A case study on the website www.eslpod.com ... www.eslpod.com are an
important resource for English as a Second ...... One of them is the learning guide
.
UNIVERSIDADE DO EXTREMO SUL CATARINENSE - UNESC
CURSO DE PÓS-GRADUAÇÃO ESPECIALIZAÇÃO EM LÍNGUA INGLESA
KHALED SALAMA
THE USE OF PODCASTS IN ENGLISH LEARNING A case study on the website www.eslpod.com
CRICIÚMA, AGOSTO DE 2010
KHALED SALAMA
THE USE OF PODCASTS IN ENGLISH LEARNING A case study on the website www.eslpod.com
Monografia apresentada à Diretoria de Pósgraduação da Universidade do Extremo Sul Catarinense- UNESC, para a obtenção do título de especialista em Língua Inglesa Orientador: Prof. Drª. Rosane Silveira
CRICIÚMA, AGOSTO DE 2010
Aos meus colegas de pós-graduação, que foram maravilhosos durante a convivência. À minha namorada, que ilumina a minha vida. À minha família, que me dá forças para seguir em frente. A Deus, que me deu muito mais do que mereço.
AGRADECIMENTO
Ao setor de pós-graduação da Unesc, que mostrou que atender bem os clientes não deveria ser diferencial, mas a regra. À minha orientadora, professora Rosane Silveira, que usou seu olhar clínico para auxiliar o desenvolvimento deste projeto. À equipe da UDI SATC, em especial aos professores Ana Paula Puntel e Geovani Anacleto Amoroso, sem a qual esta monografia não teria passado de uma ideia.
“Livros não mudam o mundo, quem muda o mundo são as pessoas. Os livros só mudam as pessoas.” Mário Quintana
ABSTRACT
The Human Race is now facing a Digital Era. The technology, so, can be seen in many areas of the society. One of them is education. This study investigates if the podcasts of the website www.eslpod.com are an important resource for English as a Second Language learners. To answer this question, a case study was developed. The Internet is criticized because of what some authors, at least in Brazil, call “its poor content”. This analysis also shows that the problem is not the medium, but the way people use it. It means that, if used the right way, the Internet can be a powerful resource for learning. Keywords: podcasts, web 2.0, digital, technology, SLA, ELS, English, learning, education, Internet.
INDEX
1 INTRODUCTION………...…………………………………………………………….…08 2 EDUCATION AND TECHNOLOGY.................…………………………………….….10 2.1 Cyberculture…………………………………………………………………..…10 2.2 Education and the Internet………………………………………………..……10 2.3 Self-learning using the Internet………………………………………………...13 2.4 Distance education…………...…………………………………………………..14 2.5 Digital inclusion…………………...……………………………………………..16 3 WEB 2.0…………………………………...………………………………………………18 3.1 Podcasting…...………..………………………………………………………….18 4 LISTENING…..…………………………………………………………………………..20 4.1 Oral comprehension activities……………………...…………………………...22 5 SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION………….…….……………………………….24 6 METHODOLOGY……..……………………………….…………………………………27 6.1 Participants and procedures……………………………………………………27 6.2 The eslpod.com website……………………………..…………………………..28 7 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION.…………..………………………………………...……30 8 CONCLUSION……………………….…………………………………………...……….34 REFERENCES………………..……………………………………………………………..37 APPENDIX………………………………………………………………………………......40
1 INTRODUCTION
The “About us” section of the website www.eslpod.com says that “the fastest way to improve your English is to listen to conversations and discussions you can understand”. According to the text, many students try to improve their English by using materials that are “too difficult”. The page affirms also that learners in general can understand only between 40 and 50% of the content they are exposed to, which means they are wasting half of their time, in the author‟s opinion. The website works with podcasts, whose definition will be discussed deeper in this monograph. In general terms, however, podcasts are audio files that people can download from or even listen through the Internet. The “About us” section explains the approach: “At ESL Podcast, we provide English at a slower speed and use everyday phrases and expressions. We explain what these expressions mean and how to use them. That‟s all! It‟s simple, it‟s obvious, and it‟s very powerful”. The problem that guides this study is “How can the podcast of the website www.eslpod.com be used as a tool in English as a Second Language learning?”. So, the main objective is to verify it. However, this monograph has some specific objectives, such as contribute with the references in the area of podcasts and Web 2.0, recommend English as a Second Language learning methods, and identify if this approach is adequate to improve listening comprehension. The following subjects compose the theoretical basis of this monograph: Cyberculture, Education and technology, Self-learning using the Internet, Distance education, Digital inclusion, Web 2.0, Podcasting, Listening, and Second Language Acquisition. I make part of the audience of the website www.eslpod.com. As a user, I enjoy the content. However, it is through thorough scientific study that it would be possible to identify the real relevance of this English learning resource. It is important to make this analysis because the access to the website is free. It means that this research can motivate students all over the world to enjoy web learning resources. Matallo Jr. (2007) argues that it is common to justify values using beliefs spread in the common sense, being them true or not. “É aceitável entre a maioria dos epistemólogos que a ciência é um refinamento do senso comum, é a sua sofisticação, embora existam
afirmações e teorias que são absolutamente contra o senso comum” (p. 18, It is acceptable among epistemologists that science is a refinement of the common sense, it is its sophistication, even though there are affirmations and theories that are strongly against the common sense, my translation). In this research, I look for this “refinement” and “sophistication”. Magalhães (2005) affirms that knowledge is important for human beings only when it contributes with their capacity to turn life better and reduces human suffering. The web is always in evolution. The academic world has to have the responsibility to try to understand how all this technology can be used for the development of society. One of the keys for this growth is education. The Internet plays an important role in this case, once it has a huge amount of information, most for free. This information can be transformed into knowledge.
