What Effect Does the
Dictado Has on Writing?
Edilberto Cano
Literacy Squared Institute
Estes Park, CO
June 28th, 2012
Instructional Context
Dictado
CrossLanguage
Connections
Literacy Based
ESL
Spanish
Literacy
Context: Literacy Block First
Grade
First Grade
Literacy Instruction Time Allocation
Minutes per Day--Grades 1-3
Literacy Instruction Minutes
140
120
120
100
90
90
80
60
60
60
60
Spanish
Lit. Based-ESL
40
20
0
Grade 1
Grade 2
Grade 3
Initial Questions about
Implementation- 2010
 Are teachers following the standard procedures for the
Dictado in Spanish and English in the first grade?
 Are teachers following the critical reminders in the
implementation of the Dictado in Spanish and English?
 Do we see a positive impact in the implementation of the
Dictado in English and Spanish in students’ writing samples?
Student A- Writing Sample 1st Grade
Spanish
Student B- Writing Sample 1st Grade
Spanish
Student C- Writing Sample 1st Grade
Spanish
Dictado Analysis- First Grade- 20092010
Teacher
# Spanish
Dictados
Range # of
Words
Spanish
Min-Max
# English
Dictados
Range # of
Words
English
Min-Max
Teacher A
26
5-27
26
4-14
Teacher B
21
6-18
15
7-15
Teacher C
21
5-13
9
5-10
Teacher D
17
5-12
13
4-8
Teacher E
17
5-12
16
4-10
Dictado Analysis- First Grade- 20092010
1st Trimester
2nd Trimester
3rd Trimester
Avg. # Words
Avg. # Words
Avg. # Words
Spanish
Spanish
Spanish
Teacher A
7.4
11.4
15.6
Teacher B
8
11.6
14.4
Teacher C
8.2
8.8
6.5
Teacher D
8.8
6
6.8
Teacher E
10
8.4
6.8
Teacher
Teacher A- English Writing Sample- 1st
Grade
Teacher B- English Writing Sample- 1st
Grade
Teacher C- English Writing Sample- 1st
Grade
Emerging Finding: English Dictado
Teacher
Number of
Dictados
Before Jan
25th, 2010
# English
Dictados
Range # of
Words English
Min-Max
Teacher A
14
26
4-14
Teacher B
4
15
7-15
Teacher C
2
9
5-10
Teacher D
1
13
4-8
Teacher E
1
16
4-10
Teaching Implications
 In first grade, increase complexity and sophisticated
vocabulary over time in the Dictados both in English and
Spanish
 In first grade, start English Dictados earlier in the school
year
 To improve self-correction, monitor what children are
producing and trying to write
Three Main Ideas
 Quality
 Meaning is at the core of the Dictado
 Specific teaching points (Phrase, transition, word, and spelling
and cross language connections)
 Consistency
 3 times a week- MINIMUM
 15 Dictados in English and Spanish- MINIMUM
 START English Earlier in the school year
 Fidelity
 To the implementation, recommendations, and standard
procedures
Questions?
Longitudinal Analysis Writing
Samples and Dictados Grades 1-3
2008-2011
Colorado Schools
Research Questions
 How does the quality of students’ writing samples (WRS) in
English and Spanish improve from the first grade to the
third grade?
 What are the writing literacy skills and conventions
exercised through direct instruction using the Dictado that
students’ display in their writing samples in both English and
Spanish?
Dictado Example- 2nd Grade
English
The Park
On the way to the park, I saw a big balloon in the sky. It was
one of the biggest balloons I had ever seen!





