1

Please cite as: Krajka, J. (2005). Podcasting – on authoring listening materials. The Teacher, 4 (32) 2005, 8-12.

PODCASTING –

ON AUTHORING LISTENING MATERIALS

Dr Jarosław Krajka

Uniwersytet Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej, Lublin

Szkoła Wyższa Psychologii Społecznej, Warszawa

jarek.krajka@wp.pl

Introduction

The importance of listening as a skill is not to be underestimated: it goes without

saying that reception precedes production, that without getting the comprehensible input

either as speech or text one would not be possible to activate the structures of the language

and produce their own utterances. Developing students' listening skills by providing as

numerous and varied listening opportunities as possible has become increasingly important

both in real life, where students might have holiday encounters with speakers of other

languages speaking English, and in the school reality, in which the external examinations

(such as the New Matura) make a point of testing learners' ability to cope with different

accents.

Due to the above mentioned factors, it seems necessary and proper to devote some

space in this column to the process of creating listening comprehension materials, or

authoring, while exploiting the Information Communication Technology tools to facilitate

seeking and manipulating materials in order to create self-study extensive listening materials

for learners.

On podcasting, or finding and retrieving online audio materials

It seems that in the past the main use of the Web as a resource for language learning

materials pertained to the text: headlines, articles, newspaper websites, culture-oriented

information, real-life websites. All of these enabled different kinds of reading comprehension

tasks, either serving as a task in itself or providing stimulus for the productive skills.

Nowadays, with the proliferation of digital radio and television, podcasting, all available in a

2

relatively compact and convenient MP3 format, both the teacher and the learner have a much

greater array of materials to choose from. As Lengel (2005) claims, there are numerous uses

of podcasts in the everyday reality of higher education in the US, and the fact that the word

"podcast" has recently entered the Oxford English Dictionary seems to prove the phenomenon

to be not ephemeral at all. It is beyond the scope and purpose of the present article to

summarise the history of podcasting (see the Wikipedia entry at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting for a full discussion), yet it is clearly noticeable how

the technology invented in 2003 and made more popular in 2004 has burst out by now. As

reported by Searls (2004), the word "podcast" which originally produced 24 Google hits in

September 2004 has reached 61 million hits only a year later (September 2005). With

numerous applications in all walks of life (vodcasting, godcasting, autocasting, palmcasting,

mobilecasting, musecasting, to name just a few), it seems the area will be growing rapidly,

with the number of audio materials available online soaring.

In technical terms, podcasting is having pre-selected audio files automatically

downloaded to one's computer and listened to at one's convenience using the computer or the

portable music player. Contrary to ordinary websites, podcasting websites can be added to a

special podcasting application to automatically manage podcasting download. In this way, one

does not need to look up websites for updates, but has them automatically retrieved (see

below for a detailed procedure).

In the educational context, there are numerous benefits of podcasting: first of all,

extending target language exposure much beyond the classroom maximizes students' chances

of successful comprehension and production. Revising the material at one's own convenience,

as many times as one wishes, is also not to be underestimated. If one adds to that the

possibility of playing audio files at a slower or faster pace (available with some portable MP3

players, see for instance Tecnet TW-6256, http://www.ultima.pl/itemnfo.php?id=2998), the

potential of podcasts for learning a foreign language becomes highly significant. Thus, it is

advised for teachers not only to alert students to ready-made podcasts to be listened to, but

also to make teacher podcasts themselves (see Lengel, 2004, for a detailed procedure).

The podcasts available on the Web can be divided into many categories, with the most

important being:

• the news for native speakers:

o Denver Post Podcast (http://www.denverpost.com/podcasts),

o NBC News Podcast (http://www.nbc5.com/news/4436956/detail.html),

3

o Voice of America's Special English

(http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/daily_radio.cfm),

o CBS News Podcast Feeds

(http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/07/06/utility/main706903.shtml),