2 EDUCATION AND TECHNOLOGY
2.1 Cyberculture
The term cyberculture means, according to Lévy (1999, p. 17), a range of techniques, practices, attitudes, ways of thinking and values that develop at the same time, as the cyberspace grows up. The author explains also that cyberspace is the “new way” (it is not that new anymore) of communication that comes from the world interconnection of computer. I agree with the writer. I claim, however, that the cyberculture can be called the science that wants to understand what happens in the cyberspace, which is the Internet or the web. According to Lemos (2004), the cyberculture was originated in new ways of social relations. It is in the center of social and cultural impacts. He explains computers are not only machines used by companies to improve, somehow, the influx of money. “As tecnologias tornam-se onipresentes ao ponto de não podermos discernir claramente onde começam e onde terminam” (p. 256, Technologies become so ubiquitous that we can not see clearly where they start and where they end, my translation).
2.2 Education and the Internet
The Internet has a big amount of information. It can be used by teachers and students to produce knowledge. Pais (2005), however, points out that the excess of information on the web is a challenge scholars have to face. It is necessary to develop the ability to select good material for learning. There are some orientations that can be helpful when selecting content: A) notice if the website is updated, B) find out serious language mistakes, and C) make sure the content is original or, if not, has the references. In the author‟s opinion, the advice to use the Internet does not mean he is trying to reduce the importance of the traditional sources. The goal is to show that the technology enlarges the possibilities to access information sources, as well as what he calls “learning situations”.
According to Pais (2005, p. 29), “a inserção dos recursos tecnológicos da informática na educação escolar (...) minimiza restrições relacionadas ao tempo e ao espaço e permite agilizar a comunicação entre professores, alunos e instituições” (the insertion of technology in education minimizes the restrictions related to time and spaces, and it permits to speed up communication among teachers, students, and institutions, my translation). The author defends that the use of the Internet for education needs specific methodology. Alava (2002) has the same opinion. She claims that it is possible to diversify teaching methods by resorting to the Internet. Sancho (2006) says that this digital age asks for prepared teachers and schools. She explains that the computer offers many possibilities. “Esta circunstância ajuda a explicar porque praticamente todas as perspectivas sobre ensino e aprendizagem podem argumentar que encontraram no computador um aliado de valor inestimável” (p. 21, “This reality helps to explain why almost all perspectives about teaching and learning can argue that the computer is a well-valued ally”, my translation). Kenski (2008) claims that the technology brings new ways and different possibilities to deal with knowledge and learning. An example is the social networking websites, such as Twitter and Orkut. Those are pages where users can add people to their online network and share ideas with their peers. “As mudanças contemporâneas advindas do uso das redes transformam as relações com o saber” (p. 47, Contemporary changes that came with the use of the technology transform the relation with knowledge, my translation). It is clear for Kenski (2008) also that people have to be updated, in order to continue with the professional development. The technology did not decrease work, as many people can think, especially because of movies that show humans being changed by robots in the workforce. What happened, however, is that new types of work have appeared. Cruz (2001) says that the Internet brought new ways of learning. It happens, among other reasons, because it offers, at the same time, mass and custom knowledge. In the opinion of Pais (2005, p. 94), the Internet represents a growth of the conditions to access knowledge that can be compared with what Gutemberg‟s press represented in The Renaissance age. The technology has changed the idea of education, according to Kenski (2008). She argues that education is not anymore a process related only to hierarchical levels and to closed places. The Internet is a free space where there is an important flow of knowledge.
Kenski (2008) warns, nevertheless, that there are some problems in this relationship between education and technology. One of the most important is the fact that a great number of students copy material from the Internet to do assignments and papers for High School and even for college. Teachers and professors have, therefore, to deal with this situation. It is possible to search the content of the work using a search engine, such as Google, in order to figure out if the student has copied the material. However, it takes time to check out all of the activities, especially if the person teaches a big group or has too many classes to take care of. The example above emphasizes the idea presented before that the Internet is important for education, but not perfect. I argue that the technology is still growing up to an ideal level. It is not possible to say that it is not a “good thing” just because it has some problems. The commercial Internet began around the 90s, so humans are still studying and trying to improve it. In the future, because of the research and the personal experiences of the users, the global network tends to be safer and even more useful. Moran (2003) thinks it is not possible to adopt only one way to deal with information. He explains that children and teenagers deal more easily with texts that use hypertext. By hypertext, the author means texts that are not linear. The material is not linear when it uses links, which is a feature of the web. “Por isso o livro se torna uma opção inicial menos atraente; está competindo com outras mais próximas da sensibilidade deles, das suas formas mais imediatas de compreensão” (2003, p. 21, This reality shows that the book turns into a less attractive initial option. It competes with others that have to do more with their sensibility, with their immediate ways to comprehend, my translation). The latest study of the Internet use (Internet World Stats: Usage and Population Statistics, 2010) shows, however, that less than 30% of the world‟s population uses this technology. It means that it is not right, in this case, to speak about all of “children and teenagers”, although the author is right if considering people who have access to the technology. The book Education & Technology: Reflections on Computing in Classrooms was written in 1996. In this year, the world was in the beginning stages of the commercial Internet, which is the Internet used by common people, in common places, such as home or work. In the book, Reilly (1996, p. 203) says: “The Web will be a resource for schools, a resource of current information, cultural exchanges, and expert opinions. It will replace your television, telephone, post office, video rental store, and newspaper”.
