EFL learners' perceptions of educational podcasting

Abstract

This study investigated EFL learners’ perceptions of educational podcasting directed at developing listening skills, and the relationship between learners’ perceptions of podcasting and their attitudes towards learning English. Twenty-eight EFL learners studying at the School of Foreign Languages of Bülent Ecevit University participated in the study. The participants went through a six-week treatment period in which they were required to listen to the educational podcasts. At the end of the treatment, data were gathered through a perception questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The findings of this study showed that the learners generally had positive opinions about this technology. Most of them found it easy to use, effective in language learning and enjoyable at the same time. As for the preferences of the learners for listening to podcasts, the results showed that while many learners prefer to listen to the audio files on their mobile phones, they do not listen to them outside or while multitasking, thus ignoring the mobility feature of podcasting in a way. Finally, a positive moderate relationship was found between learners’ perceptions of podcasting and their attitudes towards learning English.