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HUE UNIVERSITY HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ENGLISH DEPARTMENT GRADUATION RESEARCH PAPER THE USE OF PODCASTS TO IMPROVE ENGLISH LISTENING SKILLS AMONG ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS AT HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, HUE UNIVERSITY Supervisor: Ms Tran Thi Thu Suong, M.Ed Student‟s name: Tran Thi Nhu Quynh ID: 16F7011057 Class: Anh SPK13A Department: English Department Hue, 2020 i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby declare that this graduation research paper is conducted under the guidance of Ms Tran Thi Thu Suong, M.Ed at English Department, Hue University of Foreign Languages This research paper is the work of mine All of information quoted or paraphrased from other materials is acknowledged Tran Thi Nhu Quynh April, 2020 ii ABSTRACT With the advance of technology, applying podcasts makes an immense contribution to the improvement of teaching and learning English Therefore, this research entitled: “The Use of Podcasts to Improve English Listening Skills among English-majored Students at Hue University of Foreign Languages, Hue University” aims to investigate the use of podcasts to promote listening skills among English-majored students at Hue University of Foreign Language (HUFL) The study mainly focuses on three primary points including: firstly, investigating the students‟ perceptions and attitudes towards the use of podcasts to improve English listening skills; secondly, examining the reality of using podcasts to improve English listening skills; finally, suggestions and recommendations for using podcasts The study was conducted at HUFL with 100 participants including first year, second year, third year and fourth year English-majored students Regarding to research methodology, data were collected through questionnaires and interviews to examine students‟ learning experiences as well as their views of using podcasts for pedagogical purposes The result shows that most of students are well aware of the essentiality of applying podcasts to their study In terms of the reality of using podcasts, the result indicates the way students listen to podcasts, their frequency, some benefits and difficulties that they face when listening to podcasts Furthermore, students and the researcher also give some suggestions and recommendations for using podcasts, which are beneficial for students to develop their English listening skills iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This study has been completed thanks to the help of many people from whom I have received help and support, so I would like to express my appreciation to all of them First of all, I wish to show my greatest gratitude to my supervisor, Ms Tran Thi Thu Suong, M.Ed for her guidance, comments, advice, and especially her encouragement throughout the whole research process Honestly, this is the first time I have ever conducted a research; therefore, I usually encounter some difficulties Luckily, she shows me every necessary step to this research and how to consider and solve problems Without her guidance, I would not have completed my study I am also grateful to all the teachers at the English Department, Hue University of Foreign Languages, whose lectures and guidance have considerably contributed to my academic knowledge and led to this research paper completion Moreover, my words of thanks would also go to the teachers who will spend time reading and giving feedbacks on my graduation research paper Especially, I wish to express my sincere appreciation to all students at English Department, who have been helpful and cooperative in the implementation of the study Last but not least, I would also like to take this opportunity to send my love to my family, and friends who have given me encouragement and mental support whole-heartedly They are my infinite motivation that helps me to overcome all the difficulties during the study process iv TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ii ABSTRACT iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv TABLE OF CONTENTS v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS viii LIST OF TABLES ix LIST OF FIGURES x CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aims and scope 1.3 Research questions .3 1.4 Research significance 1.5 Organization of the study: CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 An overview of Podcast .5 2.1.1 Definitions of the term “podcast” 2.1.2 Types of podcast 2.1.2.1 Audio-podcast 2.1.2.2 Enhanced podcast 2.1.2.3 Video podcast 2.2 The use of podcasts in education .7 2.3 Advantages of using podcasts in education .8 2.3.1 Cognitive advantages 2.3.2 Spatial advantages .9 2.3.3 Temporal advantages 2.4 Advantages of using podcasts in learning English skills 10 2.5 Potential disadvantages of using podcasts .11 2.5.1 Demotivating factors 11 2.5.2 Absence of social and personal interaction .11 v 2.5.3 Technological factors 12 2.5.4 The quality of podcast .12 2.6 Prior studies 13 2.7 Summary 14 CHAPTER 3: METHODOGY .16 3.1 Participants 16 3.2 Methods of study .18 3.2.1 Questionnaires 18 3.2.2 Interview 19 3.3 Data analysis 20 3.4 Summary 20 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 22 4.1 Background information about the use of technology to improve English listening skills 22 4.1.1 The frequency of students using multimedia technology to improve their English listening skills .22 4.1.2 Kinds of technology that students use to foster their English listening skills 24 4.1.3 Mobile technologies that students have used to study English listening