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Masaryk University Brno Faculty of Education Diplomathesis Brno2008 PetrBartoš Masaryk University Brno FacultyofEducation Department of English Language and Literature Podcasting New Technology in Education Diploma thesis Brno 2008 Supervisor: Written by: PhDr. Tamara Váňová Petr Bartoš Declaration: Ideclare thatIhavewrittenmydiplomathesismyselfandusedonlythe sourceslisted intheenclosedbibliography. Iagreewiththisthesis beingdepositedintheLibraryoftheFacultyofEducationatthe MasarykUniversityandwithits beingmadeavailableforacademic purposes. ................................................ PetrBartoš Acknowledgements: I would like to express my thanks to PhDr. Tamara Váňová for her guidance and professionaladviceonwritingthe thesisandVáclavŠtefelafortechnicaladvice. Contents: Introduction………………………………………………………………………....3 THEORETICALPART 1. Listening………………………………………………………….....5 1.1. ImportanceofListening…………………….....................................5 1.2. ModelsofListeningProcesses……………………………………...7 1.2.1. TheBottom-UpModel……………………………………………...7 1.2.1.1. AListofBottomUpSkills………………………………………....7 1.2.2. TheTop-DownModel……………………………………………....8 1.2.2.1. AListofTopDownSkills……………………………….............…9 1.2.3. Interactive Model…………………………………………………...9 1.3. TypesofListening…………………………………………………10 1.3.1. One-waylistening………………………………………….………10 1.3.2. Twowaylistening………………………………………………… 11 1.4. WhatMakesListeningDifficult…………………………………...12 2. LearningStrategiesandStyles…………………………………….16 2.1. LearnerStrategiesinLanguageLearning………………………....16 2.1.1. DirectStrategies…………………………………………………...18 2.1.2. IndirectStrategies………………………………………………….19 2.2. LearningStyles…………………………………………………….22 2.2.1. SensoryPreferences……………………………………………….22 2.2.2. PersonalityTypes………………………………………………….23 2.2.3. DesiredDegreeofGenerality……………………………………...24 2.2.4. Biological Differences……………………………………………..25 3. Podcasting………………………………………………………… 26 3.1. Podcast–WhatIs It?……………………………………………...27 3.1.1. ImproperPodcast………………………………………………….28 3.2. BriefHistoryofPodcasting………………………………………..29 3.3. HowDoesIt Work?………………………………………............31 3.4. PodcastinginEducation…………………………………………...34 3.5. ExamplesofBasicUsageofPodcasting…………………………..36 1 3.5.1. Lecturesrecording………………………………………………… 36 3.5.2. Independentlearning……………………………………………… 37 3.5.3. Project-basedlearning……………………………………………..38 3.6. EnglishLanguageTeachingPodcasts……………………..............40 3.6.1. TypesofELTPodcasts……………………………………………41 3.6.1.1. ContentTypesofELTPodcasts…………………………………...42 3.7. Advantages andDisadvantagesofPodcasting…………………….44 3.7.1. Advantages………………………………………………………...44 3.7.2. Disadvantages…………………………………………..................45 PRACTICALPART 4. Introduction……………………..………………………………… 47 5. MyExperiencewithPodcastinginEducation……………….........49 6. PodcastinginLanguage Schools……………..……………............52 7. FindingPodcast…………………………………………………… 55 7.1. PodcastDirectory………………..……………...............................55 7.2. PodcastClient……………………………………………………...57 8. EditingPodcast……………………….............................................61 9. TheEvaluationoftheQuestionnaire……………………………....64 Conclusion………………………………….……………………………………...70 Bibliography……………………………………………………………….……....72 Resume…………………………………………………………………….…........76 APPENDICES AppendixA………………………………………………………….………….....77 AppendixB…………………………………………………………………….….84 AppendixC…………………………………………………………………….….86 2 Introduction We live inthe culture of digital media.Youngpeople are permanentlyconnectedby technologies. Students nowadays are constantly involved in online chatting, blogging, computer gaming, MP3 players, text messaging, mobile phones, and Internet surfing for many of their information and social needs. During this time teachers have been finding that students use computer and the Internet as well as their MP3players andother digitalmedia anddevices mainlyfor their entertainment. As a result,questions continue toarise.How canteachers capture the attentionand abilities of students inthese media andturn them toeducational benefit? However complicated the answer to these questions might be one possible answer is “Podcasting”. Podcastingis a new way of distributingaudiofiles that allows users tobe subscribed andthusreceiveup-todateaudiofilesassoonastheyare posted. Podcasting is a relatively new technology and educators everywhere are still exploring its possibilities. One of the many promising possibilities is podcasting dedicatedtothesecondorforeignlanguagelearning. Whenstudyingandlearningsecond or foreignlanguage it is important not onlyto speakthe language but alsotounderstandthe authentic spokenform of the language. Teachers oftentrytoprovide the students withsuchpossibilities.However,there is not always a chance to meet and communicate with native speakers in