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CHAPTER 9

The Power of Podcasts: A Tool to Improve Listening

Skills and Empower Learners

Ashley Hazell Yildirim and Erica Hoffman

This chapter provides a framework for helping English language learners improve their listening skills by exploiting the potential of podcasts. A podcast is an audio broadcast that has been converted to an audio file, such as an MP3, and made available on the Internet. The file contains a special tag called an RSS feed, which allows users to subscribe to the file, much like a newspaper. Using a program that downloads and stores the podcasts (a podcast aggregator), users can then listen to the files on their MP3 players or computers. In this chapter the term podcast is used when referring to a broadcast program, such as BBC or NPR programs, and to individual audio files.

The podcast project is divided into four main tasks (see Figure 1): introduc-tion to the podcast project, a peer interview podcast activity, a podcast activity library, and student-created tasks, plus an extension activity. This was designed as an ongoing project with regular classroom practice throughout a semester or year. In many ways, the tasks build on each other and encourage students to take responsibility for their own learning in a collaborative environment. However, it is possible to focus on a task or tasks over a shorter period of time. This chapter describes ways to introduce students to podcasts and to exploit podcasts as listen-ing texts both inside and outside the classroom.

CONTEXT

The students who engaged in this podcast project were taking a preparatory 1-year English language course to prepare them for 4 years at Sabanci University, an English-medium university in Istanbul, Turkey. The students had four to six 50-minute lessons of English a day. This course focused on all aspects of academic English skills following an integrated approach.

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The use of podcasts in our academic setting originated from students’ feed-back and the fact that listening is probably the most frequently used language skill in the classroom setting. We knew students wanted more listening practice because they felt their listening skills were limited and were worried about their ability to comprehend academic texts. Becoming addicted to podcasts ourselves, we started putting ideas together on how podcasts could be used as a powerful tool to provide students with accessible listening texts in order to directly address their concerns about their listening abilities. Thus, this project was born.

On entering Sabanci University, students are provided with a laptop computer. Having a laptop is not necessary for listening to podcasts, but obviously access to computers, either in a computer lab or at home, is necessary. And the comput-ers need to have a podcast aggregator, a program that automatically downloads podcasts that the listener has subscribed to. We mainly used iTunes because it

Figure 1. The Podcast Project in Action

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is user-friendly and free to download. Additionally, quite a few of the students owned iPods, a device that enables the owner to listen to music and podcasts anytime and anywhere.

Using technology as a tool for learning needs to be supported by key stake-holders. At Sabanci University, we had support and development from the School of Languages and the Information Technology (IT) Department and had the opportunity to provide in-service training (INSET) for our teachers on how pod-casts can help improve students’ listening skills. At a minimum, INSET needed to teach teachers how to work iTunes and play podcasts in class. Better yet, teachers needed to understand how to use podcasts to meet their learning objectives, combining the practical with the theoretical.

As is the case in many contexts, our curriculum is so packed with objectives that adding one more task can overwhelm teacher and student alike. Directly tying the listening objectives to the curriculum can help, but this takes time and collaboration with colleagues. Time to prepare podcast activities and check students’ work, especially when introducing podcasts to new classes, needs to be allowed for. Our context allowed flexibility to do this, although we needed to accept the fact that some extra work in our own time was necessary to get the project off the ground.

Theoretical PrinciplesThe podcast project is supported by the literature on the development of listening skills, self-instruction, and the use of technology.

Development of Listening SkillsThe tasks of the podcast project are based on a process approach of develop-ing listening skills by building on listening strategies: cognitive (top-down and bottom-up) and metacognitive. From selecting appropriate listening content and creating pre-, while-, and postlistening questions for peers (Tasks 1–3) to creating listening content for other listeners (Task 4), students are actively involved in a cycle that essentially demands the planning, observing, and evaluating of their own listening skills development. Vandergrift’s (2004, 2007) reports on state-of-the-art research review recent developments in second language listening research and outline the following key points, which directly reflect the thinking behind the podcast project objectives:

The development and practice of metacognitive and cognitive strategies for listening, learning, and understanding need to be in place in lessons because skilled listening is not only about how many strategies are employed when listening (Vandergrift, 2007).

Growth in metacognitive knowledge can be fostered through a process approach to listening (Vandergrift, 2007).