Spelling
Word segmentation (hyper- and hypo-segmentation)
Basic punctuation (Comma, period, exclamation marks)
Basic capitalization
Syntactical structures (sentences and phrases)
Dictados
Grade
Language
Total #
Avg.
Words
Avg.
Sentences
Date
Started
Date
Ended
1
Spanish
English
Spanish
English
Spanish
English
16
16
16
19
16
17
11
8
39
32
51
26
1.25
1
4
4
4.4
3.1
10/2008
10/2008
8/2009
9/2009
8/2010
8/2010
4/2009
4/2009
5/2010
5/2010
4/2011
4/2011
2
3
Writing Samples
 Grades 1-3
 Years :
 2008-2009
 2009-2010
 2010-2011
 17 students grades 1- 2
 16 students grade 3
 Students took their writing samples in the month of
January-February respectively
Spelling English Grades 1-3
Grade
Spanish Influence
ELD Influence Defy Category
Undecipherable
Hide
Made
1
260
86
4
12
2
122
120
5
3
3
210
138
2
3
Spelling- ELD and Spanish Influence
Grades 1- 3
18
Median Scores
16
16
14
12
10
7
8
9
8.5
6
4
2
6
3
0
Grade 1 (n=17) Grade 2 (n=17) Grade 3 (n= 16)
Spanish Influence
ELD Influence
Research Findings--Phoneme Level
Median Scores
140
120
117
100
89
80
Correct Spelling
60
43
40
20
Words Written
60
48
22
24
12
Approximations
18.5
0
Grade 1 (n=17) Grade 2 (n=17) Grade 3 (n= 16)
Why?
 Reading and writing are mutually reinforced
 Students analyze what they hear to respond or to solve:




Letter-sound correspondence
Initial and ending sounds discrimination
Sequence of ideas
Word segmentation
Basic Punctuation Use Analysis
Ending Sentence Example- English
First Grade
Unconventional Use of PeriodsWriting Samples- Examples
No Internal Punctuation- Spanish 3rd
Grade
Basic Punctuation (Periods)Approximations
Variables
Language
Grade 1
% Students
Grade 2
% Students
Grade 3
% Students
End of
Sentence
Spanish
18
24
13
English
30
6
16
Unconventional
Use of Period
Spanish
6
12
6
English
12
6
0
No internal
Punctuation
Spanish
0
6
6a
English
0
0
6a
a Same student
Teaching Implications- Basic
Punctuation
 Use Dictados with more than one sentence when
appropriate
 Craft Dictados that provides a more fluid sequence of ideas
in order to provide students the support to create more
complex and fluid ideas rather than just independent
clauses.
Capital Letter Use Analysis
Capital Letter Use Examples- Writing
Samples
Beginning Sentence
Random Use
Capital Letter Use- First Sentence
Example 2nd Grade Spanish
Basic Use of Capital Letters
Variables
Language
Grade 1
% Students
Grade 2
% Students
Grade 3
% Students
First Sentence
Spanish
6
6
0
English
6
0
0
Beginning
Sentence
Spanish
48
35
6
English
41
18
6
Random Use
Spanish
29
12
19
English
12
29
31
Capital letter Use- Teaching
Implications
Include in the Dictados specific rules for using capital letters
for:
 Proper Nouns
 When using question and exclamations marks
 Acronyms
 Titles
 Emphasizing important events
Syntactical Structure
 According to Soltero-González, Escamilla, and Hopewell
(2010):
 Bidirectional Syntax transfer
 Use of Possessives
 Subject omission
 Literal Translations
Bidirectional Transfer- Example
Syntactical Structures- Bidirectional
Syntax Transfer
Percent of students
40
35
35
30
25
26
25
Spanish
20
15
English
12
10
5
0
0
Grade 1
Grade 2
0
Grade 3
Sentence-Level--Subject Omission
Percent of Students
45
40
41
35
30
29
25
English
20
15
10
6
5
0
Grade 1
Grade 2
Grade 3
Sentence-Level--Literal Translations
Percent of Students
50
45
44
40
35
30
29
29
25
Spanish
20
English
15
10
6
5
0
0
Grade 1
Grade 2
0
Grade 3
Teaching Implications
 In the Dictado, include





Use of possessives
Phrases in English
The use of pronouns
Idioms
Use of adjectives
 Así se Dice strategy:
 To teach literal and conceptual translations
Hyper-Segmentations
Hypo-Segmentations
Hypo- & Hyper- SegmentationsApproximations
Variables
Language
Grade 1
% Students
Grade 2
% Students
Grade 3
% Students
HypoSegmentation
Spanish
24
41
38
English
24
18
31
HyperSegmentation
Spanish
12
35
13
English
6
18
19
Final Thoughts
According to Bauer and Gort (2012):
Students’ acquisition of literacy skills across languages are not
linear and “under different circumstances are considered
normal characteristics of biliteracy development” (p. 2).
Therefore:
Finding establishes the need for constant, sustained, explicit,
and direct teaching of literacy skills across languages and
across grade levels in grades K-5.