Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

Jean A. Berch

Publication Date

5-9-1973

Abstract

Lloyd (1972) suggested the importance of simulating realistic business conditions in the classroom to strengthen vocabulary in specific content areas to aid students in the dictation-transcription process. In addition, Turse (1961) also emphasized the fact that students must be able to apply "word sense" when transcribing if they are to retain the correct meaning of the sentence when substituting words of similar meaning for missing shorthand outlines.

The purpose of this study was to determine if various types of instructional techniques given prior to dictation and transcription aid students in reducing their number of transcription errors. Subjects were assigned to one of the following four treatment conditions:

(1} No Instruction (NI), where Ss took dictation and transcribed with­out any instructional technique; (2) Dictation Instruction (DI), where Ss were given a simulated business setting which provided the reason for correspondence and the message to be conveyed, as well as instruction to "think about the content of the subject matter while taking dictation"; (3) Transcription Instruction (TI), where Ss were provided instruction prior to transcription to be aware of "word sense" when transcribing to retain the correct meaning in sentences when substituting words of similar meaning to fill in dictation blanks during transcription; and (4) Dictation-Transcription Instruction (D-TI), a combination of both Dictation Instruction (DI), given prior to dictation, and Transcription Instruction (TI), given prior to transcription.

The results indicated that both DI and D-TI made significantly fewer transcription errors than NI. However, there were no significant differences between NI and TI, nor between D-TI and DI. Finally, there was a significant monotonic decreasing trend of errors (D-TI< DI<. TI< NI) as predicted. DI proved to be the primary variable in reducing transcription errors to achieve a mailable letter. Instructing students to be aware of the content of the dictation material following simulation aided them in reducing their transcription errors.

Document Type

Thesis

Language

English

Degree Name

Secondary Education

Level of Degree

Masters

Department Name

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy

First Committee Member (Chair)

William Barton Runge

Second Committee Member

Pat W. Loyd

Third Committee Member

Childress McQueen

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