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A process approach can help students learn how to listen, guiding them through the stages that seem to characterize real-life listening (Vandergrift, 2004).

Other factors can also be greatly significant in the development of listening skills, including the motivation to listen to texts, especially podcasts; immersion in an engaging group project; understanding of the intended outcomes of the project; and use of “retrospection techniques” (Vandergrift, 2007, p. 192) such as postlistening reflection, questionnaires, or written peer evaluation.

Self-InstructionAn important outcome of this project is for students to learn to evaluate their own listening skills and, through guidance from the teacher, find ways to improve their listening. Students learn how to create listening activities for peers (Tasks 2–4) and how to find appropriate texts (Tasks 1–4). Research by Rost (1990) relates to the different tasks we outline:

Effective self-instruction for listening skills most often requires the ongoing support of a trained instructor who can guide the learner in several aspects:

a. Selecting appropriate authentic (audio or video) materials and appropriate textbook materials.

b. Adapting prerecorded material for self-instruction; preparing appropriate tasks to accompany recorded material.

c. Suggesting appropriate ways to approach conversations with target language speakers (TLS) in the community.

d. Planning realistic goals (in view of resources available, including the time the student has for self-instruction).

e. Promoting appropriate listening strategies to deal with particular learner needs.

f. Keeping records of recorded material used.

g. Providing feedback on the learner’s progress. (p. 234)

Use of TechnologyMost students today live in a digital world. Frand (cited in Obliger, 2003) states, “Computers aren’t technology. Students have never known life without comput-ers and the Internet. To them the computer is not a technology—it is an assumed part of life” (p. 40). However, this does not mean that students don’t need guid-ance on how to use digital tools for education and learning purposes.

In our view, podcasts are a powerful listening tool when used effectively, with benefits such as independent access, availability, and topic range. For this reason, they have definitely taken the place of listening material on CD or cassette. But as with these earlier technologies, podcasts need to be tied to the listening objec-tives of the context. The Center for Applied Research in Educational Technology


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reviews of research (cited in Roblyer, 2006) name several factors that are present when technology works best:

It is directly tied to the curriculum and supports the objectives being tested.

It adjusts for student ability and students’ prior knowledge and experience.

It is part of the teaching program, meaning it is tied into the classroom.

It allows students to collaborate.

The use of technology is supported by the school, the administration, teach-ers and community. (p. 14)

This list is by no means exhaustive, but these factors relate most directly to the project and are essential for all the tasks described here.

CURRICULUM, TASKS, MATERIALS

To start this project, make a list of your listening goals and learning objectives, and note how these objectives will be assessed. Doing so will assist you when it comes time to create an activity. Ideally, have your students do this, too. It is also important to consider who the stakeholders (e.g., colleagues, supervisors) are and who needs to be informed about or involved with the project to make it work.

The primary learning objectives of this project are related to the development of listening skills:

improving listening skills, as a process, for both a general English and an academic context

analyzing the scaffolding and construction of listening comprehension ques-tions to map how speakers in different situations organize their speech

developing metacognitive strategies to help students become aware of their listening strengths and weaknesses

Secondary objectives relate to facilitating self-instruction and integrating technology:

promoting students’ responsibility for their own continued learning and improvement

tapping into the latest technologies, which is a motivator for young adults accustomed to using technology in most aspects of their lives

In the remainder of this section, each task of the project is described in detail, providing the procedure to follow and recommendations based on our experience.


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Task 1: Introduction to Podcast ProjectResources/materials needed: Podcast and teacher-created activity with answer key, teacher computer and screen, one computer per student, headphones

Providing students at all levels with an example of a podcast before asking them to define it may help them equate it to a listening or audio file. Doing so can put less emphasis on the technology and more on how the podcast will be used. It is important that the podcast is something students find easily accessible so as to pique their interest.

1. Find a podcast that you think students will be interested in or that relates to a topic you have covered in class, and create a listening activity that reflects your curriculum objectives and that is suitable for students to fol-low as a template. (Alternatively, we created a podcast in which we define what a podcast is; Hazell Yildirim & Hoffman, 2007. You could play this and create a regular while-listening or note-taking activity for it depend-ing on the students’ level.)

2. Play the podcast in class while students complete the listening activity. Do not tell students that they are listening to a podcast. The idea is for students to understand that a podcast is a listening text. Go over the answers, and discuss the podcast.

