Dictation
1. Follow steps 1 – 6 in text-to-speech to get to manage accessibility features
2. Keyboard and text input
3. Enable dictation (speak to type) click on toggle switch to turn on
A microphone icon should appear at the bottom right corner of the screen. To use Dictation:
1. You need to have some form of a text box in which to dictate: the URL search box in Google, a text box in a
PDF editing app, or the content section of a Google Slide or Google Form. There must be a place to enter
text.
2. Click on the microphone icon and then click wherever you need to insert text.
3. Click it off when done otherwise it will continue to record
TIPS FOR USING SPEECH TO TEXT
1. Dictate one thought/sentence at a time.
2. Turn microphone off between sentences.
3. Turn microphone off if you get stuck or forget what you want to say.
4. Speak clearly but do not yell. You cannot whisper but you can speak quietly.
5. If the student speaks quietly, a headset may help so that the device can better hear the student.
6. End punctuation must be used, either through dictation or keyboard. If there are no periods, then the
device has trouble understanding a long rambling sentence.
a. Speech-to-text uses context of previous words and beginnings of sentences to base transcription
accuracy. If there are too many things going on in one sentence, it can become easily confused and
may change text that was previously transcribed correctly.
7. Dictate punctuation to keep momentum going. This also works with helping students to remember to use
periods. You can Google a list of voice commands that can be used with Voice Typing. You can get the exact
wording for “next line, new paragraph, open quotes, close quotes, etc.
8. With more context and specific vocabulary, the better the transcription accuracy. Students who
write/dictate in very general terms may have decreased accuracy of transcription because there are no
contexts clues to guide transcription.
9. Some students cannot watch as they dictate because it is too distracting or confusing to watch the
transcription appear and change as they are speaking. Just lower the screen a little or turn the device
around.
10. Pre-writing tasks that are performed before writing really need to be used before dictating. It is difficult for
most students to hold the thoughts in their heads in the correct order and to dictate in an organized and
efficient manner.
11. Speech-to-text is a great way for a student to brainstorm ideas quickly into a Google Doc and later rearrange
and elaborate for sentences and paragraphs.
12. The student needs to edit for errors of transcription as well as typical errors. Errors can be corrected with
speech-to-text or keyboarding. Text-to-speech is a good complement to composing with speech-to-text to
listen back to work that was produced to listen for errors that may not be noticed by reading.
13. Typically students who struggle with expressive language challenges will struggle with speech-to-text for the
same reasons they struggle with paper and pencil. Expression is still difficult, speech-to-text removes the
stress of paper and pencil or keyboarding but coming up with ideas and language will still be present.
Updated June 2020