Making CALL an integral part of the
classroom: Effective integration of
podcasting into ESL listening courses
Anne O’Bryan & Volker Hegelheimer
Iowa State University
Eurocall 2006 – September 05, 2006 – Granada, Spain
This talk

NOT about


How to do podcasting, i.e., nuts a
bolts/technical aspects of podcasting.
About

The class, the project, and the research



Purposeful integration
Current research efforts
How to transform classroom instruction using
technology
Preliminary guiding thoughts


Tap into current practices among target
audience
“E-mail? Yeah, I use it with my mom – and
for class assignments” (AAAL 2006)
Research base

SLA theory


Listening comprehension


Rost (1990, 1994), Bejar et al. (2000), & Buck
(2001)
Language strategies


Interactionist approach
Cohen (1998), Rost (2002)
Strategy instruction and language learning

O’Malley et al. (1985), Shetzer & Warschauer
(2000), Hubbard (2004)
Language strategies

“[T]he point of incorporating strategy
instruction into language teaching is…to
focus the learner’s attention on
particular cognitive plans they can
employ to help them overcome
obstacles in language use or language
learning” (Rost, p. 111)
Learner/Learning strategies
“[L]anguage learning will be facilitated if students
become more aware of the range of possible
strategies that they can consciously select during
language learning and language use”,
&
 “[T]he most efficient way for learner awareness to be
heightened is by having teachers provide strategiesbased instruction to students as a part of the foreign
language curriculum”
(Cohen, 1998, p. 65).

Learner strategy training

Pedagogical learner training aims to


increase learner awareness of the
processes involved in learning a language
&
help learners “understand the importance
of making a connection between a
particular CALL activity and some desired
learning outcome or progress toward it”
(Hubbard, 2004, p. 53)
Buck (2001)

Overhearer, non-addressee, addressee



“constructing a reasonable interpretation is much more
difficult…” (p. 254) for the overhearer because of the
inability to ask for clarification or modify the interaction to
facilitate comprehension.
Providing students with audio input in a format that allows
them to control not only when they listen but also how often
they listen can give students the opportunity to transition to
the role of non-addressee who, can “ask for…repetitions as
necessary” (p. 254).
an addressee can “work together with the speaker and
actively collaborate to construct the discourse” (p. 254)
Surveying the field

Advantages of podcasting



Excellent means for audio distribution
Seamless integration of in-class and out-ofclass activities (Thorne & Payne, 2005, p.
386)
Encourages “listening on the go”
(Goodwin-Jones, 2005, p. 11)
English 099L – Academic Listening
Strategies

Purpose


Audience


Primary focus on improved listening
comprehension through listening strategies
Mixed graduate – undergraduate students
Current teaching approach

100% face-to-face, listening strategies, audio
cassettes, homework using online sources (similar
to those mentioned by Hubbard (today @12:15 pm)
The Project

Grant money for curriculum development


Research assistant support


$15K, internal funding
One 1/4-time RA for 12 months
Equipment/Software purchases


Edirol R09
Techsmith Morae
Current podcasting projects

ESL Pod
English idioms and slang
Learn a song podcast

The Bardwell Road Centre podcast


The development process



Thinking and planning phase
(Spring & Summer 2006)
Development & curricular reorganization
phase
(Summer & Fall 2006)
Implementation phase
(Fall 2006)
Samples

Project homepage
http://volkerh.public.iastate.edu/projects/podcasting/homepage.html

Class podcasts
http://courses.engl.iastate.edu/weblog/aobryan/

Curricular changes: Syllabus for Units 1 & 2
Date
Aug 22
Aug. 24
Aug. 29
Aug. 31
Sept. 5
Sept. 7
Topic
In-class diagnostic test
Introduction to course, podcasts,
and WebCT
Quiz over Welcome podcast in
WebCT; look at available ESL
podcasts online
Unit 2: Looking at lecture
transcripts
Unit 2 continued, non-academic
English
Non-academic English
Homework
Log in to WebCT; Listen to the
Welcome podcast
Read unit 2
Listen to “Listening for
Lecture Cues” podcast;
complete exercise on WebCT
Listen to Unit 2 summary
podcast; Complete Unit 2 quiz
on WebCT
Sample class podcasts
Description
Purpose
Welcome podcast
Orientation to podcasting
Lecture excerpt
Targeted practice (O’Malley and Chamot,
1990; Chamot and Rubin, 1994; Rost 2002);
Unit 2 summary podcast
Redundancy (Chapelle, 2003; Rost, 2002)
Note-taking vodcast
Demonstration (Chamot and Rubin, 1994;
Rost, 2002); Multiple modes of input (Paivio,
1969)
Student interview
Outside perspective-other international
students (UW-Madison, 2005); Understand
potential benefits of a strategy (Chamot &
Rubin, 1994; Rost, 2002)
Additional podcasts

Demonstration


Targeted practice



Predicting content
Predicting content and organization
Organizing notes
Strategy awareness

Prompting strategy use
Assessment
The Research

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)?


Self report, questionnaires
Does the strategy instruction from the course podcasts help to increase
strategy use?


Interviews with instructor and students
Does the strategy instruction from the course podcasts help to raise
awareness of strategies?


Questionnaires, interviews, self report
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)


Tracking and self report
Self report, verbal reports
 Key: Data triangulation
Questions?
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Thank you very much!
If you would like to receive this PowerPoint
presentation, please leave me your e-mail
address or e-mail me at volkerh@iastate.edu
http://volkerh.public.iastate.edu/projects/podcasting/