3. Then tell students that what they just listened to was a podcast. Have them guess what a podcast is based on what they heard.

4. Have students do a search for the term podcast and come up with their own definitions (Suggested links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting, http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/help/faq/what_is_a_podcast.shtml)

5. Write their ideas on the board, and add your input if necessary.

6. The next step is to enable students to conduct their own searches for actual podcasts. Introduce students to these three methods:

searching in podcast directories (see Appendix A) such as iTunes, which will need to be downloaded on the computers the students are working onentering the topic of interest into a search engine (e.g., podcast basketball)going directly to a web site that has direct links to podcasts

7. Have some set instructions on how to conduct these three types of searches, along with some specific web sites for students to find within a set time limit.


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Task 2: Peer Interview Podcast ActivityResources/materials needed: white board, one computer per student, Internet connection, headphones, current textbooks

In this task, students find a podcast and create an activity for a peer. This entails searching for a podcast of interest to their partner and making comprehen-sion questions for the partner to answer. One important learning objective in this project is having students construct suitable questions for all stages of listening and an answer key for the podcast.

Initially, this is probably the hardest part for students, but it is also where they feel they are practicing and improving listening skills as well as exercising grammar and vocabulary skills. The idea that they are designing questions to test another student can be enjoyable and motivating because it helps students understand how information from main and extended ideas can be converted into exam comprehension questions. It also helps students understand and control the process of comprehension. Simply focusing on the product (i.e., finding the right answer to comprehension questions) does not help their listening development (Vandergrift, 2007).

Before the search for a podcast gets under way, set the upcoming tasks and their objectives, with particular focus on question formation. The following sug-gestions on how to guide students in question construction can work well sepa-rately or in combination, depending on students’ language levels and time allowed:

Elicit the usual stages of a listening or reading lesson: prelistening tasks (e.g., activating schemata, predicting content and vocabulary), while- listening tasks, postlistening tasks, follow-up activities (e.g., listening that leads to speaking, writing, reading).

Analyze the reasons for the stages. Questions to the students might include “What is the purpose of prelistening questions? Why include postlistening tasks?”

It may also be appropriate to analyze what kinds of questions are asked (e.g., Are there any yes/no and true/false questions?). Depending on the students’ language level, this could even lead into a review of question formation. Ideas for question analysis are as follows:

brainstorming the types of listening and reading comprehension questions students have faced in their language learning experience

having students look through their textbooks to find examples of listening and reading questions and writing specific examples on the board to show the purpose of the questions

handing out examples of piloted teacher-created podcast activities to discuss the layout, tasks, and question types


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having students analyze a listening text for the important information (e.g., main ideas, details, inferences, comparisons) and writing questions that elicit the main information (helping students understand what to focus on when writing questions)

You are now ready to set up the podcast search.

1. Students choose a partner they do not know well, and the pair interviews each other to find out what hobbies they have or what interests them in their academic life.

2. Once the interview stage is over, each student searches for a podcast that his or her partner would be interested in. Remind students of the three ways to search for podcasts, and give them guidelines.

Guidelines for the length and difficulty level of the podcast do need to be set. A good rule of thumb to tell students is that if they themselves cannot understand the podcast, it probably will not be suitable for their partner. For the lower levels, we set a time limit of 6–15 minutes for the podcast, whereas we advise students at the upper-intermediate level to find podcasts up to about 20 minutes in length. These times are realistic if normal textbook listening tasks and listening assess-ments are considered. Students will also need to subscribe to the podcast and make a note of the full title, release date, and URL so that their partner can find it at a later stage.

The searching itself will take some time, so have some podcasts available on general topics that you can suggest in your role as facilitator. Your own context can determine this, but suggestions include podcasts on sport, fashion, and animals (see Appendix A).

3. Once students have found a podcast they think their partner would enjoy, each student listens to his or her chosen podcast (wearing headphones) and makes notes about the content from which to construct questions.

Some students may prefer to do this and the question construction stage out of the classroom setting; in that case, assign it for homework that should be completed by the next podcast lesson.

4. Briefly check students’ questions and keys prior to the lesson in which they will swap podcasts and tasks with their partners.

