Integrating podcasts into an ESL listening course: The What, the How, and the Why

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Integrating podcasts into an ESL listening
course The What, the How, and the Why

• Anne OBryan
• Applied Linguistics Colloquium
• November 27, 2006

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Background

• What is podcasting?
• Use of podcasting in other educational contexts
• Tap into current practices among our students

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Surveying the field

• Advantages of podcasting
• Excellent means for audio distribution
• Seamless integration of in-class and out-of-class
  activities (Thorne Payne, 2005, p. 386)
• Encourages listening on the go (Goodwin-Jones,
  2005, p. 11)

4
Podcasting Project

• Investigate
• How we could integrate podcasts into the existing
  listening course
• Whether students would like interacting with
  podcasts as part of a course
• How students interacted with podcasts

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Project Timeline

• Thinking and planning phase (Spring Summer
  2006)
• Development curricular reorganization phase
  (Summer Fall 2006)
• Implementation phase (Fall 2006)

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Thinking and Planning Phase

• ESL Pod
• English idioms and slang
• Learn a song podcast
• The Bardwell Road Centre podcast

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Thinking and Planning Phase (cont.)

• SLA theory
• Interactionist approach
• Listening comprehension
• Rost (2002), Buck (2001)
• Language strategies
• Cohen (1998), Rost (2002)
• Strategy instruction and language learning
• OMalley and Chamot (1990), Hubbard (2004)

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Instructional Purposes

• Input salience--summary, modeling, practice
• Enhanced input-- multiple modes of input
• Authenticity-- real input, guest speakers (native
  and non-native English speakers)
• Motivational appeal

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Curricular integration
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Development Phase

• Curricular changes Syllabus for Unit 3 (video)

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Development Phase
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Podcast Blog
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Research Questions

• How do students perceive and interact with the
  podcasts?
• Does student interaction with the podcasts help
  to shift their role from overhearer to
  non-addressee (Buck, 2002, p. 254)?
• Do having course podcasts help to foster a more
  seamless integration of in-class and out-of-class
  activity and materials (Thorne and Payne, 2005,
  p. 386)
• Does the strategy instruction from the course
  podcasts help to raise awareness of strategies,
  as perceived by the students?
• Does the strategy instruction from the course
  podcasts help to increase strategy use by
  students in class, as perceived by the students?

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How do students feel about/ interact with the
podcasts?
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Does student interaction with the podcasts help
to shift their role from overhearer to
non-addressee?

• sometimes I listen the whole podcast, sometime
  I just stop when I don't understand what they're
  saying. I just stop and listen again, and then I
  continue (DV)
• In the past I never stop, but now I stop.
  Another student gave me a suggestion-we can hear
  every word of these listening materialsI used to
  be not stopped But now sometimes I stopped. I
  want to figure out what this sentence-every word
  (JJ)
• if I don't understand I have to repeat.
  Re-listen. (TV)
• I listen on the computerwhen I was listening,
  the missing word-I don't know the sometimes the
  word's meaning so I stop it and find electronic
  dictionary and typing and see that words and I
  knew the word's meaning (DK)

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Do having course podcasts help to foster seamless
integration of in-class and out-of-class activity
and materials?

• Yes, I think so. Because the time of the class
  very short. If we want to practice you need to
  pay a lot of time on this, because one class only
  50 minutes. I think it's very important (JJ)
• Yeah, I think for this class podcast is
  important for the class. Yeah, I think it help
  summarize the detail from class for student to
  review (NW)
• "They are importantbecause you can practice the
  strategies that are mentioned in the class, like
  you want to listen to number, you can listen to
  that. When the instructor show you how to
  recognize the number, how to write it down, then
  you should practice and write it down. I think
  it's really good (DV)

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Raising awareness, influencing strategy use

• Yes. Before I also use not like use, I know
  thismain idea here, I know this one, but I
  didn't knowbefore I don't know this is strategy.
  But I use it. I know this strategy is kind of
  strategy, I can use strategy for listening, is
  more helpful for understanding professor talking
  about....I think that in the class is many many
  example. If the professor talking about-for main
  idea in this class, he will say 'we will focus
  on' something. This is main idea. So, I need
  concentrate, focus on something. (ZY)
• Ok, so-yes, at the beginning of the course when
  I sit for the lecture, I just keep writing down
  everything I listenso I'm not going to listen to
  what is important or what is the cues, or the
  main idea I just keep writing. And it takes me
  time, I think. Thinking and listening and writing
  everything I think it's time. But when I learn
  some strategies there's no need to write
  everything. Concentrate on what is important,
  what is key words, what is lecture cues, tells me
  what professor is going to say. And then I just
  keep the notetaking...You don't need to write
  whole word or key sentence to keep the key
  idea...it helps (DV)

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Final Thoughts from the Instructor

• Podcasts have the potential to expand class time
  by
• -- responding directly to students needs
• -- annotating audio or video materials from class
  materials
• --exposing students to outside speakers, accents

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Thank you!

• Anne OBryan
• Applied Linguistics Colloquium
• November 27, 2006