This affirmation brings the opportunity to make an analysis about what really happened 14 years later. In my view, it is possible to say the Internet already is “a resource of current information, cultural exchanges, and expert opinions” for the people who have access to it. On the other hand, it did not and will not replace “television, telephone, post office, video rental store, and newspaper”. The problem here is the word “replace”. It is a feature of the Internet to aggregate other types of medium. In a world with smartphones, laptops, and iPads, it will be more and more difficult to say what is Internet or not, because almost everything will be connected in a certain way. Ahead, the author makes a forecast about 2005: “In an ideal world […]. Teachers will be supported by an administration committed to helping students learn in ways that meet their needs, using technology that helps them do so” (Reilly, 1996, p. 217). Brazil is not in this “ideal world”. Not because the administration is not committed, but because it is possible to affirm that some teachers are not even prepared to face the Digital Era. The technology, however, is not important only to help young people to learn. Neves (2007) makes a relevant discussion about this situation. He explains that it is necessary to study all life long and the technology can help people in this challenge. The author says it is not interesting to keep waiting for the government to apply this notion of “continuing education”. There are already resources to use. He believes that, in the future, part of people‟s free time, which nowadays is most used for entertainment and leisure, will be related to activities that will help human beings to improve their knowledge, which is important for careers and lives in general. “Essa é uma das razões pelas quais alguns chamam a sociedade para a qual nos encaminhamos de Sociedade do Conhecimento” (NEVES, 2007, p. 98, That is one of the reasons why some people call the next society the Knowledge Society, my translation).
2.3 Self-learning using the Internet
Sancho (2006) believes that technological resources will be used to help the students to develop the ability to acquire their own education. Alava (2002) affirms that the use of those resources, by teachers and students, can empower learning and teaching activities. I agree with the authors and also emphasize those situations are already happening.
In Loiselle‟s (2002) view, however, the access to information does not create automatically better learners. He cites Lévy (1997) to say that it is necessary to establish a new pedagogy style, a model that allows self-learning and the collaborative construction of knowledge. About this second concept, I add it is a feature of the Internet, especially after the advent of an idea called Web 2.0, which is a term that will be discussed in this paper. Pais (2005) claims that technology provides the ideal environment for the development of autonomy. This is because the individual has the responsibility to search and to find “good information”. It is possible here to make a parallel with the study of Second Language Acquisition (SLA). Teachers in general advise students to study at home too, as much as they can. It happens because it would take a long time to acquire a language studying only at school, a private course or university. Students who follow this advice have the Internet as an ally to make a research, as well as being in contact with the target language. In the case of the oral component of second language learning, which is the main focus of this research, Morchio (2009) found out that English teachers, in general, have implicit theories for language teaching that may produce negative consequences. I agree with this perception and also claim it makes self-learning even more important. The author explains that the knowledge of teachers from San Juan, Argentina, where the research was conducted, was based on outdated theories. In her opinion, it is clear that there is a need to improve what she calls “language learning – language teaching situation” (MORCHIO, 2009).
2.4 Distance education
When speaking about distance education, it is common to think of the Internet. However, the expression is related to other ways of communication too, such as mail and TV. Some years before the beginning of the commercial Internet, this modality was already used. Kenski (2008) explains that, at least in Brazil, the government used distance education to help illiterate students, for instance. The author has some doubt if the material had quality or if it was just a way to spread “knowledge” in a cheaper approach. Nowadays, nevertheless, technology has changed the notion of distance education. Among these changes, there is the fact that the student can access content anytime, from anyplace. Besides, technologies permit
real-time interactions. This interaction can be among students or with the conduction of a teacher or a professor. Corrêa (2007) says, however, that in Brazil the majority of distance education programs only transfer traditional course plans to the virtual environment. She agrees with Lévy (1997), whose opinion was cited earlier in this monograph. In her view, it is necessary to think about an online pedagogy. What happens in Brazil, in terms of government, is that the distance education is used to solve current problems, as quickly as possible. It means that there is no thinking in the future. The author suggests a “contextualized approach” (p. 09), an approach that worries about the individual not only about statistics. Palloff and Pratt (2002) cite a study made by the California Distance Learning Project in 1997. The study tries to identify features of students that have success in distance education programs. They highlight four characteristics: They look, voluntarily, for new ways to learn; They are motivated, have more expectations, and are disciplined; They tend to be older than the average student; They tend to have a more serious attitude with the course. In Palloff and Pratt‟s opinion, it is not a failure when a student does not have a good performance online. They think it could be only a bad adaptation, so it is important to give the learner the opportunity to come back to the traditional class. There is a principle called by Russell (1999) "The No Significant Difference Phenomenon". Huerta-Wong and Schoech (2010) explain the concept defends that the teaching techniques behind the technology are what produces different learning outcomes. "This important distinction has often been overlooked in the social work literature that explores equivalent learning outcomes between virtual and F2F (face-to-face) learning environments". In my view, this issue helps us to understand why people who criticize the Internet are, in general, wrong. The problem is not the technology, it is the way we use it. If the content of a website can be considered “garbage”, we should put the blame on the author, not on the Internet. The technology, itself, is essential nowadays.