Giving feedback at this stage will show your commitment to the project, keep students motivated, and pave the way for other stages of this project to be suc-cessful. It will also avoid problems when students listen to each other’s podcasts and carry out the listening tasks. However, this does take a fair amount of time, so feedback can be limited to specific areas under a strict time limit per student.

The lesson in which students swap their podcast activities could be organized as follows:


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Students bring to the lesson a copy of the podcast task and answer key they have prepared for their partner.

If the class meets in a computer lab, students can sit at the computer where the podcast has been downloaded. Alternatively, students enter the URL into the computer they are using.

The student pairs sit together and take turns to introduce their podcasts with any prelistening tasks they have before settling down to listen and answer the comprehension questions or do the note taking (as appropriate).

When both students have finished, postlistening tasks can be attended to and answers checked. Students can also complete a peer evaluation rubric (see Appendix B).

Whole-class discussion can follow in order to get feedback and comments on the work of the partners and the project, to elicit suggestions on ways to improve their tasks and listening, and to share interesting podcast links.

We used postlistening reflection and retrospection activities in the various stages of the project as a “repeated measure” to “track any changes in awareness of the listening process” (Vandergrift, 2007, p. 192).

Task 3: Creating a Podcast Activity Library Resources/materials needed: podcast with activity and answer key (created by the teacher), white board, teacher’s computer, one computer per student

At this stage of the project, students prepare to work more independently to find podcasts, create listening activities using podcasts, and save the podcasts and accompanying activities in an activity library. After guiding students toward appropriate podcasts and assisting with appropriate questions and answers, the teacher creates an activity library for students to access and instructs them in how to create their own library of podcast activities, thus promoting greater self-instruction in development of students’ listening skills.

1. After students have interviewed their partners and created a podcast activity for each other, they search for four or five podcasts that they themselves are interested in.

Some of the podcasts may not be appropriate for use in an academic setting, but this initial search is really to get students interested in listening on their own to topics they enjoy and to have them build up a collection of podcasts they can use to make podcast activities. These podcasts can be shared in class so students can add to their podcast libraries.

2. Next, find another podcast that is not too challenging, and play it for students in class. The students create questions and an answer key indi-vidually or in small groups.


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3. As a whole class, students volunteer their questions and answers. A whole-class activity can be created by the teacher writing certain ques-tions on the board. (We provided students with a teacher-created activity and answer key so that students could compare their activity to ours.)

This task gives students the opportunity to practice different question types, to decide what kinds of information to focus on, and to understand the expected format. Difficulties that students have with listening texts and activities can be discussed in class.

4. Students can now find a suitable podcast independently and create a podcast activity individually or in pairs.

5. Collect and save the podcasts and the accompanying activities in the activity library.

Podcast activities and answer keys created by students can be saved in a shared folder or some other place easily accessible to students. Thus, an activity library is created for self-access. Your guidance and feedback in creating activities and, to some extent, in choosing podcasts are essential parts of creating this library. Our guidelines for including activities in the library were quite strict. The listening activity needed to be in line with our listening objectives and have clear, well-formed questions and a thorough answer key.

Extension: Student as Teacher: Presenting an Academic PodcastResources/materials needed: a computer ready to play podcasts that students have found, hard (print) or soft (electronic) copies of student work, one computer per student

This task is a variation of Tasks 2 and 3. Instead of the students going to class and sharing their podcast activities with one or two students, several students share an academic podcast activity with the entire class. In essence, they become the teachers.

1. Each week, selected students find an appropriate academic podcast and create questions.

2. Before the podcast is presented to the class, the teacher gives feedback on their work.

Some podcasts have transcripts, and students can benefit from referring to these. A final check by the teacher of the students’ work is recommended before students present to the class.

3. Each of the selected students then plays the podcast and, after the listen-ing, goes over the answers with students, discussing possible alternatives. The presenting students could lead a discussion related to the topic of the podcast.


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4. Collect and save the work for the activity library.

We have created a peer evaluation form and reflection questions to promote collaboration (see Appendix B), which can be used after any of the activities that have been completed so far.

