The effect of Podcasting on students' listening skills in Secondary Classes

النوع : Mémoire

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of podcasts, as a new educational and technological tool, on the English listening skills of students in a Lebanese official high school. In a collaborative teacher-learner environment, this four-month study was conducted with thirty-two participants, divided into two groups, control and experimental. Following the QUAN-Qual Model, known as the explanatory mixed methods design, quantitative data were collected through pre- and post-tests and end-of-experiment questionnaires. Qualitative data were collected through an open-ended portion of the student survey and recurrent interviews with the students. The treatment tools were audio podcasts, embedded in lessons covering different topics. Results indicate the impact of podcasting on the listening skills of the members of the experimental group to be highly statistically significant. By considering three categories of sub-skills: basic comprehension, pragmatic understanding and connecting and synthesizing information, students’ progress appeared to be widespread. Furthermore, students’ actual progress appeared to match their perceptions of podcasts impact on their rate of proficiency. In addition, students’ motivation appeared to impact on their rate of progress. The research further inquired into the factors affecting the students’ choice of a podcast, the learning activities which accompanied their podcasting own experiments, their perceptions of the impact of podcasting on their learning experience, the difficulties encountered during their experiment with this tool, and their future attitude regarding podcasting.