2.5 Digital inclusion
Scholars used as reference in this research think, therefore, that the Internet is important for learning. This fact brings another topic for this discussion: digital inclusion. If technology is so good for education, people who care about education also care about how to enhance the number of Internet users and, after that, how to motivate them to access sources related to knowledge. Pais (2005), however, explains that the responsibility for the exclusion cannot be attributed to the Internet itself. It depends on social issues. According to him (2005, p. 98), “a tecnologia não existe como entidade autônoma e desvinculada de vontades políticas, humanas e sociais” (the technology does not exist as an autonomous entity and untied from political, human, and social wills, my translation). Kenski (2008) claims that the world is now facing an Information Society. Therefore, digital inclusion is a way in which the government and other organizations help people to be free. By “free” I mean having the power to study and to work using or even through technology. People without this knowledge may face problems when trying to develop career and social relations. It is a new type of illiteracy. That is why, according to Michelazzo (2003), it is not right to give only access to the computer and to the Internet. It is necessary to prepare the population to use the technology. There is, here, another example of the relation between digital inclusion and education. It is important to add that third world countries face problems even in the basic education. This situation shows that the government has, in this case, at least two challenges. The first one is to give the opportunity and to teach people how to use the technology. The other is to solve basic education problems, because people need that to succeed in the job market nowadays. What I want to argue here is that people cannot improve their skills to join new types of jobs, in terms of technology, without the basic education. Silveira (2001, p. 18) points out that “a exclusão digital impede que se reduza a exclusão social, uma vez que as principais atividades econômicas, governamentais e boa parte da produção cultural da sociedade vão migrando para a rede” (digital exclusion prevents the reduction of social exclusion, once the main economic and government activities, as well as a big part of cultural production, are going online, my translation). The author also emphasizes
that the Earth is so unequal that the rich island of Manhattan, in New York (USA), has more phone lines than almost all the African continent.
3 WEB 2.0
The term “Web 2.0” was created in 2004, by a group of Americans, and can be defined as the second generation of the Internet. In this “new generation”, it is possible to identify that the user can interact with the content published in the Web. In addition, users are able to produce and divulge content, which means that access to information became more democratic. It happens through the use of a range of services, such as blogs, social networks, podcasts, and video websites, among others. According to Shuen (2008), “technical folks” explain that there was a transition phase “from a Web 1.0 collection of static web sites to a Web 2.0 platform for a new generation of dynamic social web applications and services”. Lévy (1999) explains that the development of technology brought a new relation with knowledge. In my view, this “new relation” is stronger when connected with the idea of Web 2.0. It brings the notion of the collaborative construction of knowledge. If the user can create and interact with content, so there is a healthy debate.
3.1 Podcasting
Ducate and Lomicka (2009, p. 67) say that “podcasts are easy-to-create audio files that can be uploaded to the Internet and to which students can subscribe”. It is possible to make a discussion over this definition. I argue podcasts are not, necessarily, easy to create. It depends on the goal of the user. It is possible, for instance, to record an audio file in a studio, to make it more professional. The authors, however, are not totally wrong, once users have the freedom to upload audio files recorded in simpler ways, as with the use of cell phone resources. Podcast services, in general, are free, just as the majority of Web 2.0 services. Users have created podcasts related to several subjects. One of the themes that can be explored is education. In terms of Second Language Acquisition, Ducate and Lomicka (2009, p. 68) point out that “technology, specifically the use of podcasts, could offer opportunities for contextualizing tasks, while at the same time honing pronunciation”.
Fox (2008) shows another important feature of a podcast: “[It] is the possibility of subscription, so that the listener is alerted when a new episode is available”. She adds that the tool can include video or pictures. Lymn and Dianne (2010, p. 61) say “listening and watching have been used in teaching and learning for many years, mainly by distance learning providers and in language teaching”. The authors think that the wide availability of portable players and recorders could have profound effects on education. They explain that this situation allows “students to access lecture and other learning materials almost anywhere”. In their opinion, “podcasts may prove to be a valuable supplementary learning tool”. This affirmation is based on successful use of podcasts in nursing teaching by The University of Nottingham.
4 LISTENING
There are four macro-skills of language development: listening, reading, speaking, and writing. This monograph focuses on listening. According to Rost (1990, p. 154): To some extent, (…) the development of listening ability will be quantitative, involving increasing knowledge, and to some extent qualitative, involving the appropriate selection of responses. Specifically, as the learner gains knowledge of phonotactic rules, grammatical sequences, and cultural scripts, his/her capacity for understanding increases. At the same time, as the learner develops a repertoire of responses and pragmatic rules for selecting appropriate responses, performance improves.
