A teacher of Class VII conducts a pair-work activity in which the pairs are…
2024
A teacher of Class VII conducts a pair-work activity in which the pairs are given a story of ten sentences. One partner in the pair reads out the first sentence and the other partner writes that sentence. Then the other partner reads out the second sentence and the first partner writes the second sentence. Likewise, the pairs complete the whole story. Later, they compare their writing with the original text given to them.
What is this activity known as?
- A.
Mutual Writing
- B.
Mutual Listening
- C.
Sentence Dictation
- D.
Mutual Dictation
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Concept
In English-language pedagogy, a pair-work exercise built around reading a text aloud and writing down what is heard is called a dictation activity: one partner speaks (dictates) a portion of a text while the other listens and transcribes it. When the two partners exchange this speaking (dictating) and writing role between them as the task proceeds — so that each partner dictates part of the text and writes down another part — the activity is termed Mutual Dictation, a recognised technique for combined listening-and-writing practice.
Application
Tracing the described activity sentence by sentence:
For the first sentence of the story, one partner reads it aloud while the other writes it down.
For the second sentence, the roles reverse: the partner who wrote now reads the sentence aloud, and the partner who read now writes it down.
This role exchange continues sentence by sentence through all ten sentences, and the pair then compares the text they produced together against the original story.
Because the dictating role and the writing role are exchanged reciprocally between the same two partners across the exercise — rather than one partner always dictating and the other always writing — the activity matches the definition of Mutual Dictation.
Cross-check
Mutual Writing names a jointly produced piece of writing but does not itself specify that one partner reads a source text aloud for the other to transcribe, so it does not capture the read-aloud-and-transcribe mechanic at the centre of this exercise.
Mutual Listening names the shared listening act but leaves out the paired writing step and the exchange of roles that this exercise depends on.
Sentence Dictation correctly names the read-aloud-and-write-down mechanic for a single sentence, but the term itself specifies only the unit of dictation and does not by itself indicate whether the dictating and writing roles alternate between the two partners, as they do here.
The activity is therefore best identified as Mutual Dictation.