Abstract

It is commonly assumed that dictation requires a long time to learn, but authors eventually dictate much faster than they write. Performance results now show that novice dictators can learn in a few hours to dictate with the speed and quality with which they write. However, they do not think they perform this well. Dictators with years of experience are from zero to 25 percent faster than novices, depending upon the complexity of the letters. Planning time is about two-thirds of composition time, regardless of the method of composition.