Making CALL an integral part of the classroom: Effective integration of podcasting into ESL listening courses

1. 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

2. 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

3. 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)

4. Research base • SLA theory • Interactionist approach • Listening comprehension • Rost (1990, 1994), Bejar et al. (2000), & Buck (2001) • Language strategies • Cohen (1998), Rost (2002) • Strategy instruction and language learning • O’Malley et al. (1985), Shetzer & Warschauer (2000), Hubbard (2004)

5. 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)

6. 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 strategies-based instruction to students as a part of the foreign language curriculum” (Cohen, 1998, p. 65).

7. 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)

8. 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)

9. 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)

10. English 099L – Academic Listening Strategies • Purpose • Primary focus on improved listening comprehension through listening strategies • Audience • 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)

11. The Project • Grant money for curriculum development • $15K, internal funding • Research assistant support • One 1/4-time RA for 12 months • Equipment/Software purchases • Edirol R09 • Techsmith Morae

12. Current podcasting projects • ESL Pod • English idioms and slang • Learn a song podcast • The Bardwell Road Centre podcast

13. The development process • Thinking and planning phase (Spring & Summer 2006) • Development & curricular reorganization phase (Summer & Fall 2006) • Implementation phase (Fall 2006)

14. Samples • Project homepage http://volkerh.public.iastate.edu/projects/podcasting/homepage.html • Class podcastshttp://courses.engl.iastate.edu/weblog/aobryan/ • Curricular changes: Syllabus for Units 1 & 2

16. Sample class podcasts

17. Additional podcasts • Demonstration • Predicting content • Targeted practice • Predicting content and organization • Organizing notes • Strategy awareness • Prompting strategy use

18. Assessment

19. The Research • How do students perceive and interact with the podcasts? • Tracking and self report • Does student interaction with the podcasts help to shift their role from “overhearer” to “non-addressee” (Buck, 2002, p. 254)? • 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) • Interviews with instructor and students • Does the strategy instruction from the course podcasts help to raise awareness of strategies? • Self report, questionnaires • Does the strategy instruction from the course podcasts help to increase strategy use? • Self report, verbal reports •  Key: Data triangulation

20. Questions? • 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/