The author points out that an acceptable listening performance occurs when the student is able to make sense of the language in “real time” situations. It happens when the learner can make relevant interpretations in social contexts. It is necessary, so, to develop some strategies, in order to get successful in this task. He explains the difference between performance and knowledge. For him, performance is the ability to use certain knowledge. It is important to have this difference in mind to study listening. Rost (1990, p. 155) defends that it is essential to make an “authentic use” of the target language, by interacting with other speakers. The writer also says that “learning to listen is a continuous process of the listeners‟ attempting to increase their capacity to interpret and respond to language events”. In Rost‟s opinion, the difficulty that a learner will experience depends on his/her interest and motivation, and tasks on listening do not take it into account. Nevertheless, he explains that “texts which are vivid or interesting may be easy to understand even though they contain unfamiliar content or difficult text features” (p. 159). So, Rost presents two interesting aspects of listening learning. When the writer cites “interest and motivation”, for instance, he says that the student has a crucial role in the success of the teaching/learning process. The teacher does not open the learner‟s head and puts knowledge inside it. I also claim that this reality is true not only in this discussion, but in education in general. The second important aspect is when the author writes about “vivid or interesting” texts. It means that, on the other hand, the quality of the material is essential. Goh (2003) agrees with Rost when he cites the importance of “motivation” in this process. However, she goes even beyond. In her opinion, the success, in this case, depends
also on the person‟s goal, on how tired the person is, how hungry, prejudice, on what she calls “self-concept”, slangs, emotional reaction, lack of attention, lack of interest, and distractions. Anderson and Lynch (1988, pp. 5-6) cite some cases that can serve as a basis for evaluating the degree of success in listening: The listener may not hear adequately what has been said because of background noise or unfamiliarity with the speaker‟s accent. Speech may contain words or phrases that the listener can hear adequately but is unable to understand. The listener is perfectly able to hear and understand the speaker, but something deviates his/her attention while listening. The listener attends to the speech fully and from which he/she tries to construct a coherent interpretation. It is important to notice that Anderson and Lynch, as well as Rost, also speak about listening to “unfamiliar things”. The difference between the ideas is that Rost wrote of “unfamiliar content”, while Anderson and Lynch gave as an example “unfamiliar accent”. For Anderson and Lynch, effective learners “apply the relevant internal information available to them in order to construct their own interpretation of what has been said. They do not passively receive and record” (1988, p. 6). According to the writers, teachers and/or researchers who want to study the listening process have to make, in a task, a parallel between “ideal listening environment” and “realistic context” (p. 7). They defend this idea because they believe that it is not possible to be certain that a student heard the input adequately only by “trying to ensure that the listening environment is reasonably free from extraneous noise and that the sound level of the input seems satisfactory” (p. 7). Although Anderson and Lynch believe that the real time conversation is important for listening learning, they also say that it is important to pay attention to see if there is exchange of information. About conversations among native speakers, for instance, the authors cite Brown and Yule (1983a) to say that “the interlocutors often produce short stock replies which keep the interaction going and add to the general feeling of friendliness, but relatively informationless” (1988, p. 7). When there is important exchange of information, it
would be easier for the second language learner to understand it if he/she knows about the target language culture, as Anderson and Lynch (1988, p. 35) explain: When we learn a foreign language, we do more than learn a linguistic system, we acquire some degree of familiarity with the foreign cultural system. Language is the means used by a community to express facts, ideas, beliefs, rules, and so on-in short, to express its culture. So gaps in our knowledge of the L2 culture, of the associations and references available to native users, can present obstacles to comprehension.
4.1 Oral comprehension activities
Goh (2003) explains that pre and post oral comprehension activities contribute a lot with the development of a significant oral comprehension. Pre-listening activities can be divided, in her view, in two categories: language-oriented and knowledge-oriented. The first one has the focus on vocabulary development or consolidation. The second one prepares the student to acquire relevant knowledge about the world in general. “Isso facilitará o processo de cima para baixo” (This will facilitate the process from the top to down, my translation, GOH, 2003, p. 49). By “this” she means the pre-listening activity that is knowledge-oriented. It means, and I agree, that the learning process occurs in a better way through activities with a strong context, that is, when the focus is not specifically on the language. In this case, successful learning is a consequence. On the other hand, Goh (2003, p. 50) shows some goals of post-listening activities: Practicing other linguistic abilities (speaking, reading, writing) using the same theme/topic;
Examining and strengthening linguistic points (for example, grammar, vocabulary, useful expressions); Personalizing content and the material for oral comprehension (for example, literary texts); Acquiring a deeper knowledge related to the theme/topic of the oral comprehension material.
5 SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
Listening has to do with the notion of input. VanPatten and Williams (2007, p. 9 10) say that the exposure to it is necessary for Second Language Acquisition (SLA): This observation means that acquisition will not happen for learners of a second language unless they are exposed to input. Input is defined as language the learner hears (or reads) and attends to for its meaning. For example, a learner hears “open your books on page 24” on second language. The learner is expected to comprehend the message and open his or her book to page 24. Language the learner does not respond for its meaning (such as language used in mechanical drill) is not input. Although everyone agrees that input is necessary for SLA, not everyone agrees it is sufficient.
