How to listen to IELTS dictation for beginners

Listening is the most confusing skill for beginners, partly because this skill takes a long time to progress and is easy to get frustrated without the right practice method. So how should low-level students practice Listening? The following article will specifically analyze the most effective way to practice for the buffalo ear level - a novice level with Listening, as well as provide a "store" of lessons training listen to IELTS spelling prepared by DOL. Let's find out together!

Background & Methodology

What is the buffalo ear level?

Students who are at the buffalo ear level often have common characteristics such as:

When I can't distinguish words clearly, it feels like the words are stuck together
Understand very little when listening to listening, sometimes understand 1-2 simple words
When I read the transcript, I feel like I know almost all the words but still can't hear it

What is the effective training method for this level?

According to Linearthinking thinking, at this level, the most effective way to practice is to listen to dictation because it forces students to try to hear and separate each word.

However, low-level students often use this wrong practice method (finding the listening lesson is too difficult or forcing themselves to copy 100% of the listening lesson) leading to easily boredom and frustration.

DOL offers a more efficient 25-50-75-100 dictation method than the old one.

Book Review

Listening

The Complete IELTS Listening HandbookAuthor: dol.vn Self-study English Online

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✍️ Spelling 25-50-75-100

Method

This method of dictation does not force students to copy 100% of the lesson from the beginning, because this method of copying takes a long time and is frustrating for students.

Instead, DOL gives students different levels of difficulty when dictating: copy 25% → copy 50% → copy 75% → copy 100%.

Apply

Let's apply different difficulty levels 25% - 50% - 75% - 100% on a specific listening lesson:

00:00

Spell Copy 25%

I want to explain a few things about your ______.

First of all, the _______. The deadline for this essay is October the 18th. Not the 19th, not the 28th, not two days later because your dog was ill or your ______ broke – the 18th. If it's late, I won't mark it. I won't even read it – you'll fail the _________! So, please hand it in on time. You can even hand it in early, if you like!

You can email me the essays at j.hartshorn@lmu.ac.uk. That's H-A-R-T-S-H-O-R-N. I'll reply to say I've got it. If I don't reply within a day, it might mean I didn't get it, so please email me again to make sure. You can also bring a _______copy of the essay to my office, but let's be kind to the ________, OK? Email is better for the trees and for me.

Don't forget that you must reference every ______ or quote you use that isn't your own idea. And the last page of your essay should be a list of all the _______ you used, in alphabetical order, not in the order you used them!

And lastly, make it easy for me to read! That means use a ______ font. Arial is best, but Times New Roman is fine too. Not Comic Sans please! Size 12 font for the essay, and size 14 for the titles and subheadings. And use _____ numbers. Any questions?

Spell Copy 50%

I want to explain a few things about your essay.

First of all, the deadline. The ______________ is October the 18th. Not the 19th, not the 28th, not two days later because your dog was ill or your _________ – the 18th. If it's late, I won't mark it. I won't even read it – you'll ____________! So, please hand it in on time. You can even _______________, if you like!

You can email me the essays at j.hartshorn@lmu.ac.uk. That's H-A-R-T-S-H-O-R-N. I'll reply to say I've got it. If I don't reply _____________, it might mean I didn't get it, so please email me again to make sure. You can also _____________of the essay to my office, but let's be kind to the trees, OK? Email is better for the trees and for me.

Don't forget that you must ____________ or quote you use that isn't your own idea. And the last page of your essay should be _____________ you used, in alphabetical order, not in the order you used them!

And lastly, make it easy for me to read! That means ______________ Arial is best, but Times New Roman is fine too. Not Comic Sans please! Size 12 font for the essay, and size 14 for the _______ and _____________. And use _____________ Any questions?

Copy dictation 75%

I want to explain a few things about your essay.

First of all, the deadline. The ____________ is ______________. Not the 19th, not the 28th, not two days later because _____________ or _____________– the 18th. If it's late, I won't mark it. I won't even read it – you'll _____________! So, please _____________. You can even hand it in early, if you like!

You can email me the essays at ________________. That's H-A-R-T-S-H-O-R-N. I'll reply to say I've got it. If I don't ______________, it might mean I didn't get it, so please ________________ to make sure. You can also _______________ to my office, but let's _______________, OK? Email is better for the trees and for me.

Don't forget that you must ____________________ you use that _______________. And the ___________of your essay should be ________________ you used, in _______________, not in the order you used them!

And lastly, make it easy for me to read! That means _____________. Arial is best, but Times New Roman is fine too. Not Comic Sans please! ___________ font for the essay, and _______ for the ______ and __________. And _______________ Any questions?

100% dictation

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Audio Transcript:

I want to explain a few things about your essay.

First of all, the deadline. The deadline for this essay is October the 18th. Not the 19th, not the 28th, not two days later because your dog was ill or your computer broke – the 18th. If it's late, I won't mark it. I won't even read it – you'll fail the assignment! So, please hand it in on time. You can even hand it in early, if you like!

You can email me the essays at j.hartshorn@lmu.ac.uk. That's H-A-R-T-S-H-O-R-N. I'll reply to say I've got it. If I don't reply within a day, it might mean I didn't get it, so please email me again to make sure. You can also bring a paper copy of the essay to my office, but let's be kind to the trees, OK? Email is better for the trees and for me.

Don't forget that you must reference every idea or quote you use that isn't your own idea. And the last page of your essay should be a list of all the books you used, in alphabetical order, not in the order you used them!

And lastly, make it easy for me to read! That means use a clear font. Arial is best, but Times New Roman is fine too. Not Comic Sans please! Size 12 font for the essay, and size 14 for the titles and subheadings. And use page numbers. Any questions?

Appropriate dictation sources and how to find dictation sources

Choosing the right listening source for your level is quite difficult for beginners IELTS ListeningBecause if the song is too difficult, it will be easy to get bored, if it is too easy, it will be boring.

In the process of choosing the source of dictation listening materials, it is necessary to read through the transcript to see how many words you know in it.

If you don't know 50% of the vocabulary or more, you should choose the easier listening lesson
If you know 100% of the vocabulary that is too familiar, you should not choose because then the listening lesson is somewhat easier than your level, and you will not be able to progress.

To avoid having to "headache" when choosing the source of IELTS dictation practice materials, use the tool right away listen to IELTS spelling available by DOL at

this Please!

✔️ Accumulate vocabulary at the buffalo ear level

During traininglisten to IELTS spellingSurely there will be times when students encounter many strange words that they do not know. At this time, the selection and learning of vocabulary is extremely important to be able to listen and understand the content of the lesson.

Videos of IELTS vocabulary often appear in the test:

DOL has some tips for learning vocabulary at level IELTS this is as follows:

Should choose to learn vocabulary from easy to difficult (according to increasing difficulty level: A1 -> A2 -> B1). When looking up words in the dictionaryOxford Learner's Dictionary, students can easily check the difficulty of the word they are learning.
Choose to study simple vocabulary on familiar topics. Then learn complex phrases.
When learning vocabulary, it is imperative to learn the pronunciation of the word, because if you pronounce it wrong, you will not recognize the word when you hear someone else pronounce it correctly.

Want a deeper understanding of how to learn vocab? Read the article together this by DOL!

In short, with the level of buffalo ears, students need to practicelisten to IELTS spelling gradually increase the level of 25 - 50 - 75 - 100 so that the ear gets used to the sound separation and word recognition without getting bored. In addition, students also need to accumulate more basic vocabulary and pronunciation of these words. If you want to practice more, you can refer to

Listening exercises store by DOL! Wish you practice IELTS effective.

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