skills 26 4.2 The perceptions of EFL students at HUFL towards the use of podcasts in learning English listening skills .27 4.2.1 Students‟ perceptions about podcast 27 4.2.2 Students‟ experience of listening to podcasts 28 4.2.3 Some main reasons why students not listen to podcasts 30 4.2.4 Students‟ perceptions towards the essentiality of using podcasts to improve English listening skills 33 4.2.5 Students‟ perceptions of benefits and difficulties brought by podcasts in leaning English 34 4.2 The reality of using podcasts in learning English listening skills among students at HUFL 38 4.2.1 The amount of time students listening to podcasts in a day 38 vi 4.2.2 Some techniques students usually use when listening to podcasts 39 4.2.1 Some sources of podcast students usually listen .42 4.2.2 The reasons why students choose these sources 44 4.2.5 Types of content that students are interested in 46 4.2.6 Some potential advantages of listening to podcasts 47 4.2.7 Some potential disadvantages of podcasts 50 4.3 Suggestions for teachers and students .52 4.3.1 Students‟ evaluation the necessity of using podcasts in teaching .52 4.3.2 Students‟ evaluation the necessity of using podcasts in studying 54 4.3.3 Recommendations for listening to podcasts 55 4.4 Summary 57 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 60 5.1 Summary of the result 60 5.2 Implications of the study 61 5.2.1 For teachers .61 5.2.2 For students .61 5.3 Suggestions for teachers, students and administrators 62 5.3.1 For teachers .62 5.2.2 For students .63 5.2.3 For administrators 70 5.3.4 Suggestions for further researches 71 5.4 Limitations of the study 72 REFERENCES………………………………………………………………… 73 APPENDIX A…………………………………………………………………… 78 APPENDIX B……………………………………………………………… … 83 vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS HUFL: Hue University of Foreign Languages EFL: English as a Foreign Languages ESL: English as a Second Languages viii LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 Participants of the study 16 Table 3.2 Participants‟ background information .16 Table 3.2 Students‟ interviews 19 Table 4.1 Description of students‟ frequency of using multimedia technology .23 Table 4.2 Some main reasons why students not listen to podcasts 30 Table 4.3 The students‟ perceptions towards the importance of using podcasts in learning English listening skills 33 Table 4.4 Some ways students listen to podcasts 40 Table 4.5 Some sources of podcast that students usually listen .42 Table 4.6 Reasons for using podcasts in learning English listening skills .44 Table 4.8 Students‟ evaluation the necessity of using podcasts in teaching .53 Table 4.9 Students‟ evaluation the necessity of using podcasts in studying 54 Table 4.10 Suggestions for listening to podcasts 55 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1 Kinds of technology that students use to foster their English listening skills 24 Figure 4.2 Technologies that students have used to study English listening skills 26 Figure 4.3 Students‟ perceptions about podcast 27 Figure 4.4 Students‟ experience of listening to podcasts 29 Figure 4.5 Students‟ perceptions of benefits and difficulties brought by podcasts in leaning English 35 Figure 4.6 The amount of time students listening to podcasts per day .38 Figure 4.7 Types of podcast students usually listen 46 Figure 4.8 Potential advantages of listening to podcasts 47 Figure 4.9 Potential disadvantages of listening to podcasts .50 x provides listeners a wide range of other podcasts namely stories, news, comedies, TED Talks It can said that Spotify is the great app for students to entertain and study as well 5.2.3 For administrators In light of the findings and discussions above, the quality of podcasts, as well as the quality of the listening facilities in the classroom still remains a barrier that makes students unable to perform well in their study Thus, administrators are believed to play a significant role in creating an ideal environment for students to promote their knowledge and performance To begin with, organizing some seminars, workshops, and conferences that allow teachers to exchange their experience, their expectations, and difficulties and learn how to make use of podcasts in their speaking class should be given priority VietTESOL, for instance, which was held at HUFL in 2019, has made hugely positive impacts on teachers‟ teaching experiences Besides, they should also orientate and encourage teachers to conduct lesson plans applying podcasts Currently, at HUFL, teachers can easily use Learning Managing System (LMS) to organize some online courses, send materials to learners and manage E-learning activities, so it is highly recommended that teachers should upload podcasts there and allow students to listen as supplementary materials Moreover, the administrators should take into consideration setting up betterqualified facilities namely wifi, microphones, or speakers that support and develop listening skills among students It can be seen that at HUFL, the whole university has been equipped with the wifi network; however, the low speed it can not meet 70 the students‟ need Besides, every classroom has already had a radio, students find it hard to listen to materials during study or examination due to the large area of the room In particular, the university also provides some self-study rooms and a new modern library, which lets students study comfortably, but it would be much better if they had some headphones, or speakers supporting students‟ listening study In other words, the administrators should upgrade some facilities that promote the productivity and study results of students All in all, with some aforesaid suggestions, when the teachers‟ and students‟ difficulties are solved successfully and the cooperation between the administrators and other different parts is encouraged, the benefits of promoting listening skills among English-majored students at HUFL through podcasts will be enhanced 5.3.4 Suggestions for further researches In order to use podcasts more efficiently and popularly in language teaching, further research into the effects of podcasts and the ways to use them in teaching and self-study should be carried out First of all, researchers should study on a far larger scale to get more reliable and valuable results Secondly, it is worth having questionnaires and interviews with teachers in order to gain data more accurately and objectively Moreover, it is expected that further researches should be conducted on the use of podcasts in teaching and studying other skills namely reading, writing and speaking skills as podcasts might also positively affect these skills among students Finally, this study was conducted with a descriptive approach, so the result might be limited Hence, it can be an ideal study if the next researcher carries out research with an experimental approach Instead of giving recommendations, participants should be separated into different groups, apply these recommendations Eventually, the results can show more reliable information about the effect of podcasts on students‟ English listening comprehension 71 5.4 Limitations of the study However, due to the time limitation, reference resources, and the COVID-19 virus pandemic, it is impossible to conduct a more in-depth investigation with students at English Department, HUFL Moreover, the result of the research is based on the viewpoints of a small number of students, some information might not be high validity Moreover, some participants did not provide answers to the questionnaire properly They tend to skip some questions that they think are not necessary Thus, the research found it challenging to collect and analyze the data This, somehow, made some vital impacts on the reliability of the research Furthermore, the researcher‟s inexperience in this research field is considered another limitation Nevertheless, with the great support from the supervisor, the researcher could conduct and finally complete the study 72 REFERENCES Adams, C (2006) Geek‟s guide to teaching in the modern age Instructor 115(7), 48–51 Aguilar, F (2016) Podcast as a mobile learning technology, Asian EFL Journal, 10, 72-89 Ahmed, F (2008) Using podcasts to improve listening comprehension in the Arabic Classroom, English Language Teaching, 11(2), 45-47 Al Quasim, N., & Al Fadda, H (2013) From CALL to MALL: The effectiveness of podcast on EFL higher education students‟ listening comprehension English Language Teaching, 6(9), 30-41 Alla, V & Oksana, G (2018) Use of podcasts technology to develop students‟ listening skills Information Technologies and Learning Tools, 63(1), 12-13 Ashton-Hay, S., & Brookes, D (2011) Here's a 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in language teaching Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Salmon & P Edirisingha (Eds.), Podcast for learning in universities (pp Scutter, S., Stupans, I., Sawyer, T., & King, S (2010) How students use podcasts to support learning? Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 26(2), 180-191 Selingo, J (2006) Students and teachers, from K to 12, hit the podcasts New York Times, 64 Sheila, S (2010) How students use podcasts to support learning? Australasian journal of educational technology 26(2), 180-191 Stajka, R (2013) Educational use of podcasts The Fourth International Conference on e-Learning 26-27 September 2013, Belgrade, Serbia Stanley, G (2006) Podcast: Audio on the Internet comes of age TESL-EJ, 9(4) Szendeffy, J (2005) A practical guide to using computers in language teaching Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Languages 1(10), 3-4 Thao, T (2017) Feedbacks of sophomores in Department of English at University of Foreign Languages, Hue University in using TED Talks to improve topical listening comprehension skills, Science Research, 89-91 Tryanti, A (2015) The impact of podcasts on EFL students‟ listening comprehension International Journal of Language Education, 2(2), 22-33 Yo, H (2017) Teaching EFL learners shadowing for listening: Developing learners’ bottom-up skills Routlege, 44-56 77 APPENDIX A QUESTIONNAIRE This survey questionnaire is designed to collect data for my research entitled “The use of podcasts to improve English listening skills among English-majored students at Hue University of Foreign Languages, Hue University.” This questionnaire aims at investigating students‟ perceptions towards using podcasts to improve their listening skills, exploring their experiences in using podcasts and gathering their suggestions on using podcasts effectively I would be very grateful if you spend a few minutes completing this questionnaire It is guaranteed that all your personal information and your answers will be kept confidential and not be used for other purposes If you have any questions, not hesitate to contact me via: trantnquynh1998@gmail.com Thank you for your kind cooperation! Definition of term: A podcast is an audio file which you can download to your computer, phone or mp3 player and listen to whenever you choose PERSONAL INFORMATION: Your name (optional): Your current year at university: First year Second year Third year Fourth year How long have you been learning English? More than 10 years About 8-10 years About 6-8 years Fewer