Using podcasts to help learners improve their English speaking and listening skills

1. Using podcasts to help learners improve
their speaking and listening skills
1. Context
2. Issues
3. Pedagogical consideration
4. Rationale behind the courseware
5. References
EDUC70032/2010

2. 1. Context — Students
• 15 Taxi drivers aged 26 to 52
•• Traditional educational background
••• High school graduates
•••• Some basic English knowledge
••••• Used to dealing with foreigners
•••••• Very good rapport (family atmosphere)
••••••• Immediate use for English
•••••••• Highly motivated

3. 1. Context — Students' needs
“Tourists prefer taxi
drivers who speak “They have more trust when
English.” we speak English.”
When you speak English and do small
talk, you receive a higher tip.”
“Tourists book you for tours when you speak
English.”
I had a foreign passenger last week
and I could already speak a bit
English with them.”
“I did some small talk with a tourist
and the tip was good.”

4. 1. Context — Course
••• Duration •
• Two months (with the possibility of a 4-week extension → tour guide)
•• Twice a week, two hours
••• Syllabus •
• Functional language (e.g. providing information about the fare, recommending
hotels/restaurants/, offering assistance)
•• Only brief explicit grammar explanations
••• Course content •
•Conversations throughout the stages of a taxi ride examples
provided by teacher, further developed in class by students

5. 1. Context — Course
••• Duration •
• Two months (with the possibility of a 4-week extension → tour guide)
•• Twice a week, two hours
••• Syllabus •
• Functional language (e.g. providing information about the fare, recommending
hotels/restaurants/, offering assistance)
•• Only brief explicit grammar explanations
••• Course content •
•Conversations throughout the stages of a taxi ride examples
provided by teacher, further developed in class by students

6. 1. Context — Facilities
••• Location •
• Classroom of taxi association
••• Technology provision •
• Large whiteboard
•• Projector and screen
••• Wireless Internet
•••• Students have mobile phones and Internet at home

7. 2. Issues
••• Students •
Need to learn and improve
listening and speaking skills
in a short time
They cannot attend
face-to-face classes often.
English pronunciation & intonation
are challenges for Turkish speakers.
••• Technology •
Designing sustainable courseware

8. 3. Pedagogical considerations
••• Siutuative Perspective of learning •
“A learner will always be subjected
to influences from the social and cultural “learning must be
setting in which the learning occurs, personally meaningful” (ibid)
which will also, at least partly, define
the learning outcomes.” (Mayes & De Freitas, 2007: 18)
••• Socio-psychological view •
“every effort is made to make
Learning community
the learning activity authentic
“a strong sense of identifying
to the social context in which
with such groups, and a strong need
the skills or knowledge are
to participate as a full member” (ibid: 19)
normally embedded” (ibid)

9. 3. Pedagogical considerations
••• Flexibility/Responsiveness •
study material
programme location
5 dimensions of flexibility
(Collis & Moonen, 2002)
types of interaction forms of communication
→ realized through blended learning

10. 3. Pedagogical considerations
Blended learning → a hybrid model of e-learning: face-to-face + e-learning activities
(Littlejohn and Pegler 2007)

11. 3. Pedagogical considerations
→ Blended courses often mean more TIME investment.
Short recordings,
chunked material Reusable learning objects
Easy and flexible
access to material Taxi drivers need
similar type
of language
RSS, tagging,
search tool
Easy to update, reorganize,
reassemble or copy
Easy familiarization with Limited number of
tools, tasks, and layout easy-to-use tools
(Garrison and Kanuka 2004; Littlejohn 2004, Edirisingha et al 2007, Gruba et al 2009)

12. 4. Courseware rationale — face-to-face
introduce blog and podcast
personal & learning strategy training* meets students' expectations
synchronous create good rapport
communication
social interaction
immediate feedback
& help students work environment**
pair, group, class work
collaborative building
of content*
(* Edirisingha, Rizzi, Nie & Rothwell 2007)
(**Mayes & De Freitas 2007)

13. 4. Courseware rational — online
clear layout
personal
search & find
relevant podcasts
interactive
asynchronous
communication
audio easy access
transcript http://taxienglish.posterous.com

14. 4. Courseware rationale - mobile
A technology students already have
“Communications tools don't get socially
and feel comfortable using including
interesting until they get technologically
using it to listen to audio (music).
boring.” (Shirky 2009: 105)
→ “normalized” (Bax, 2003)
Portable Easy file transfer
Students can listen to the short podcasts
Students can easily
during work making use of downtimes and
record themselves &
study in the environment where they have to
exchange files for
use English. (Mayes & De Freitas 2007)
peer feedback.

15. 4. Courseware rational — podcasts
“A podcast (or non-streamed webcast) is a series of digital media
files (either audio or video) that are released episodically and
often downloaded through web syndication.”
(wikipedia 2010, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasts)
According to Rosell-Aguilar (2007), podcasting for learning languages
can be supported by several learning theories such as constructivism,
providing materials in the form of learning objects, mobile learning,
learning in chunks, and just-in-time teaching.

16. 4. Courseware rational — podcasts
time-shift learning activities (Abdous, Camarena, & Facer 2009; Sze
2006) and practise when, where, what, and how long
make good use of time (while waiting in line
they want (extend class time) (Rosell-Aguilar 2007)
during work) (Kukulska-Hulme & Shield 2008)
Flexibility Portability
Autonomy
listen again, stop and replay and have control automaticity only comes with repeated
of pace (not worrying about missing an practice (Alonso, López, Manrique, & José 2005: 221)
important point (Edirisingha, Salmon, & Fothergrill 2007;
Edirisingha, Rizzi, Nie, &Rothwell 2007)
Podcasts can promote active, mobile learning
(Gruba, Clark, Ng, & Wells 2009; Kukulska-Hulme & Shield 2008).