order to practice speaking and listening. What might help in such a situation is the employment of podcasting. There are literally thousands of educational podcasts available on the Internet for students andteachers whomaydownloadandlistento themorincorporatethemintotheir lessonsandlessonplans. The aim of this thesis is to introduce podcasting both from positive and negative viewpointandoutlineits potentialusesintheEnglishlanguagelearning. The theoretical part focuses at the beginningonthe importance of listeningandon listening ingeneral,as podcastingis mainlyemployedtoteachandpractice listening 3 skills bothinside andoutside the classroom.The listeningsectionis followedbya few chapters dealing with learning styles and strategies as they strongly influence how andhow well the students learnsecondor foreignlanguage.Subsequently,the third part brings comprehensive information about podcasting. Starting with the historyandoriginof podcasting,goingthroughits technical specifications,looking at the possible use in education, and ending with the list of its advantages and disadvantages. The practical part of the thesis deals withmypersonal experience with podcasting, examines the status of podcasting in the Czech languages schools, describes authentic experience of a language teacher withpodcasting,brings detailedmanual how to find, download and edit podcast and, lastly, presents the results of the questionnaire about the popularityof listeningpractice andawareness of podcasting amongstudentsenrolledintheONLINE_Acourse. 4 THEORETICAL PART 1. Listening 1.1.ImportanceofListening Listening comprehension is basically a process of understanding what the speaker said. This means understanding pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar, and graspingthe meaningofthespeaker’sutterance. Acquiringgoodlisteningandspeakingskills inEnglishis the mainconcernof many secondand foreignlanguage learners,andtoday’s Englishteacher needs tobe well informed about current approaches to the teaching of the aural and oral skills. Second language listening relatively ignored for many years within applied linguistics, has today come into its own. Although still somewhat neglected in second language acquisition research, listening now plays a more central role in language teaching. University entrance exams, school leaving tests, and other examinations have begun to include a listening comprehension components, an acknowledgment that listening ability is an important aspect of second language proficiency(Richards,In:Flowerdew&Miller,2005:ix). Whenwe focus onemployment of our communicationskills duringanaverage day we soonrealize that we listenmore thanreador speak. Whenwe listen we are able tohear anddecipher what other personis saying. Incommunicationprocess listening istherefore acrucialelement. According to various studies researches point out that many of us spend 70 to 80 percent of our wakinghours in some form of communication.Of that time,we spend about 9 percent writing, 16 percent reading, 30 percent speaking, and 45 percent listening.Studiesalsoconfirmthatmostofusare poorandinefficientlisteners. (Hatesohl andLee,1993) 5 According to Bulletin(1952) as quoted in An Investigation of Factors Influencing English Listening Comprehension and Possible Measures for Improvement 1, listeningis the fundamental language skill.It is the medium throughwhichpeople gaina large portionof their education,their information,their understandingof the worldandof humanaffairs, their ideals,sense of values,andtheir appreciation. In this day of mass communication, much of it oral, it is of vital importance that students are taught tolisteneffectivelyandcritically. Rost (1994: 141142) emphasizes that listening is essential in the language classroom because it provides input for the learner.“Without understandinginput at therightlevel,learningcannot begin”. The results of numerous tests highlight two facts about listening. Firstly, it shows that listeningskills are as important as speakingskills; we cannot communicate face- toface unless the twotypes of skill are developed.The second point about listening is that, under many circumstances, it is a reciprocal skill. We cannot practice listening in the same way as we can rehearse speaking, or at least the part of speakingthat has dowithpronunciation,because we cannot usuallypredict what we willhave tolistento.(AnneAnderson&Lynch(1988:34). Willis (1981:134) lists a series of microskills of listening,whichshe calls enabling skills.Theyare: predictingwhat peoplearegoingtotalkabout guessingat unknownwordsor phraseswithout panicking usingone’s ownknowledgeofthesubject tohelponeunderstand identifyingrelevant points;rejectingirrelevantinformation retainingrelevant points (note-taking,summarizing) recognizingdiscoursemarkers,e.g.,Well;Oh,finally;etc.