EFL STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS USING AND CREAT-ING LEARNER PODCASTS TO DEVELOP THEIR SPEAKING SKILLS FOR SUSTAINABLE EDUCATION

Year 2017, Volume: 1 Issue: 1, 13 - 27, 30.12.2017

Arif Sarıçoban , Arzu Koçak

Abstract

It is difficult for
EFL learners to improve their speaking skills. Thus, In addition to traditional
speaking activities used in English language teaching, creating learner
podcasts can be integrated into EFL classroom as a new instructional tool to
improve students’ speaking skills. Therefore, this paper investigates students’ attitudes towards using and creating
learner podcasts to develop their English speaking skills. The study was
conducted with 56 EFL students studying in the Preparatory School at Hacettepe
University. The students were at three different proficiency levels: B1, B1+
and B2.During the six-week study, after the students were introduced what a
podcast is and how to create learner podcasts, they created five different
podcasts and published them to the class podcast page. During this process, the
learner podcasts were created individually and in pairs. After students created
their podcasts in pairs, they were asked to listen to another podcast created
by another pair, to record their comments as another podcast and send it to the
class podcast page. The data were gathered through a student questionnaire and
semi-structured interviews conducted by 10 students. The data gathered from the
study were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. The results indicated
that students perceived podcasts to be beneficial for development of their
speaking skills. In this sense, getting information about students’ attitudes
towards using and creating learner podcasts can provide EFL teachers with
information about whether learner podcasts can be used as a practical device to
help students develop their speaking skills. 

Keywords

Podcasts, Attitudes, EFL Learners, Speaking

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