The Effect of Partial Dictation on the Listening Comprehension Ability of Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners

ABSTRACT: This study investigated the effects of partial dictation on the listening comprehension (LC) ability of Iranian intermediate EFL learners. Two homogeneous groups of intermediate EFL learners at the Abrar Language Institute in Qa’emshahr were chosen. Each group consisted of 30 female intermediate EFL students. One of the groups was chosen as the experimental group (EG), and the other as the control group (CG). They both took a listening test as a pre-test. For one term, consisting of 20 sessions, the students in the control group were given the listening exercises in their textbook. The experimental group, in addition to the listening exercises in the textbook, was given partial dictation 11 times during the term. At the end of the term the LC ability of both groups was post-tested with the same listening test taken from a TOFEL test, which was also used as the listening pre-test. Results of a t-test showed that dictation had a significant effect on the listening comprehension ability of the participants in the experimental group. The mean gain scores of the experimental group were significantly higher than those of the control group.