Dictation & Practice Material Development Flashcards

What is the primary purpose of using literary dictation materials in early court reporting training?

Answer: To help students build speed with familiar vocabulary

Literary passages use familiar everyday vocabulary, allowing beginning students to focus on speed and accuracy without the added challenge of unfamiliar legal or technical terms.

Which dictation speed range is typically recommended for beginning court reporting students during their first weeks of training?

Answer: 60–80 words per minute

Beginning students start at 60–80 WPM so they can develop proper technique and stroke accuracy before advancing to higher speeds.

When developing a court reporting curriculum, which type of dictation content should typically be introduced first?

Answer: Simple literary or news-style passages

Simple literary or news-style passages contain familiar vocabulary and sentence structure, making them the best starting point before students tackle specialized legal or medical content.

What is the recommended approach for advancing a student to the next dictation speed tier?

Answer: Move to the next speed only after the student consistently achieves 95% accuracy

Consistent 95% accuracy at a given speed is the standard benchmark that demonstrates a student has mastered that level before safely advancing.

Which of the following is a best practice when creating new dictation passages for court reporting instruction?

Answer: Balance familiar and new vocabulary to challenge without overwhelming students

Effective dictation materials scaffold learning by mixing known vocabulary with new challenges, keeping students engaged without causing frustration.

What accuracy percentage is the standard threshold for a student to pass an NCRA skills speed test?

Answer: 95%

NCRA RPR and other skills tests require 95% accuracy, and court reporting instructors align classroom speed tests to this same professional benchmark.

When selecting dictation passages for CRI-level instruction, which factor is MOST important in gauging appropriate difficulty?

Answer: Syllabic intensity and vocabulary complexity

Syllabic intensity — the average number of syllables per word — directly affects how many steno strokes a passage requires, making it the key metric for calibrating difficulty.