There are various theories around SLA. In my view, one of them is important to discuss in this research: the Monitor Theory, developed by Stephen Krashen. The author presents the Input Hypothesis. “Comprehensible input contains language slightly beyond the current level of the learner‟s internalized language” (VANPATTEN and WILLIAMS, 2007). VanPatten and Williams show that Krashen does not agree with them, when they define input as “the language the learner hears (or reads) and attends to for its meaning”. Otherwise, Krashen would not speak about “comprehensible input”. Krashen, according to VanPatten and Williams (2007), defend the existence of the “i + 1” idea. “i” would be a learner‟s current level of proficiency. The “+ 1” represents a level beyond that. The authors say Krashen considers this notion “the most valuable data for SLA” (2007, p. 27). “As long as a teacher or native speaker does not speak extremely quickly, using very complex language to a low-level learner, the presence of comprehensible input is probably assured” (2007, p. 28). VanPatten and Williams explain, however, that Krashen thinks the exposure to what he calls “comprehensible input” is sufficient for SLA. They do not agree. Neither do I. Although it is not sufficient for SLA, “comprehensible input” plays, in my view, an essential role in the process. In addition, it is possible to say that Krashen is right on his “i + 1” idea because if the learner knows, for instance, 95% of words and expressions of some dialogue, probably he/she could learn something else from the context. I present, as an example, the following sentence: “I love her. On the other hand, I hate her parents”. If the learner does not know the expression “on the other hand”, he/she would probably understand the sentence because of the words “love” and “hate”. Gass and Mackey (2007, p. 176) agree
with Krashen: “If learners cannot understand the language that is being addressed to them, then that language is not useful to them as they construct their second language grammars”. Swain (1985, p. 236) argues that while comprehensible input and the emphasis on interaction in which meaning is negotiated is essential, “its impact on grammatical development has been overstated”. The author thinks that the role of these interactional exchanges “may have as much to do with „comprehensible output‟ as it has to do with comprehensible input”. In the scholar‟s opinion, so, negotiating meaning is a necessary first step to grammatical acquisition. “By being understood it permits the learner to focus on form” (p. 248). Swain explains that “one function of output is that it provides the opportunity for meaningful use of one‟s linguistic resources” (p. 248). The author also affirms that the claim, then, “is that producing the target language may be the trigger that forces the learner to pay attention to the means of expression needed in order to successfully convey his or her own intended meaning” (1985, p. 249). My experience as an English learner shows that the production of output is essential, as Swain has pointed out. However, the necessary input to learn English, in my view, does not have to occur always through interaction. The learner can use resources to be exposed to input while studying the language, such as TV shows, songs, audio files, videos, and so on. I am not saying interaction is not needed. I just claim that the learner does not have to wait for the opportunity to interact with peers or native speakers. I argue this action helps learners to acquire the language faster. It has to do with Noam Chomsky‟s Universal Grammar (UG). This model is for first language acquisition. However, some SLA researchers believe it could help to account for L2 acquisition. The UG is “the system of principles, conditions, and rules that are elements of properties of all human languages… the essence of human language” (CHOMSKY, 1976, p. 29, In COOK, 2001). Cook (2001, p. 182) explains the model and how this system is built into the human mind. “It is the parameter settings that have to be learnt – to have a subject or not to have a subject. All the learner needs in order to set the values for parameters are a few samples of the language”. Language acquisition theories complete each other. It is difficult to say that one is wrong and the other is right. In my view, Krashen‟s i + 1 idea and Chomsky‟s Universal Grammar are both relevant. From my experience, the first one is acceptable because I could already understand sentences in English because of the context. In addition, the second is
acceptable because I could already produce sentences (structures, etc) that I even do not remember learning in English classes or by self-study.
6 METHODOLOGY 6.1 Participants and procedures The main objective of this study is to verify how the podcast of the website www.eslpod.com can be used as a tool in English as a Second Language learning. The case study was written in three basic steps. The first one is a presentation of the website www.eslpod.com, which is the object of analysis. The second one is a presentation of the data collected through a questionnaire (see Appendix). The last part is the analysis of the data. The questionnaire was administered to three pre-intermediate English students of SATC, an educational institution located in Criciúma, state of Santa Catarina, Brazil: Maria – 15 year-old girl. Rodrigo – 16 year-old boy. Ricardo – 17 year-old boy. Observation: I did not use their real names to preserve anonymity. The questionnaire had eight questions. The first one inquired if the students already knew about www.eslpod.com. The second asked if the learners already knew about podcasts in general. The ones who already knew the tool should also have answered how often they used to access it. The next question had the objective of identifying if they considered the www.eslpod.com website a good source to English learning. The fourth item asked if they were used to studying English at home. This item has two specific questions: how do the students practice oral comprehension at home, and how do the students practice other English skills at home. The last one asked the students to cite advantages and disadvantages of the www.eslpod.com website. The research was conducted by a teacher working at the institution, oriented by me. He took the students to a computer laboratory at SATC. The teacher used a Power Point presentation to show the website to the students, and to explain the research. After that, the learners were oriented to use the website, each one in a different computer. They had around 30 minutes for this activity, in which they could use it the way they wanted. No particular feature or podcast were selected. The objective was to avoid interfering, that is, letting the
students perceive if the website was or was not a good source to English as a Second Language learning. Pádua (2007, p. 157) defines case study as a way to collect data preserving the unitary character of the object. “[…] é uma tentativa de abranger as características mais importantes do tema que se está pesquisando” (It is an attempt to include the most important features of the topic that is being researched, my translation).
6.2 The elspod.com website
The website eslpod.com offers two types of podcasts: the English Café and the ESL Podcast. In the first one, the host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, speaks about subjects related to the American culture. He presents vocabulary that has to do with those issues. In the end of each English Café, the scholar answers questions from the audience. The ESL Podcast, however, has a different approach. In this case, there is a dialog in a slow rate of speech. After this, Dr. McQuillan explains the conversation and speaks about the vocabulary. In the end of the second type, the dialog is played again, but in a native rate of speech. The section “About us” of the website explains why this methodology was adopted: “We believe the fastest way to improve your English is to listen to conversations and discussions you can understand”. According to the text, the average ESL student understands only 40% to 50% of a normal conversation in English. The eslpod.com believes that it represents a waste of time. “It‟s simple, it‟s obvious, and it‟s very powerful”. Dr. Lucy Tse works with Dr. Jeff McQuillan in the Center for Educational Development, located in Los Angeles, California (US). The center is the sponsor of the eslpod.com. Dr. Tse writes scripts and story ideas for the podcasts. It is possible to download or to listen to the podcasts for free. However, there are some extra features that require subscription. One of them is the learning guide. It is usually an 8-to-10-page guide. The document brings additional explanations and cultural notes. Users pay in a monthly basis for that. In the theoretical part of this monograph, Anderson and Lynch (1998, p.7) affirm that teachers and researchers have to create a good listening environment. I argue that they are
right because it is necessary to improve the listening ability step by step. The podcasts of the website www.eslpod.com have a good original sound, which means that their quality depends on the quality of the computer or other electronic resources used to listen to them.
7. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION To verify how the podcasts of the website www.eslpod.com can be used as a tool in English as a Second Language learning, a questionnaire was administered. Three preintermediate students participated. The collected data will guide the discussion through a connection between the findings and the theoretical part of this research. Question 1 – Did you already know www.eslpod.com? Name
Yes
No
Maria
X
Rodrigo
X
Ricardo
X
Question 2 – Did you already know podcasts? Name
Yes
Maria Rodrigo
No X
x
Ricardo
X
Observation: Although he was asked, Rodrigo
did not answer how often he accesses
podcasts. Question 3 – Do you think podcasts of the website www.eslpod.com are a good source to learn English? Name
Yes
Maria
x
Rodrigo
x
No
Ricardo
x
Question 4 – Are you used to studying English at home? Name
Yes
Maria
X
Rodrigo
X
Ricardo
X
No
Question 4.1 – If yes, how do you practice the oral comprehension skill? Maria: I sing songs with the lyrics by my side. Rodrigo: Watching movies in English. Ricardo: Listening to music. Question 4.2 – How do you practice other skills? Maria: I watch movies in English and I read some articles. Rodrigo: I try to use English in daily situations. Ricardo: I speak to my brother, write, and play games (PC, videogames), by which I can practice listening. Question 5 – Can you cite advantages and disadvantages of the use of the podcast, in comparison with other tools? If you can, which ones? Maria: I can listen to it wherever I go, how many times I want, until I grasp the pronunciation. Rodrigo: It teaches English in English. Clear and direct language. Ricardo: Everything well-explained, each sentence, each letter. Even the culture of the United States.
After presenting the collected data, the objective is to make an analysis about it, with the focus on the theoretical part of this monograph. The intention is to contribute with the debate in the area, not finishing the discussion. As the answers to the questionnaire show, the students did not know about www.eslpod.com. On one hand, it shows that they could perform an unbiased analysis of the website. On the other hand, it reveals that they did not look for it. It is easy to find www.eslpod.com on the web. After typing the terms “english podcast” on Google (www.google.com.br), the most famous digital search engine of the world, it is the first result listed (search: May 15th , 2010). However, only Rodrigo knew about the existence of podcasts. In my view, podcasts are important not only for English learning, but to learn a lot of different subjects. So, there is a huge potential of growth that is not being explored yet, at least as it could be. As Loiselle (2002) says, the access to information does not create automatically better learners. They have to look for and use it. All of the learners, after knowing about and using www.eslpod.com, answered it is a good source to learn English. The research made with them, so, was important to show they have even more opportunities to learn outside of the traditional class, once all of them said they are used to studying English at home. I suggest that educational institutions should develop actions to encourage students to use different tools to improve their knowledge. Maria sings songs, watches movies, and reads articles. Rodrigo watches movies and tries to use English in daily situations. Ricardo listens to music, speaks with his brother, and plays games in English. It seems they simply do not use the web to learn. In my view, the age issue plays an important role in the fact that they do not use the web to learn. Teenagers, in general, are not as mature as they could be concerning selflearning strategies, especially in Brazil. The country does not have what I am used to call “a culture of study and work”. Besides, the use of the Internet in learning requires autonomy and motivation, which is basic for the idea of self-learning. When analyzing what Maria, Rodrigo, and Ricardo say about how they study English at home, there is no activity related directly to English learning. In their case, learning is only a consequence. As presented in the theoretical part of this research, teachers have the responsibility to show how the Internet can be used in learning situations. Before motivating, however, they have to use it too. The students did not cite disadvantages of the use of podcasts in English learning. It is essential to call the attention to some advantages cited by the students: “I can listen to it
wherever I go, how many times I want. It teaches English in English”. The first advantage has to do with the own definition of podcast. The second has to do with Pais‟ “learning situation” (2005). The fact that the students did not cite any disadvantage shows that the www.eslpod.com is an important resource to help English as a Second Language learners. However, the fact that they do not use the Internet to study at home causes worry and shows that there is a huge gap when trying to understand the potential of the technology. It was necessary the development of a research like this monograph to open those students‟ minds about how the technology can help them to learn English faster. So, it is possible to say that showing the tools is not the only role of educational venues in this process. Those organizations have to launch actions to show the students that technology is not only a source of fun. Educational institutions do not use the Internet as they could because there are still misunderstandings related to technology. The common sense, for instance, tends to present the idea that the Internet content is not relevant, while, in fact, the problem is not the web, but the way people use it. There are poor and good contents, so people should develop the ability to select important information for each objective.
