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From http://frenchteachernet.blogspot.com

Steve Smith writes, “Dictation can be described as a technique where pupils hear some spoken material, hold it in their memory for a short time, then write down what they heard.

“It is one of the ancient crafts of language teaching. L G Kelly, in his 1969 book 25 Centuries of Language Teaching traces it back to at least the early middle ages. …

“Some like it, some hate it. Some accuse it of being boring and uncommunicative, a relic of the past when grammar-translation ruled the world; others argue that it has a valuable place, reinforcing phonological memory, improving grammar, spelling and listening skills.”

Read the full post for an extensive list of pros and cons for dictations, a discussion of what it actually practices, and lots of suggestions for adaptations and modifications of this ancient language learning practice: http://frenchteachernet.blogspot.com/2017/03/different-ways-of-doing-dictation.html