About This site

Welcome to Dictations Online. This website is specifically designed for students who are studying on the English Proficiency Programme ( PREPP and EPP). To get started, find the topics in the top menu following your level.  

User Guide

  • Spelling. Make a note of the words which you are getting wrong, revise them, then test yourself at the end of the week. Test yourself again in a month to test your long-term memory!
  • Listening. Do the dictation without looking at the computer screen and then compare your script with the computer one.
  • Speaking. While listening, talk along with the recording softly to yourself. You should aim to keep up with the speaker at a natural pace.
  • Pronunciation. While listening, work on the sounds that you have difficulty hearing and saying. You should aim to sound as much like the speaker as you can.
  • With Theme Intermediate and Advanced Dictations, focus on academic vocabulary and words from the second and third 1,000 wordlists. Listen to specific words, practise them in context, select sentences to replay, ask for hints and check your score.
Other ways of using this site

Read the alternative ways below and choose a way that suits you.

  1. Fill in the gaps
    • Look at the text with the gaps.
    • Try filling in the gaps before you listen to the audio.
    • Listen to the audio and fill in the gaps. Listen again if you need to.
    • Check your answers with the transcript.
  2. Do a full dictation
    • Do not look at the story. Write out the (whole) story as you listen to it. You will need to stop and start the audio.
    • Listen again to check your writing.
    • Check your writing with the transcript.
  3. Write your own account
    • Listen to the story. Do not write or read anything as you listen.
    • When you finish listening, writ out the story in your own words.
    • Read the transcript and compare it to your story.
  4. Just listen!
    • Just listen to the story without doing anything. If you need to, look at the transcript when you listen a second time.
  5. For speaking and pronunciation practice
    • As you are listening to the dictation, you can repeat it aloud to yourself in a soft voice.
    • If you want to, you can even record your own voice on the computer (using Audacity – ask LLC staff), repeating each phrase of the dictation.
    • Helps you practise fluency. You should aim to keep up with the speaker at his/her natural pace.
    • Helps you practise pronunciation. Aim to sound as much like the speaker as you can.