From Call to Mall: The Effectiveness of Podcast on EFL Higher Education Students’ Listening Comprehension

Abstract

Despite recognition that language can best be learned in an authentic context, and a growing emphasis on the importance of using technology to improve listening skills, only limited research in this area exists in a Saudi context. To add to this research, this quantitative study examines the influence of podcasting on the listening comprehension of 46 female Saudi EFL students in higher education. The randomly selected participants were divided into two groups: a control and an experimental group, and given a six week treatment. A T-test and questionnaire were employed, and the results indicate significant differences between the two groups, favoring the experimental group.

The Impact of Podcasts on EFL Students’ Listening Comprehension

“…This fact clearly proven that the use of English podcasts in teaching listening gives significant impact to students' listening comprehension. This result confirms several studies in which students who were taught by podcast performed better in listening comprehension skill than those who did not taught by podcast (Al Qasim & Al Fadda, 2013;Kavaliauskienė 2008;Ahmed, 2016).…”

“…Still in the same notion, Sloan (2005) claims that podcasts is an innovative way of broadcasting through the internet that can be used it for transferring digital audio content automatically to mobile phones. Regarding to its usage in classroom teaching contexts, several scholars have offered some point of views and reasons for including Podcasts in language learning classrooms (Aguilar, 2016;Al Qasim & Al Fadda, 2013;Abdous, & Facer, 2009;Ahmed, 2008;Blaisdell, 2006;Chinnery, 2006).…”

PODCAST: An alternative way to improve EFL students’ listening and speaking performance

“…Since students can choose which content they want to listen,the students' motivation can also incline as they can integrate their interests into the learning process (Dornyei, 2001). This self-regulated learning is also essential to develop students' autonomy, which will further improve their language learning performance ( (Brown, 2007;Al-Fadda & Al-Qasim, 2013).…”

“…Besides, Rosell-Aguilar (2007) recommends producing podcast as an effective group work activity, particularly because it will engage students in practicing their speaking skill. The most engaging part of activity in creating podcast materials is the community building (Lord, 2008;Al-Fadda & Al-Qasim, 2013); not only when the students work collaboratively in group to produce the podcast, but also when the podcast is published, in which the students will have real audience around the world, listening to their talks (Stanley, 2006). Stanley (2006) further suggests English teacher to get involved in an inter-school podcast project that allow to exchange the podcast talk as well as comment and respond to each other (as asynchronous activity).…”

“…The advantages of using podcast in language learning-particularly to assist the students in listening and speaking skill-have been researched, and the results show increase in the students' listening and speaking performance (Stanley, 2006;O'Bryan & Hegelheimer, 2007;Rosell-Aguilar, 2007;Lord, 2008;Knight, 2010;Ashraf, Noroozi & Salami, 2011;Istanto, 2011;Hasan & Hoon, 2012Al-Fadda & Al-Qasim, 2013). In addition, some other studies also found that the students' motivation and positive attitude towards language learning increased when podcast was used to support the learning process (O'Bryan & Hegelheimer, 2007;Rosell-Aguilar, 2007;Ducate & Lomicka, 2009;Ashraf et al, 2011;Hasan & Hoon 2012;Al-Fadda & Al-Qasim, 2013). Moreover, an experimental study with Iranian EFL students also revealed that the students who used podcast had higher listening comprehension score and higher learning motivation, compared to those who did not (Shiri, 2015).…”