VEPT Dictation: Transcription Skills 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: You hear: 'He doesn't enjoy working late at the office.' A test-taker writes: 'He don't enjoy working late at the office.' What is wrong?
- The contraction 'doesn't' was incorrectly changed to 'don't' (Correct answer)
- The word 'enjoy' should be 'enjoyed'
- The phrase 'at the office' should be 'in the office'
- The word 'working' should be 'to work'
Correct answer: The contraction 'doesn't' was incorrectly changed to 'don't'
'Doesn't' is the third-person singular form; replacing it with 'don't' introduces a subject-verb agreement error.
Question 2: In VEPT dictation scoring, which transcription would be penalized even if the meaning is preserved?
- Changing 'won't' to 'will not' when the speaker said 'won't' (Correct answer)
- Typing the sentence in uppercase letters
- Adding a period at the end of the sentence
- Leaving a single space between words
Correct answer: Changing 'won't' to 'will not' when the speaker said 'won't'
Transcription accuracy requires reproducing the exact words spoken, including contracted forms; changing 'won't' to 'will not' alters the form even if the meaning is equivalent.
Question 3: A test-taker hears a sentence once and must immediately write it down. Which cognitive process is most critical in this moment?
- Phonological working memory — holding the spoken words in short-term memory (Correct answer)
- Long-term semantic memory — recalling word definitions
- Visual memory — remembering how words look in print
- Procedural memory — recalling grammar rules consciously
Correct answer: Phonological working memory — holding the spoken words in short-term memory
Phonological working memory allows the test-taker to retain the spoken sentence long enough to transcribe it accurately.
Question 4: You hear: 'The children were playing quietly in the garden.' Which transcription contains a deletion error?
- The children were playing in the garden. (Correct answer)
- The children was playing quietly in the garden.
- The children were playing quietly in a garden.
- The childrens were playing quietly in the garden.
Correct answer: The children were playing in the garden.
Omitting 'quietly' removes a word from the sentence, making it a deletion error.
Question 5: Which of the following is an example of correct punctuation practice in VEPT dictation?
- Ending a statement with a period as heard from the sentence's falling intonation (Correct answer)
- Adding commas after every third word for clarity
- Using quotation marks around every verb
- Capitalizing all nouns to mark their importance
Correct answer: Ending a statement with a period as heard from the sentence's falling intonation
Falling intonation at the end of declarative sentences signals a period; matching punctuation to intonation is good dictation practice.
Question 6: You hear: 'She has already finished her assignment.' A student writes: 'She already finished her assignment.' Which error occurred?
- Deletion of the auxiliary verb 'has' (Correct answer)
- Substitution of 'finished' with a different verb
- Incorrect spelling of 'assignment'
- Addition of an extra word not in the original
Correct answer: Deletion of the auxiliary verb 'has'
Omitting 'has' removes the auxiliary needed for the present perfect tense, making it a deletion error.
Question 7: How does accurate transcription of function words (e.g., 'the,' 'a,' 'of,' 'to') affect a VEPT dictation score?
- It matters, because every word including function words must be reproduced accurately (Correct answer)
- It doesn't matter, since only content words are scored
- Only articles like 'the' and 'a' are scored; prepositions are ignored
- Function words are automatically filled in by the scoring system
Correct answer: It matters, because every word including function words must be reproduced accurately
VEPT dictation scores full transcription accuracy, so every word — content or function — must be reproduced correctly.
VEPT Dictation: Transcription Skills 3
You hear: 'He doesn't enjoy working late at the office.' A test-taker writes: 'He don't enjoy working late at the office.' What is wrong?