Dictation

Dictation is a good way to focus students on the details of language form rather than meaning. Of course, looking at form without understanding meaning impoverishes language learning, but an unrelenting focus on meaning can distract attention from form and slow learning. One site that provides dictation practice is Listen and Write. It requires students to create an account and log in, but it is free.

It has a number of levels and a level test. The levels test is in beta, and I was placed in level 6 of 10 (based on the graph) despite doing the test in earnest (Also, confusingly, the audio seems to go up to level 22). I think the problem may be that I was hitting punctuation where none was expected and then barrelling on past the error with each keystroke counting as a further error. I'm not really sure though.

Another thing to be careful of is that not all of the tracks are English, so look at the language label. Also, the audio quality varies. All in all, it's may be a good idea to vet a number of dictations yourself before sending your students to the site.

TED Ed

For those who like TED talks but whose students might not be ready for a full-on 18 minute lecture, TED Ed is a good alternative. Many of the talks are shorter, often about 5 minutes, and they are supported with animation that helps convey the meaning. They also come with a number of multiple-choice comprehension question, two or three "think" questions, and a "dig deeper" suggestion for research.

Unfortunately, most of these are not really aimed at language learning. Fortunately, though, you can "flip" the video, which means you can make your own questions, which would be associated with a unique URL which you can give your students. TED Ed also provides tools to track the viewing of and responses to your flipped video. More info here.

When you flip the talk, sadly, you cannot edit or add multiple-choice questions; you can simply include or exclude what is already there. The "think" and "dig deeper" sections are editable, though.

Unlike TED talks, a transcript isn't provided on TED Ed, but many of the videos will have a CC box, which, if clicked, will provide closed captions.

English Central

English Central is mainly a collection of existing videos, rather than a producer of content. They do, however, add some significant value.  First, they rank the videos for different English proficiency levels. Then, they add subtitles and provide an easy to use viewer. Next, they encourage students to record themselves speaking the lines from the video and use speech recognition software to indicate whether these have been spoken correctly or not. They also have vocabulary lists.

Overall, I think the main value is in the ranked, subtitled videos. The pronunciation check is not likely to be very effective and the glosses for the vocabulary vary a good deal in terms of how easy/accurate they are. Nevertheless, there is a large amount of material available, and it's worth checking out.

English Accent Coach

This website is being put together by Ron Thomson out of Brock U. It's currently in Beta, and will be changing a bit in the next few weeks, but it looks quite useful for helping learning hear the distinction between sounds. It's also likely good for TESL students learning about phonology and pronunciation.


It's a game-like interface that plays syllables or words containing target phonemes that have to then be identified. The sound quality is high and the the pronunciations are varied but natural. I would strongly recommend using earphones rather than speakers.

English-language Learning: Listening to Academic Lectures

This came from a Ryerson site, suggested by Irene Kosmas. 

English-language Learning: Listening to Academic Lectures appears to be a Canadian site. It begins with a significant overview of listening strategies. Then there are five lectures to work on. Each with a series of steps and exercises to work through. All have downloadable transcripts, MP3 audio files, and downloadable video files (all together in one large (over 100MB) zip file, which needs to be expanded) for flexible delivery. Although there is a copyright notice, all materials on the site are expressly free to download. The media also has click-to-listen links, but they wouldn't play on my MacBook. 

The speaker, at least in the first lecture, is competent, but rather dull. He reader from cue cards, and the video/audio quality is degraded by darkness and a constant buzz.

These are longer lectures, the first being 23 minutes: definitely for higher-level learners.

Level 8: About plagiarism

A number of files relating to the idea of plagiarism:

• From iTunes U, a 14 minutes interview. (item 11, date 4/15/08) with transcript.
• CBC ideas: In praise of plagiarism.
• Grammar Girl's podcast (episode 252)

This talk is mostly for faculty, but some students might get something out of it.

Although it's not audio and not appropriate for EAP students, I can't resist mentioning this essay.

Level 8 TED talks for independent listening

There are so many great TED talks, but here are some excellent ones that seem particularly relevant to our students' interests:

Level 8 TED talks

The following TED talks have been used, mostly with great success, in level eight.

The paradox of choice materials

One of the TED talks I've been using quite successfully in level 8 is "The paradox of choice" by Barry Schwartz. I've prepared some materials to go with this.

Canadian society

Here are a few ideas for the level 8 sociology course: