Learning beyond the classroom: Language podcast as supplementary learning material

Abstract

Language teaching methodologies and approaches have been galvanized by the development and use of computer and other electronic media. Podcasting is one popular medium which has been drawing increasing attention from educators in foreign language teaching. Since it is a relatively new medium, there are still vast areas to be explored by educational research such as methodological approaches to language podcast design as well as learners' needs, preferences, attitudes and motivation in podcast-based learning. Since 2007, the National University of Singapore has been active in developing and delivering podcasts to students of different foreign languages to supplement classroom instruction. Parallel to such developmental efforts, research has also been conducted to elicit muchneeded empirical data to analyse students' podcast access and usage patterns as well as their perceptions of the podcasts' quality and usefulness. This paper focuses on a podcast project conducted from January to April 2010 for Korean language beginners. It will provide an account of the podcast's design and contents, and students' access and usage. Students' quantitative and qualitative evaluations of the podcast's design and contents will also be presented. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for the design and development of future language learning podcasts as well as further research. © Common Ground, Seo Won Chi, Wai Meng Chan, All Rights Reserved.