Task 4: Student-Created Listening Texts and Activities Resources/materials needed: access to a computer with a microphone, recording software, appropriate room (quiet, with good acoustics), handout, one computer per student for the final stages

We found that students are curious about what they can expect from university after they finish the preparatory English year. This task gives students the oppor-tunity to find out more about their interests and curiosities. Here, students go one step further. Rather than finding a podcast with which to create a listening activity, students create the whole listening procedure (podcast and questions) from a recorded interview they conduct. Appendix C is an example of the guide-lines we provided to students. In this task, students are still developing their listening skills by constructing questions, but they are also practicing bidirectional and interactional listening skills when they conduct the interview.

1. In pairs or individually, students find a student or teacher to interview, and they record the interview.

One free sound recording program is Audacity (Version 1.3). Students will probably be familiar with others, but for the recordings to be uploaded to the Internet, it is important that the files are MP3s or similar format. It is also essen-tial for students to do a sound check and to ensure that background noise is minimal.

2. After recording the interview, students create a listening activity. To be in line with the objectives, we followed the same format as the previous podcast activities.

3. On the due date, students bring their recordings (usually on a CD) and hard and soft copies of their listening activities and answer keys. Students take turns listening to each other’s recordings, completing their activities and checking their answers.

After completing this activity, we uploaded the recordings, listening activi-ties, and answer keys to WebCT, a learning management system (which has been replaced by Blackboard, 2007–2010; similar programs include Sakai [Version 2.6.2] and Moodle, n.d.), so that other students could listen to and use them. These materials could also be uploaded to a program such as Odeo (n.d.), which allows students to download and listen to the recordings. Keep in mind that as technology advances in web voice communication, new tools are constantly becoming available. Check a search engine for the latest software.


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REFLECTIONS

Challenges and issues are to be expected with any project, and more so when technology is involved. These challenges and issues provide opportunities to improve on an existing plan or project. It is best to work with them rather than against them. Only by implementing such a project in your own context can you work through the challenges. We discuss here our resolutions to the challenges we confronted, but you may choose another path if faced with similar challenges in your context.

One of the challenges we experienced was the fact that the majority of pod-casts available in English, and those selected by students, were not created for second language learners; they are authentic recordings made for a target audi-ence of native English speakers. Vandergrift (2007) notes that understanding target speakers on “network-based multimedia” (p. 206), such as podcasts, is a learner’s goal. Initially, students may be frustrated when faced with a listening of normal speed that hasn’t been scripted or adapted. One way to deal with this is to encourage students in the early stages to listen to short chunks of the text and to rewind or pause a few times until they become more used to listening to the speed and pronunciation variations of the authentic texts. Overall, we found that students felt a sense of achievement in being able to listen to such texts. As Vandergrift (2007) continues, “exposure to authentic-type texts and natural speech rate is preferred by L2 [second language] learners and can be beneficial for listening development” (p. 200). And as one of the students in our class observed, podcasts are “a big jump after the boring listening activities” (Hazell Yildirim & Hoffman, 2007).

Because so many podcasts are geared toward native English speakers, you have two choices: Either work with podcasts for English language learners (see Appendix A) or use the easier authentic texts with scaffolded tasks. As Scrivener (1994) notes, “grade the task—not the text. This means something like Don’t worry too much about what student level the recording is suitable for—but do make sure your task is set for the right level ” (p. 149). One way to ease the workload for you and the students is to use transcripts where available. These can be a huge asset to students learning a language. Some podcasts targeted at English language learners, such as VOANews.com’s Special English (n.d.) and ESL Podcast (Center for Educational Development, n.d.), have free transcripts for most of their pro-grams; other podcasts targeted at native speakers may not have transcripts. A lack of access to transcripts means that the workload will be increased, because you or students need to work from a transcript in the creating or checking stage of writing the listening questions. One suggestion is to check whether the podcast has a transcript before intensive work is undertaken, especially if time is limited. Another suggestion is to have students transcribe the podcasts themselves. We did not ask students to do this because it would have lengthened the time we had estimated for students to work on this project.


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We were keen for colleagues to become involved in the project with the stu-dents in their own classes, although this was not part of the syllabus. Of course, students are able to discover podcasts for themselves, but teacher involvement is paramount for the project to exist and thrive at all levels in order to foster a focused approach to improving listening skills. However, you will almost certainly face some resistance, not in the form of unwillingness to help students, but rather a lack of confidence about using the technology. Skepticism about using technol-ogy for technology’s sake, or reasons relating to a teacher’s beliefs about teaching, are perfectly valid because we all have our own principles, beliefs, and fears about teaching and learning.