8 CONCLUSION
The issue of motivation was cited by authors in this research as essential for successful listening learning. Of course, the website www.eslpod.com can be used by English teachers to help students to improve their oral comprehension skills. However, speaking specifically about self-learning, if the student looks for the website to improve his/her English, it is possible to conclude that there is motivation enough and that is an important beginning for the success of the process. It is not true, for instance, that if the student is at a language school then he/she is motivated. They could be there because of other factors, such as the influence of parents. In addition, Goh (2003) presents the importance of pre and post oral comprehension activities. The podcasts of the website www.eslpod.com have both, and both using the listening itself. So, it is a powerful resource to improve listening. The podcasts also work in the same direction of what is defended by authors related to language acquisition. The dialogues are presented in a way learners can understand. So, it has to do with “comprehensible input” and with the “i + 1” idea (VANPATTEN and WILLIAMS, 2007). The podcasts bring subjects related to the American culture. The more the student knows about the culture of the target language, more successful he or she will be in the learning process. Knowing aspects of the culture helps them to interact with native speakers. “Teachers can prepare themselves to help students in cultural aspects. In addition, ESL (English as a Second Language) learners are able to focus on self-learning, by reading, watching or listening to the media” (SALAMA, 2010).
This research does not intend to finish the discussion about the power of the website www.eslpod.com. There are other aspects of the theme that can be analyzed deeper in the future, such as the use of jokes during the podcast. Could it cause misunderstandings? As an example, I cite jokes present in the episode “ESL Podcast 591 – Handling a Traffic Stop”. The first one is the following: “A siren would typically go in the US something like uouououououou. That’s terrible, I know. I’ll give you a better siren (enters the sound of a real siren). Uf! I thought they were gonna stop me. Back to our story”. In the following part, the host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, uses a joke to promote the Learning Guide, which is the PDF file that brings the compete transcript of the episode, additional explanations, and cultural notes. “Flash has many meanings, however, in English. And those can be found in that good old learning guide”. Here, McQuillan makes a joke when speaking about the origin of the name “glove compartment”: “I don’t think anyone uses them for gloves anymore, unless you live in a very cold part of the country, which happily I don’t”. The following joke is about a feature of Los Angeles, city where the Center For Education Development is located: “The Police can not give you a ticket. I’ve never heard it happening, but it’s possible. At least it never happens here in Los Angeles”.
This joke is about the decision of the police officer about giving or not a ticket to someone that does something wrong in the traffic: “Unless the woman is very attractive, right? And the police officer is typically a man. I’m not saying that happens frequently”. In the last joke I could identify in the episode, the target is Dr. Lucy Tse, which is the writer and the producer of the podcast: “The script-writer for this episode would never run a stop sign. That’s because it’s Dr. Lucy Tse”. I explain my worry: jokes could cause misunderstandings because it is hard for a beginner, for example, to follow what is being said. So, he or she could stop paying attention to ask themselves: “Why did the host call the learning guide „good‟ and „old‟?”. On the other hand, jokes could make the foreign language more familiar, which is an important issue in English learning. This discussion shows that this monograph has limitations that can be explored in other pieces of research.
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APPENDIX
Questionário Dados pessoais Nome: Idade: Local em que nasceu: Perguntas 1. Você já conhecia o site www.eslpod.com? ( ) Sim / ( ) Não 2. Você já conhecia a ferramenta podcast? ( ) Sim / ( )Não 2.1. Se conhece, com que frequência acessa? _________________________________ 3. Você acha que o podcast do site www.eslpod.com é uma boa fonte para aprender Inglês? ( ) Sim / ( ) Não 4. Você costuma estudar Inglês fora da escola de idiomas? ( ) Sim / ( ) Não 4.1. Se estuda, de que forma costuma praticar a compreensão oral? ___________________________________________________ 4.2. Se houver, cite formas que você usa para praticar outras habilidades relacionadas à Língua Inglesa, como a escrita, a fala e a leitura:
5. Você pode citar vantagens e desvantagens do uso do podcast em comparação com outras ferramentas? Se puder, quais? ______________________________________________________________