• recorded books:

o Audible.com (http://www.audible.com),

o Sherlock Holmes Audio Books (http://www.pinkgeekaudio.net/weblog3/),

o Project Gutenberg's Audio Books

(http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/categories/1),

o Repeat After Us – Children's Stories (http://repeatafterus.com/),

• radio shows on different topics (health, science, technology, etc.):

o National Public Radio (NPR) Podcast Directory

(http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_directory.php),

o Voice of America MP3s (http://www.voanews.com/english/podcasts.cfm),

o BBC Documentaries (http://www.bbc.co.uk/1xtra/tx/documentaries/),

o ABC News Podcasts (http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Podcasting/),

o CBS News Podcast Feeds

(http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/07/06/utility/main706903.shtml),

o CNNs Podcasts (http://www.cnn.com/services/podcasting/),

• learner-related listening lessons and activities:

o Breaking News English

(http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/podcast.html),

o Charles Kelly's Learn a Song Podcast (http://www.manythings.org/songs/),

o Jokes in English Podcasts (http://www.voiceblog.jp/joke/),

o Madrid Young Learners EFL Podcasts

(http://mylcpodcasts.blogspot.com/),

o The Daily Idiom Podcast (http://www.englishcaster.com/blogs/),

o The English Teacher Show (http://englishteacherjohn.com/podcast/),

o Pod-EFL (http://pod-efl.com/).

A substantial number of annotated links to sites containing audio materials, be it as

downloadable files, streaming audio or RSS-enabled podcasts, can be found in The Internet

TESL Journal's Links database (http://iteslj.org/links/ESL/Listening/Podcasts/ and

http://iteslj.org/links/ESL/Listening/).

4

The technicalities of using podcasting

Before proceeding any further, one needs to make a distinction between sites that

feature podcasts available for download as plain audio files and sites which provide links to

podcasts in the form of RSS feeds which are introduced in a special media aggregator

software that manages podcasts. In the former case, what the user does is go to a site, click a

relevant link and download a file to a directory on the hard disc. In some setup situations, one

needs to right-click a download link and choose "Zapisz element docelowy jako" to download

the file. Once downloaded, the user needs a media player of any kind to listen to the podcast

file (usually in an MP3 format).

On the other hand, as was mentioned earlier, the true benefit of podcasting is that one

uses a special application to manage download of files, so that once a website address of a

potential podcast publisher ("an RSS feed") is entered to the program (subscribed), it

automatically checks the site for updates of podcasts and downloads the new additions. What

many podcasting directories do (see The Internet TESL Journal's

http://iteslj.org/links/ESL/Listening/Podcasts/ for an example) is both give a link to the

website containing audio files and an RSS link that is to be copied and pasted to the

podcasting program. On the other hand, some other sites provide only downloadable MP3

files without the possibility to subscribe the site to the media aggregator.

The examples of such software are iPodder.NET (http://ipoddernet.sourceforge.net/),

iPodder (http://ipodder.sourceforge.net) or iTunes (http://www.apple.com/itunes/). To make

the full use of the technology available in podcasting, one should follow the steps below:

• go to the iPodder website (http://ipodder.sourceforge.net) and download the

program version suitable for one's operating system;

• install the iPodder following the instructions given;

• launch iPodder;

• add podcast feeds by finding relevant sites, then copy and paste podcast feed URLs

into the text input box on the Status tab and click Add Feed;

• alternatively, use the built-in directory (click the Directory tab), then navigate the

tree by clicking or double-clicking on the name of the directory or the folder icons;

• once selected a feed, its URL will appear in at the bottom of the window, then add

the feed to subscriptions by clicking Add;

• set scheduler options, so that iPodder schedules automatic downloads - enter the

times you'd like it to run in the Tools -> Scheduler menu option;

5

• after that, hidden or minimized iPodder will check for and download new content

based on the scheduling specified;

• finally, either use your computer to listen to newly acquired podcasts or plug in

your digital audio player to copy the files.

Figure 1. iPodder's directory with popular podcast feeds collected for subscription.

Editing downloaded audio files

The important advantages of using digital audio files over traditional tape recording

are, among others, easiness of manipulation and storage possibilities. Thus, once a podcast is

found and downloaded, one might want to edit the audio file in order to make it more suitable

for a given group of learners. Of course, what must be kept in mind is adhering to the

copyright restrictions, and since it is rather unlikely for the teacher to be allowed to make

changes in ready-made audio resources and republish them on the Web, it is advisable to

create such materials for a single class only and distribute them locally. Anyway, one should

consult the copyright guidelines of a specific website, as well as write an email to ask for

permission to edit the material, stressing non-commercial, purely educational and highly local

use.

