way, the text at the bottom of the page is intended as a self-test area. Users can use it to create their own gap fill exercises and when they feel ready they can make the whole text disappear and test their recall of the whole text. I'm getting the impression that the process I’ve imagined is not that self-explanatory. Perhaps a video on how to use the texts would be helpful…?

Anyway, thanks very much once again. I’ll see what modifications I can make. In the meantime, if you do know of any students who might like to use the site, please recommend it to them, and I would love to get further feedback on it.

 

[emsr2d2]

Once again, thanks very much for the really helpful feedback. I get the point regarding the dictation. I'll need to see if there's any way I can modify it, but the problem is it's a readymade H5P activity. I may need to go for slower recordings, but they use more memory, which can cause problems with the responsiveness of the site as a whole. Anyway, I will look into this (with a bit of help from AI) – you’ve really given me something to think about here.

I have no idea what H5P is so apologies if my suggestions can't be done - I thought you'd designed the whole thing yourself.
I don't think I was entirely clear about the listening transcription exercise. I don't think the speech needs to be slowed down any further. I just think you need to make it clearer that the idea isn't to type the words while simultaneously listening to the audio. Ideally, I'd have the audio on its own page with an instruction to listen to the recording multiple times, then an "I'm ready" button taking you to another page in which you type the text as you remember it. After that, you get your result.

The way I conceived of the process is that users could use translation software and other EFL resources initially to get to understand the texts following the dictation. I felt that my own explanations of grammar and vocabulary might be redundant or make things too complicated.

That pre-supposes that the learner can actually work out what the word is in order to research it online. Let's say someone has never heard the word "party" before. They wouldn't even know how to spell it if all they had was the audio. That's why I suggested hyperlinks on the relevant vocabulary and grammar points. It wouldn't be your own explanation - it would come direct from a reputable online dictionary or grammar website (of your choice).

By the way, the text at the bottom of the page is intended as a self-test area. Users can use it to create their own gap fill exercises and when they feel ready they can make the whole text disappear and test their recall of the whole text. I'm getting the impression that the process I’ve imagined is not that self-explanatory. Perhaps a video on how to use the texts would be helpful…?

I understand the point of the self-test area. My point is that it's on the same page as the dictation exercise! What's stopping someone simply scrolling down six inches to see the written version and copying it into the text box? The system will think they've been 100% successful on the dictation when in fact all they do was copy it word for word from the self-test section. Is there a way to make that text at the bottom invisible until the user is ready to do the self-test?

I feel that the whole thing should be sequential. Put the audio on page 1 with instructions to listen multiple times. Click "I'm ready" to go to the next page with the box to type in. Once that's complete, and they've got their result, click "Next exercise" to go to each consecutive exercise, each one on its own page. The self-test exercise would be last, again on its own page.

Anyway, thanks very much once again. I’ll see what modifications I can make. In the meantime, if you do know of any students who might like to use the site, please recommend it to them, and I would love to get further feedback on it.

You're welcome. I'm currently "between students" (private one-to-one only so work comes and goes) but I'm sure some of the learners on this forum will give it a go in due course.