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

1. Integrating podcasts into an ESL listening course: The What, the How, and the Why Anne O’Bryan Applied Linguistics Colloquium November 27, 2006

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

3. 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

5. Project Timeline • Thinking and planning phase (Spring & Summer 2006) • Development & curricular reorganization phase (Summer & Fall 2006) • Implementation phase (Fall 2006)

6. Thinking and Planning Phase • ESL Pod • English idioms and slang • Learn a song podcast • The Bardwell Road Centre podcast

7. 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 • O’Malley and Chamot (1990), Hubbard (2004)

8. 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

9. Curricular integration

10. Development Phase • Curricular changes: Syllabus for Unit 3 (video)

11. Development Phase

12. Podcast Blog

13. 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?

14. How do students feel about/ interact with the podcasts?

15. 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 materials…I 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 computer…when 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)

16. 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 important…because 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)

17. Raising awareness, influencing strategy use • “Yes. Before I also use not like use, I know this…main idea here, I know this one, but I didn't know…before 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 listen…so 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)

18. 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

19. Thank you! Anne O’Bryan Applied Linguistics Colloquium November 27, 2006