17. 4. Courseware rational — podcasts
In studies students reported that podcasts helped them
with oral, aural skills, vocabulary and grammar
(Abdous et al 2009) improved listening and speaking skills (Gruba et
al 2009, Rosell-Aguilar 2007, Sze 2006)
Listening Speaking
Pronunciation
With transcript, students can listen and
read along/read aloud to improve Connecting sound and written form, they
speaking, pronunciation & intonation. can improve their spelling as well.
(Hickey 1991, Man Sze 2006, Rosell-Aguilar 2007)

18. 4. Courseware rational — podcasts
provide different kinds of input to cater for
learning style differences (Rosell-Aguilar 2007) If they missed a lecture, students have a
and help slow learners (Edirisingha et al 2007) chance to not only review but also
reflect on what we have done in class
(Edirisingha et al 2007).
Learning Styles
Review
Students believe that podcasts are more
effective revision tools (Evans 2008).
My students mentioned they prefer my podcasts
and transcripts to reviewing from their notes.
as a refresher and to review (Sze 2006)

19. 4. Courseware rational — podcasts
low cost, low barrier (technology for
New and attractive experience can raise
recording and listening already exists
motivation (Edirisingha et al 2007, Sze 2006, Rosell-
(Rosell-Aguilar 2007)
Aguilar 2007).
Cost Motivation
Organization
Can allow students to organize learning into
manageable chunks (Chinnery 2006) by keeping
recordings short and to one topic or theme
only (Kukulska-Hulme and Shield 2008).

20. 5. References
Alonso et al. 2005. An instructional model for web-based e-learning education with a blended learning process approach . British Journal of Educational
Technology. Volume 36/2, pp. 217–235.
36/2,
Abdous et al. 2009. MALL Technology: Use of Academic Podcasting in the Foreign Language Classroom . ReCALL. Volume 21, pp. 76 - 95.
Bax, St. 2003. CALL—past, present and future. System. Volume 31, pp. 13 – 28.
future.
Chinnery, G. M. 2006. Emerging Technologies — Going to the MALL: Mobile Assisted Language Learning. Language Learning & Technology . Volume 10/1,
pp. 9 – 16. Retrieved April 25, 2010, from http://llt.msu.edu/vol10num1/emerging/
Collins, B- & Moonen, J. 2002. Flexible Learning in a Digital World. Open Learning: The Journal
World.
of Open and Distance Learning, 17: 3, 217 — 230.
Edirisingha, P.; Salmon, G. & Fothergill, J. 2007. Profcasting — a pilot study and guidance for integrating podcasts in a blended learning environment. In: U.
Bernath and A. Sangrà (Eds.) Research on competence development in online distance education and e-learning. pp. 127-137. Oldenburg: BIS-Verlag.
Evans, Ch. 2008. The effectiveness of m-learning in the form of podcast revision lectures in higher education. Computers & Education. Volume 50, pp. 491 – 498.
Edirisingha, P.; Rizzi, Ch.; Nie, M. & Rothwell, L. 2007. Podcasting to provide teaching and learning support for an undergraduate module in English
language and communication. Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education. Volume 8/3, Article 6.
communication.
Garrison, D.R & Kanuka, H. 2004. Blended Learning: Uncovering its transformative potential in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education. Volume 7,
Education.
pp. 95 – 105.
Hickey, T. 1991. Leisure reading in a second language: An experiment with audio-tapes in Irish . Language, Culture and Curriculum, Volume 4/2, pp. 119 —
131.
Kukulska-Hulme, A. 2008. An overview of mobile assisted language learning: From content delivery to supported collaboration and interaction . ReCALL.
Volume 20/3, 271 - 289.
Littlejohn, A. 2004. Reusing online resources: a sustainable approach to e-learning. Routledge.
Littlejohn, A. & Pegler, C. 2007. What is blended e-learning. In: Preparing for blended e-learning. Routledge pp. 9 – 28.
…

21. 5. References continued
Mayes, T. & De Freitas, S. 2007. In: Rethinking Pedagogy for a digital age by Beetham & Sharpe , Routledge pp. 13-25.
Rosell-Aguilar, F. 2007. Top of the Pods — In Search of a Podcasting “Podagogy” for Language Learning . Computer Assisted Language Learning. Routledge.
Volume 20/5, pp. 471 - 492.
Shirky, C. 2009. Here Comes Everybody: How Change Happens When People Come Together. Penguin.
Sze, P. M. 2006. Developing Students' Listening and Speaking Skills Through ELT Podcasts . Educational Journal. Hong Kong. Volume 34/2, pp. 115 - 134.
Images
Decroos, Sigurd. "Meeting". Online image. April 20, 2008. stock.xchng vi. Retrieved May 19, 2010. http://www.sxc.hu/photo/990755.
vi. http://www.sxc.hu/photo/990755.
Ufniak, Michal. "Mobile phone 3". Online image. Sep. 12, 2009. stock.xchng vi. Retrieved May 19, 2010. http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1225932.
vi. http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1225932.
Kratana, Jan. "Earth 3D". Online image. March 4, 2009. stock.xchng vi. Retrieved May 19, 2010. http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1155576
vi.
Milev, Svilen. "www". Online image. April 10, 2009. stock.xchng vi. Retrieved May 19, 2010. http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1172174.
vi. http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1172174.
Yagraph. “Podcast icon”. Online image. March 17, 2010. Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Podcast-icon.svg.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Podcast-icon.svg.
Zitzitoune, About, “Filé Of Yellow Cab”. Online image. Aug. 18, 2009. flickr. Retrieved May 19, 2010.
flickr.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zitzit/3834235147/sizes/o/