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

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)

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 strategies-based 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-of-class activities (Thorne & Payne, 2005, p. 386)

Encourages “listening on the go” (Goodwin-Jones, 2005, p. 11)

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)

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

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 & 2Date Topic Homework Aug 22 In-class diagnostic test Aug. 24 Introduction to course, podcasts,

and WebCT

Aug. 29 Quiz over Welcome podcast in WebCT; look at available ESL podcasts online

Log in to WebCT; Listen to the Welcome podcast

Aug. 31 Unit 2: Looking at lecture transcripts

Read unit 2

Sept. 5 Unit 2 continued, non-academic English

Listen to “Listening for Lecture Cues” podcast; complete exercise on WebCT

Sept. 7 Non-academic English Listen to Unit 2 summary podcast; Complete Unit 2 quiz on WebCT

Sample class podcasts

Description PurposeWelcome 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 Predicting content

Targeted practice Predicting content and organization Organizing notes

Strategy awareness Prompting strategy use

Assessment

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

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/