Generally, even though listening comprehension question types are usu-ally similar, we found that students enjoy listening to each other’s interviews. However, because the activities rely on student collaboration, students who put a great deal of effort into the assignments may become frustrated if partners do not complete their work. In addition, students may become uninterested if they cannot understand because of poor recordings or if they cannot relate to the topic. Therefore, it may be a good idea to raise awareness that the process is just as important as, if not more important than, the product. Indeed, students who have worked particularly hard to find the podcast, listen to it, and create tasks and an answer key will probably have gained more from this whole process than from listening to their partner’s chosen podcast. As a student in our class said, “creating a podcast activity is more exciting than doing it” (Hazell Yildirim & Hoffman, 2007).

On the technical side, knowing in advance what technological resources and facilities are available and who to contact in case of problems can assist you in adapting this project to meet students’ needs. So it is important to ensure a good relationship with the IT department or a tech-savvy teacher because you may need help installing software or fixing a problematic computer. Because it is incredibly frustrating to arrive in class and realize the hardware or software is not working and your lesson is ruined, it is always advisable to have a backup plan for any lesson that requires the use of technology.

Overall, we believe that “podcasts equal power.” Based on our experience with the podcast project described in this chapter, the following are, in no particular order, our top 10 reasons for using podcasts as a tool to improve students’ listen-ing skills and strategies for listening:

1. Most podcasts are free.

2. Transcripts are available for some podcasts.

3. There are thousands of podcasts to choose from on a wide range of topics.

4. User-friendly podcast aggregators are widely available.


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5. Podcasts can be automatically downloaded for routine listening.

6. Podcasts present authentic topics at natural speed.

7. Plenty of podcasts are designed for English language learners.

8. Students can build up their own library and share their favorite podcasts with others.

9. Listening to podcasts promotes self-instruction.

10. The technology tunes into where today’s generation of learners are.

Ashley Hazell Yildirim has worked in English language teaching since 1994 and has a master’s degree in TESOL. In Turkey, she worked mainly with undergraduate students at language schools and universities in Istanbul and Ankara. In Hong Kong, she has worked at Hong Kong Polytechnic University and is currently at the Hong Kong Institute of Education.

Erica Hoffman has a master’s degree in educational technology and has taught elementary, middle, and high school. She taught in the School of Languages at Sabanci University before taking her current teaching position at Robert College, in Istanbul, Turkey.

APPENDIX A: PODCAST RESOURCES

Public Broadcasting Web Sites

BBChttp://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts

Authentic programs include In Our Time (great for history topics), Women’s Hour (covers a variety of topics, from politics to literature), World Select Today (brief news clips, usually about hot topics)

Australian Broadcasting Corporationhttp://www.abc.net.au/services/podcasting/

Authentic programs include All in the Mind (great for health and science topics)

National Public Radiohttp://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_directory.php

Authentic programs include Story of the Day (excellent general stories of high interest), Living on Earth (covers environmental issues), This I Believe (interesting personal narrative essays about people’s beliefs), Science Friday (excellent current and high-interest science topics), Books (great for graded readers, author interviews, and discussions)

Public Broadcasting Servicehttp://www.pbs.org/podcasts/

Authentic programs include The American Experience (covers a variety of topics on U.S. history), NOVA (interviews with scientists)


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Miscellaneous

Sabanci University School of Languages Podcastshttp://sl.sabanciuniv.edu/eng/?PodCast/PodCasts.php

Interviews and lectures on a variety of academic topics and areas of interest (Included here is “A Podcast on Podcasts for Language Teachers and Learners,” a summary of this chapter)

The Washington Posthttp://www.washingtonpost.com/ wp-srv/mmedia/podcastfront.htm

Audio and video news podcasts

Lonely Planet Destinationhttp://www.lonelyplanet.com/podcasts/travelcast.xml

Culture and travel stories and information (Check the quality of the podcasts because some of the phone-ins are difficult to understand)

National Geographic Video Shortshttp://www.nationalgeographic.com/podcasts/index.html

Many amazing video podcasts on fascinating topics

New Scientisthttp://www.newscientist.com/podcastfeed.ns

Excellent reports on science topics

Scientific Americanhttp://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/

Detailed reports about scientific topics, usually based on new research or studies

