Teaching with Technology

Article #4

The use of podcasting to improve pronunciation in second language learners is an option being used by language educators to practice speaking skills outside of the classroom.  Language learners struggle with pronunciation errors and are often judged by native speakers because of their non-native like way of speaking.   Language teachers are often reluctant to teach pronunciation for a number of reason, which include “not enjoying it or not knowing how to teach it” (Ducate 66).  Some language teacher even believe that teaching pronunciation is not a useful skill and generally forego teaching it and focus on other language skills.  According to Lara Ducate, podcasting is an alternative to teaching pronunciation in the class .  This article discusses the investigation of podcasting and how it offers opportunities for “contextualizing tasks, while at the same time honing pronunciation” (Ducate 68).  I believe this article explains podcastings usefulness in the language learner’s curriculum.

 The simplicity in creating podcasts has increased the use of this tool in the educational environment.   Podcasting can be used to”empower students by giving them opportunities to create and publish for a real audience” (Ducate 68).  Because today’s youth are key player in the participatory culture, introducing interactive activities using podcasting should be accepted by them without any question.  Some second language acquisition researchers believe that having students listen to themselves can be beneficial as “they focus on pronunciation, grammar use or intonation” (Ducate 69).   Language teachers are interested in using podcasting because it allows them to “contextualize pronunciation and create meaningful tasks” (Ducate 69) for their students. 

 Podcasting in second language learning remains an emerging technology and because of the “lack of empirical research” it has remained in the infancy stage.  Clearly, empirical research is needed to investigate the actual effects of pedagogical techniques on learners so sound decisions can be made.  Nonetheless, the attitude from teachers and students regarding the use of podcasting for improvement in pronunciation skills has been viewed positively.   During the study students were encouraged to be more creative while using podcasting.  It was thought that more students would like podcasting, but many of the participant in the study preferred “scripted podcasts over the extemporaneous podcasts” (Ducate 74).  The study showed that most students liked tasked based pronunciation activities and believed it duplicated real life situations;  however, it did not show any evidence that students improved because of the use of podcasting. 

 Based on the findings of this study, I believe that integrating podcasting and traditional pedagogical methods of teaching students will advance them in pronunciation.  The study even shows that with “consistent pronunciation in class and receiving feedback on podcasts” (Ducate 77) that student’s pronunciation would improve.  Researchers believe that future studies should be made, but that in the next study there should be more students and a greater  involvement in the study by language teachers.  Also, because the students in the study were not all at the same level they believed this affected the outcome.   

Ducate, Lara and Lara Lomicka. “Podcasting: An Effective Tool for Honing Language Students’ Pronunciation?” Language Learning & Technology. October 2009, Vol. 13, No. 3, pp 66-86.  http://llt.msu.edu/vol13num3/ducatelomicka.pdf.