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Towards a Podcasting Pedagogy: Recent Developments in CALL with a Focus on Listening
Digitized audio and video have made their way into all aspects of educational computing. On the Internet, streaming audio and video allow the learner access to a vast quantity of audio material of all kinds. Audio and video files may be stored, managed, and distributed using technologies such as iTunes/iTunesU and YouTube along with mobile phones. Listening materials may be manually or automatically downloaded to a computer or portable media players for later study and use through simple file transfer, podcasts, and webcasts.
A relatively new technology that is gaining much interest for the development of listening skills is the podcast, an audio/video file that can be “broadcast” via the Internet with sound files that are “pushed” to subscribers, often at regular intervals. Learners may also create their own podcasts (see Rosell-Aguilar, 2007). In current work in L2 learning, there is a particular focus on successfully designing the structure and content of a podcast suite and integrating it effectively into the curriculum (see Chan, Chen & Döpel, 2011). Key objectives were a fully integrated series of podcasts, practice and extension, curriculum integration and review, increased opportunities for exposure to listening texts and cultural content, and further development of learning strategies.
This presentation extends this work by examining the structure of approximately 60 podcasts (5-7 minutes duration) developed by students as the final assignment in a postgraduate course in CALL at the University of Queensland, Australia. The typical structure and content of a podcast is examined with a view to advancing our understanding of “podcasting pedagogy.”
Biographical sketch
Dr. Mike Levy is Professor of Second Language Studies and Director of the Brisbane Universities Language Alliance (BULA) in the School of Languages and Comparative Cultural Studies at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. His research work includes studies on the distinctive role of technology in mediating language learning, mobile language learning, online cultures and culture as concept, teacher education, and learner training. He is also examining the nature of multitasking and the coordination of talk and action in pair work at the computer. He teaches postgraduate courses in CALL and qualitative research methods. His publications include WorldCALL (Routledge, 2011), CALL Dimensions with Glenn Stockwell (Routledge, 2006), and Teacher Education in CALL with Philip Hubbard (Benjamins, 2006). He is Chair of the Steering Committee for the WorldCALL 2013 Conference to be held in Glasgow, Scotland, July 10-13 (www.worldcall.org).