Podcasts for English Language Learners

ESL Podcasthttp://www.eslpod.com/

Great tips for communicating, at a slow pace and with minidialogues (beginner and preintermediate)

ESL for TOEFL Podcastshttp://www.eslpod.com/toefl/scripts/scripts.html

Good for those who want a little more English practice (preintermediate to upper-intermediate)

Voice of America Podcastshttp://www1.voanews.com/english/podcasts/

Excellent news podcasts, perfect for creating listening activities (intermediate and higher)

Bardwell Road Centre Podcasthttp://bardwellroad.podomatic.com/

Podcasts made by English language learners that include some tasks

English Bananahttp://www.englishbanana.com/

Basics for beginners, with lesson handouts

Breaking News Englishhttp://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/podcast.html

A podcast with activities already created for students, suitable for self-instruction and self-access

Business English Podhttp://www.businessenglishpod.com/

Podcast on situations in all areas of business life (intermediate and advanced)


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PodcastsInEnglish.comhttp://www.podcastsinenglish.com/

Short interviews and explanations about a variety of topics; for a fee, users can access handouts and worksheets related to the podcasts

Podcast Directories

Podcast.comhttp://podcast.com/

Search for podcasts by name or category

Educational Podcasts for Teaching and Learninghttp://recap.ltd.uk/podcasting/ index.php

Click on Subjects in the left-hand column; relevant and academic podcasts are listed by subject

LearnOutLoud.comhttp://www.learnoutloud.com/

A great podcast directory that organizes podcasts into categories

APPENDIX B: PEER PODCAST EVALUATION RUBRIC

Criteria Feedback

Formatting

1. At the top of the page is the name of the podcast, the title of the podcast, the date the podcast was released, the URL link (if possible), and your name.

2. The sections are labeled: Prelistening, While Listening, After Listening, Answer Key, etc.

Prelistening

1. Do the prelistening activities help you predict the content of the listening or help you remember or think about what you already know about a topic?

2. Are any unknown key words that need to be defined to aid understanding of the listening included?

While Listening

A. With questions (guided note taking)

1. Do the questions (who, what, when, where, why, how) and fill-in-the-blank questions (guided note taking) focus on the main ideas, important details, and examples?

2. Are the questions clear?

3. Are the questions focused enough (not too general so that many answers are correct)?

4. Are the questions in the same order as the listening?


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B. Note taking

1. Do the headings guide you through the listening and provide the major topics discussed?

After Listening

A. Note taking

1. If there is a note-taking section, do the listening comprehension questions focus on the main ideas, important details, and examples?

2. Are the q uestions clear?3. Are the questions focused enough (not too general so that many

answers are correct)?

B. Self-reflection

1. Is there a self-reflection section that asks you what problems you had with the listening and what the possible solutions are?

The Answer Key

1. Do the answers answer the questions?

2. Do the answers seem to be correct?

Language and Spelling

1. Are the questions formed correctly?

2. Are there any spelling errors?

Topic

1. Is the listening topic appropriate for academic contexts (Does the listening give information about a topic, explain a process, and/or describe the causes and/or effects of a topic?)

Any other comments?


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APPENDIX C: INTERVIEWING A STUDENT OR TEACHER

My Partner is _________________________

1. Decide who you would like to interview, and contact this person. Tell him or her the purpose of the interview. Organise a backup interviewee in case your first choice isn’t available.

2. Make 10 questions. What makes a good question, open-ended or close-ended? (Your interview should be 5–7 minutes long).

3. Write an introduction to your interview. What is necessary in a good introduction?

4. Make corrections to your interview questions after receiving teacher feedback. Also make sure you have software that can record audio in an MP3 format. If you don’t, contact ___________ for assistance.

5. Conduct your interview using your introduction and questions. Find a quiet place to conduct your interview, and do a sound check beforehand. If the sound isn’t good, it could be the acoustics of the room or the microphone is too close/far away from you.

6. Create a listening activity. The listening activity should have Prelistening, While Listening, and Postlistening sections and an answer key (just like the podcast activities you have been doing).

Your interview and listening activities are due on _______________________.

The Power of Podcasts: A Tool to Improve Listening Skills and Empower Learners

Documents

Transcript of The Power of Podcasts: A Tool to Improve Listening Skills and Empower Learners