Out of a plethora of audio editors available both commercially and freely online, we

have selected for our discussion here Audacity, http://audacity.sourceforge.net. The rationale

for this is that the audio editor is available free of charge for download, use and modification

as open source software (under the terms of the GNU General Public License). Additionally,

6

it is quite versatile in its functions both as an editor and recorder, recording live audio (from a

microphone or an external audio source), converting analog tapes into digital recordings,

editing digital sound files, cutting, copying and splitting sounds, changing the speed or pitch

of the recording. What is perhaps the most important is that with some sound cards Audacity

is also able to capture streaming audio, that is record audio that is not downloadable as a

single MP3 file but rather played "live" when visiting a website.

Figure 2. The interface of Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net).

Audacity does provide a multitude of functions, which can be found explained at

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/about/features. Most of them, such as analyzing spectrograms

or mixing tracks with different samples and formats may be beyond the needs of an average

language teacher. However, what we would like to focus on here is the use of Audacity as an

audio editor to author listening materials.

To start with, once Audacity is downloaded and installed, one needs to open a relevant

audio file from the hard disc by pressing "Plik", "Otwórz" and waiting for the MP3 file to be

imported. The simplest, yet one of the most important operations, is editing an audio file by

deleting unnecessary parts of the recording and leaving only the fragments that are to be used

in the listening activity. To do that, one needs to listen to the recording to find the place which

is to be erased, then highlight the relevant fragment in the spectrogram window (when the

7

highlighting icon "Zaznaczenie" in the top left corner is on) and use "Edycja", "Wytnij" or

"Kasuj" to erase the selection). Of course, this can be done both with the fragments that

precede and follow the desired selection. Once dragging and highlighting the selection in the

spectrogram window, in the status bar at the bottom one can see the recording time that is

highlighted, in this way controlling whether it is appropriate.

Similarly, an extremely important feature, especially to simulate the external exam

conditions, is to create an audio file that would be played non-stop twice, with proper silence

time for students only enough to become familiar with the tasks. In order to add the silence

time, one needs to highlight a piece of the recording that is irrelevant and will be replaced by

silence, then press "Edycja", "Cisza". After adding the silence time after the recording, one

can highlight the whole listening extract by dragging the cursor in the spectrogram window,

then finding a proper place and pasting it to make a non-stop double recording.

The audio files that are being worked on might need to have the instructions added, so

that the learner knows how to approach a given material. For that, one needs to plug in a

microphone in the "Mic" port of the computer, then press the red "Record" button on the

Audacity panel and record the instructions. The recorded element is displayed as a new track

below the original audio file, and it can be again highlighted, copied and pasted to the original

recording.

8

Figure 3. The original audio file and the recorded instructions as separate tracks.

An interesting feature of Audacity that can prove highly useful in language materials

authoring can be manipulating the speed, tempo and pitch of the recording. The software

gives all of these possibilities, so one can highlight the whole (or only some part) of the

recording, then press "Efekty", "Zmień prędkość (to change the speed together with the

change of tempo and pitch), "Zmień tempo" to change it without altering the frequency,

finally, "Zmień wysokość" to change the pitch without influencing the tempo. Each of these

opens up a dialog box prompting to introduce the percentage change. Obviously, this feature

should be used cautiously, as although the primary goal of authentic listening materials is to

expose students to a variety of accents uttered at different pitch, tone, tempo, in some cases

such a manipulation can have a detrimental effect on the naturalness or quality of the

recording.

Among other sound effects that can be added to a sample audio file there are the

following:

• manipulating the volume in a selection (for instance, only a certain part of the

recording is much quieter or louder than the rest) – "Efekty", "Wyciszanie",

"Wzmacniaj"

• making smooth transitions by fading sound in and out, usually fading in quickly and

fading out slowly – "Efekty", "Cross Fade In", "Cross Fade Out"

• splitting a selection to a new file, so that only a certain element of the recording is

worked on – "Edycja", "Rozdziel"

• mixing the original recording with background noises, for instance recorded with a

microphone or copied from another file – record the noises, then adjust the position of

both tracks against each other with the Time Shift Tool , then Audacity will mix

both tracks together.