than years Which level of English listening skills are you at? 78 Beginner Intermediate Advanced How often you use multimedia technology as a tool to improve your English listening skills? Never Always What kinds of technology you use to help develop your listening skills? Radio CDs Videos MP3 files What mobile technologies have you used A Laptop A Desktop computer An MP3 player An MP4 player 3G/4G mobile phones Have you ever heard about podcasts? Yes No Have you ever used Podcasts as a tool to improve your English listening skills? Yes No If you answer is NO, please move on to question 10 If your answer is YES, please move on to question 11 10 What are the reasons why you not listen to podcasts? Teachers not introduce podcasts to the class 79 I am unaware of the benefits of podcasts I am not interested in listening to podcasts I am not sure how to listen to a podcast I not really know how to find a podcast I not have the appropriate technology to listen to podcasts Podcasts go on too long Listening to podcasts can use up a lot of my phone‟s data plan No podcasts cover the topics I am interested in I not have enough time to listen to podcasts I not have appropriate means to access to podcasts I find podcasts difficult to understand because presenters speak so quickly I find podcasts difficult to understand because there may be concepts I have not heard before Podcasts often contain a lot of cultural information that may be very challenging for me Others: (please specify) 11 Do you think that using podcasts is essential to improve English listening skills? Completely disagree Completely agree 12 To what extent you agree with the following statements about using podcasts to improve listening skills? Statements Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly disagree (3) (4) agree (1) (2) (5) It is easy to access podcast audio files 80 I enjoy listening to podcasts Listening to podcasts fosters my interest and motivation in learning English Podcasts offer a number of authentic materials of English listening There are thousands of podcasts to choose from on a wide range of topics Podcasts are not effective in terms of time Some podcasts not have good quality: voice, length of podcast, etc 13 How often you listen to podcasts? Fewer than 10 minutes a day About 10-15 minutes a day More than 15 minutes a day 14 How you listen to podcasts? I just listen to it I listen and take note some main ideas I listen and take note some important points: new words, idioms, phrases, I listen and try to imitate what the speaker says Others: 81 15 What are some sources of podcast that you usually listen to? National Geographic Video Shorts ESL Podcast Voice of America Podcasts Breaking News English BBC TED talks Spotlight Itunes Others… 16 Why you choose these sources? Because they include my favorite topics namely entertainment, art, science, Because they are related to what I learn at school Because the length of time of podcasts is quite short for me to pay attention Because the podcasts have good quality such as the voice of speaker, the speed, etc I just randomly listen to them Others: 17 What are some advantages of podcasts? I can become familiar with different accents and styles of speech I can build my vocabulary with the real, modern English we use today I can understand native speakers, even when they speak quickly I can prepare for the listening lectures I can prepare for exams There are a variety of podcast sources Using podcasts is convenient and flexible 82 Podcasts help me enrich my knowledge in many aspects such as science, art, 18 What are some problems you encounter while listening to podcasts? There are a large number of new vocabulary items in podcasts The length of podcasts is too long so I cannot stay focused The contents of podcasts are unfamiliar to me Many podcasts have no subtitles which may help me to check my comprehension The speaking speed of podcasts is too fast for me The accents of the presenters are unfamiliar 19 Should teachers use podcasts in teaching? Completely disagree Completely agree Completely agree 20 Should students use podcasts in studying? Completely disagree 21 Do you have any recommendations for those listening to podcasts? You should choose their favorite topics You should consider the length and quality of the podcasts You should choose the topics that may improve your knowledge You should choose the podcasts that are equivalent to your listening ability You should choose podcasts with transcript You should listen to podcasts regularly Others: THIS IS THE END OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE! THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION! 83 APPENDIX B INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Part 1: General attitudes towards podcasts: What you know about podcasts? Are podcasts helpful for your listening comprehensions? Why or Why not? Is it necessary to listen to podcasts to improve your English listening skills? Why or why not? What don‟t you like about podcasts? Part 2: The reality of using podcasts: How you use podcasts? How often you listen to podcasts? What are some benefits that you gain when listening to podcasts? What are some difficulties that you face when listening to podcasts? Part 3: Some suggestions: Do you have any suggestions for those who want to use podcasts to improve their listening skills? Do you think that it is necessary for teachers and students apply podcasts to teaching and learning? Why or why not? THIS IS THE END OF THE INTERVIEW! THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION! 84
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