Now, I understand that English teachers are supposed to teach proper punctuation and spelling, but everything else they are teaching by assigning written essays -- grammar, sentence fluency, argument structure, different poetic tools, etc. -- can just as easily be worked on in a verbal form as in a written one.
It may make it tricky to grade or to give feedback on, so here's how it would go: Students would record an audio essay, then follow-up with an assignment to write it out and critique it.
My reasoning is that there are many people who have trouble writing. They have thoughts they can voice aloud, but confronted with a page, everything goes haywire. The dictation method bypasses this issue and allows a person to simply voice their thoughts aloud.
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| I searched "dictation" on Freepik.com and got this. No idea why. |
Typing it out forces a person to look at how they sound (an excellent tool if you're trying to become a better speaker). Past the umms and pauses, they should receive a confidence boost in their ability to write an essay. They just dictated one, after all, and that's no different from writing.
Maybe, just maybe, this would allow someone to learn how to write. They could then learn to speak with their hands instead of their mouths, because that's all writing is. Perhaps it would help them get past the page barrier.
All of this said, it's time to give a life update. I'm leaving my job at the Idaho Press-Tribune in a few weeks. I'm moving to Utah, then starting a business helping seniors write their memoirs through dictation. The memoirs will be collected into a book and printed for their family members.
So I'm not an English teacher, but I'm going to try my hand at turning this audio essay idea into a business. Wish me luck -- I'm sure you'll be hearing about it.
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