Obviously, each of the changes can be undone, just as is the case in most

contemporary programs, and teachers are really advised to try out a number of different

solutions, options, sound effects before producing the final version. Once the file is ready, one

needs to export it in a format that is readable by computers, portable digital music players and

(at least some) CD players – namely MP3 or WAV (click "Plik", "Eksportuj jako MP3" or

"Eksportuj jako WAV").

9

Making self-study listening quizzes

Once the relevant audio file is found, downloaded and edited according to the

guidelines above, one can author a self-study listening quiz, which can be either posted to the

school/class/teacher site or made available to students only on a CD-ROM. Especially with

the prospect of any kind of publication, even Web-based, one needs to make sure that

copyright restrictions are adhered to, for instance, that the audio file is not changed if the

author does not allow that. In such a case, one can only make a listening quiz with links to the

audio resources residing on some external servers, and the relevant audio file is downloaded

by a student once taking a quiz.

Self-study quizzes can be made with the help of either online authoring tools (see one

of the previous contributions in The Teacher for a fuller discussion – Krajka, 2003) or

downloadable software. As far as the inclusion of audio files is concerned, it is recommended

here to use the best known authoring suite Hot Potatoes, for it supports linking to a file either

on one's hard disc or on the Web, which is not always possible in other products.

Once downloaded from http://web.uvic.ca/hrd/halfbaked and installed on one's

computer, the user needs to register (by clicking "Help", "Register", "Get a key" in any of the

programs). The key is sent to the email address specified and once entered with a user name

the whole suite is unlocked and unlimited as for time and functionality.

The process of quiz making starts at the splash screen of Hot Potatoes, where one

needs to choose the type of quiz desired: be it a cloze test ("JCloze"), a multiple matching

activity ("JMatch"), a multiple-choice question-answer quiz ("JQuiz"), a crossword ("JCross")

or a jumbled sentence/text task ("JMix"). Having selected a relevant potato, one starts to edit

the task by introducing the title, the question(s), answer(s), feedback, ticking the "correct"

box, etc.

10

Figure 4. JCloze's editing screen.

If one wants to make an audio exercise, the exercise needs to link to a file on one's hard disc

or on the Web either in the instructions, in the question or in the text. After clicking an "insert

a link" icon , one needs to correctly specify the file path: if the audio file is online,

make sure that you copy the full path that makes the file open from the Internet browser

address box. Also, one needs to ensure that the path opens up with http://, rather than just with

www. On the other hand, when linking to a file on one's hard disc, it is essential for both the

exercise file and the target file to be in the same directory, which will be later recorded on a

CD-ROM.

Once the quiz or activity is created, one needs to save it twice: once, by clicking on the

"Save" icon (or, alternatively, "File", "Save"), in a certain folder to be edited in the future; and

the other one, by clicking on the "Export" spiderweb icon (or "File", "Create Web Page") to

convert the exercise to the html format viewable by Internet browsers. For later use by

students it is only the latter (.html file) that is required. It is important to keep in mind that the

same "double" saving process is to be repeated once any changes are made.

Conclusion

11

With widespread availability of authentic listening materials of various kinds made

possible by podcasting, the teacher is no longer confined to the listening material of their

coursebook, but can use the authoring possibilities to create their own listening materials.

Thanks to freeware and open-source tools such as Audacity (audio editor), iPodder (media

aggregator) and Hot Potatoes (authoring suite), interactive materials writing has become

within the reach of an average teacher. It is hoped that thanks to that learners will develop

their listening comprehension skills by being provided with a much greater amount of

materials, of a more varied structure and format.

References

Krajka, J. (2003) "Making Web-Based Quizzes in an Instant." The Teacher, 1 (5) 2003, 14-17.

Lengel, J. (2004) "Podcast". Teaching with Technology,

http://www.powertolearn.com/articles/teaching_with_technology/podcast.shtml.

Lengel, J. (2005) "Podcasting Redux". Teaching with Technology,

http://www.powertolearn.com/articles/teaching_with_technology/podcasting_redux.shtml.

Searls, D. (2004) "DIY Radio with PODcasting." Doc Searls' IT Garage, http://www.itgarage.com/node/462.

Wikipedia. (2005) "Podcasting – from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting.