Abstract
Digital technologies for use in education are eco ing ore sophisticated and easier to use in the 21st century. t the sa e ti e students spend uch of their ti e interacting ith the orld through digital edia suggesting that digital technologies ould e elco ed y students. One technology that of podcasting audio or video appears to have great potential in the foreign language learning environ ent particularly in an E L environ ent li e Japan. o ever podcasts are relatively un no n in Japan. This paper e plores the potential for podcasts in a university setting and discusses the initial results and reactions of university students to a pro ect investigating the possi le value of podcasts as a eans of pro oting English language learning.
Introduction
The Internet and all that co es ith it has eco e a co onplace in odern society. or etter or orse using social edia applications such as Line ace oo Instagra etc. see s to e u i uitous a ong young people. One result of this is that students are no spending ore of their ti e online hether interacting ith friends accessing infor ation and entertain ent or engaging in study activities than has een the case in past years. This is a ne paradig hich has led any to reconsider hat pedagogical approaches are ost appropriate in the 21st century e.g. eetha
harpe 201 oogt 201 .
oncurrently recent years have seen an e traordinary increase in the availa ility of technology for use in education. It is rare no adays to nd a university classroo in Japan that is not e uipped ith co puters pro ectors or audio e uip ent for use y instructors. Many institutions no use online learning anage ent syste s and other electronic applications to interact ith and trac students. There are also no any institutionally independent education oriented applications for educators to use such as ocratic or Ed odo or applications speci cally ai ed at language learning such as ui let or Me rise and any ore. The challenge efore us no is to nd ays to use the technology availa le to a e i prove ents in the ay education is done.
One of the greatest pro le s facing learners of English in an environ ent such as Japan is the lac of opportunities to use English in daily life i uchi a ai 2009 . lthough not uni ue it is a
Martin Parsons
On the Potential for Increasing the Use of Digital Technology
via Podcasts in English Language Learning in Japan
fact that in Japan ost learners ill need of their o n volition to create situations or reasons to use English outside of structured acade ic conte ts. In an E L environ ent such as this it is i portant for educators to provide learners ith ays to ta e English eyond the classroo door. e technologies ay provide one possi le solution.
In recognition the Ministry of Education ulture port cience and Technology ME T has for any years een loo ing to develop ore technologically capa le internationally inded students speci cally calling for educational approaches hich pro ote I T infor ation and co unications technology approaches such as lended learning ipped classes and approaches hich ill develop a no ledge ased society and glo al hu an resources ME T 200 200 2010 and speci cally calling for i proved English language education in response to glo alisation ME T 201 . The Ministry reco ends that for undergraduate education e should pro ote activities to change the uality of education such as active learning learning in hich students proactively nd issues and solutions interactive lectures practice and e peri ents ME T 201 .
Podcasting a relatively ne technology is gro ing in i portance in education around the orld and ay o er a uni ue and e i le approach to engaging ith students to deliver acade ic content in the digital age. This paper descri es a preli inary atte pt in a speci c conte t to use podcasting technology in English language education ith Japanese university students.
OnPodcasts
The ter podcast is a port anteau of the ords an p player produced y the pple co pany and . podcast itself is an audio or video le hich is availa le to e do nloaded fro the Internet and consu ed on devices such as s art telephones co puters ta lets p players or other suita le devices. Podcasts are si ilar in any respects to traditional radio or television roadcasts though ore e i le for the consu er. enerally spea ing radio and television progra es can only e consu ed at the ti e of roadcast although there are ne er technologies providing ore options in this area hile podcasts can e do nloaded fro the Internet at any ti e there is a connection and su se uently consu ed at a later date hether the user has an Internet connection or not. There are no uite literally thousands of podcasts availa le the a ority produced in the English language. Edison esearch esti ates that appro i ately 12 illion people in the U alone so e of the population have listened to a podcast at least once and that
illion listen to a podcast ee ly Edison esearch 201 .
potentially i portant aspect of podcasting technology is the opportunity it provides to students to have control of hat hen and ho they listen to English and to e a le to listen to language learning aterials in a non threatening at osphere. The nature of podcasts eans that a listener can start stop pause re ind or replay podcasts in full or part at ill giving students control over so ething that ould typically e controlled y their teacher. Managing their o n listening environ ent ay alleviate the stress or sense of inti idation students often feel hen e pected to
produce ans ers to listening activities on the spot in a classroo avaliaus iene nusiene 2009
The sheer nu er of podcasts availa le also creates any possi ilities for English language educators to use authentic aterials in their sylla i. o ever in ost cases podcasts have een created for native spea ers interested in a particular topic and as such ay prove difficult linguistically or le ically to e used as educational tools for E L learners of English such as is the case in Japan. There are also various legal issues surrounding copyright restrictions hich can co plicate the use of podcasts created y third parties for use in education a e 2010 . urther even if a podcast of an appropriate level of di culty ithout legal constraints could e found the topic ay not necessarily e of interest to learners. Podcasts hich are ai ed at language learners do e ist ho ever these ay su er fro a si ilar pro le as ass produced te t oo s one si e ts all. Every institution depart ent or faculty has di erent needs and goals that are not necessarily addressed y such resources. On the other hand the technology for creating podcasts is no reasona ly ature and as audio and video editing soft are and applications are no accessi le to ost people producing podcasts for use in speci c environ ents is a relatively si ple process hich eans that selecting and using digital aterials si ply ecause they are the only aterials availa le no longer needs to e the sole option for educators.
Though podcasting is a relatively recent technological develop ent research into their use in education has een underta en for several years ith the overall vie of the literature appearing to re ect positively on podcasts. T o recent general revie s of the literature ay 2012 in a revie of the use of video podcasts in education and asan and oon 201 on podcasts in language learning found that ost studies reported favoura le results.
ith regard to video podcasts the a ority of studies sa positive results regarding student affective and cognitive attitudes and so e of the studies revie ed also noted i prove ents in study ehaviours ay 2012 . reene respi 2012 reported that students found creating video podcasts in usiness classes to e oth educationally valua le and en oya le. opley 200 found that the a ority of university students reported very positive e periences and considered podcasts as very useful in preparing for assess ents for note ta ing and for revie ing classes and lectures they had issed.
In language learning asan and oon found several studies hich clai that the integration of podcasts in learning can i prove acade ic perfor ance enhance otivation and pro ote learning asan oon 201 1 2 . In one e a ple of student satisfaction avaliaus iene nusiene 2009 found that students reported that it as prefera le to listen to podcasts outside of class rather than listening to authentic aterials in class ti e. l asi l adda 201 clai ed podcast use resulted in i proved listening s ills and otivation a ong university students and a anger lhassan 201 found students highly otivated y podcasts hich led to i proved riting perfor ance.
TheStudy
efore e ar ing on this study a survey of Japanese 1st and 2nd year university students including the students involved in the study reported on here sho ed that n 1 0 had never heard the ter podcast and of those that had fe ere a le to de ne it accurately. In the sa e survey after students ere provided ith an e planation of hat a podcast is they ere as ed if they ould e interested in using the in English language learning. 2 of students n 1 responded that they ere. This suggested that the use of podcasts in an E L environ ent such as Japan ay ell e a resource ith the potential to aid learners of English.
ccordingly a pro ect as conceived to investigate hether or not podcasts ight e useful for university level Japanese learners of English. everal original audio podcasts ere created on various topics to e used in English classes ith rst year students at a li eral arts university in Japan. one of the students involved in this study as an English a or and all can e descri ed as eing at the 1 or 2 level of the E 1 eaning they ere English learners at a relatively introductory level of pro ciency a situation hich is uite co on in Japan egishi Tono 201 .
The ai s of this initial pro ect ere to gather general infor ation a out students attitudes to and perceptions of audio podcasts oth in ter s of English language learning and in their general en oy ent of the podcasts and also to understand ho students accessed the podcasts i.e. hen here and ith hat ind of device they listened to the podcasts etc. e site as created . uepod.li syn.co to host podcasts and students ere given instruction on ho to access the either directly via the e site page or via syndication2 .
The the es or topics used in the podcasts ere inance usiness English occer and the e s.
Each podcast as ritten recorded and produced y teachers at the university all of ho ere native spea ers of English e cept in the case of the inance podcast hich as recorded y a native spea er together ith a non native spea ing e pert in the eld and the occer podcast hich as recorded y a native spea er and a non native spea er ith a deep interest in the topic. hile 2 of students in the initial study had heard of podcasts and ust 1 said they ere not interested in using podcasts the respective gures for the cohort in this study n ere t o students neither of ho could descri e hat a podcast is and 1 1 students fe of ho gave a reason hy although three students said it as ecause they did not no hat a podcast as and one student said that it as ecause it see ed di cult . iven that close to a third of students had e pressed a lac of interest in using podcasts they ere deli erately created to e short no ore than ve inutes so as not discourage students ith overly long or di cult su ect atter.
Each podcast as acco panied y a one or t o page or sheet hich could e prepared in 1 Level or of Ei en
2 is an acrony for really si ple syndication hich allo s consu ers to auto atically receive ne podcasts or episodes of podcasts they are interested in ithout having to search for the .
advance y teachers to e distri uted in class or do nloaded as a pdf file y students fro the dedicated e site. or sheets typically consisted of three sections efore listening hile listening and after listening. The efore listening section as ed students to use a dictionary to loo up ords hich ould appear in the podcast and hich ay have een unfa iliar to the . This as designed to oth activate their cognitive s ills and to a e co prehending the content so e hat easier. The hile listening section usually consisted of three or four ultiple choice or short ans er uestions although there as at least one occasion hen students ere as ed to co plete a enn diagra hile listening to the podcast. The after listening section re uested students to thin ore deeply a out hat they had heard y loo ing for ore e a ples of so ething fro the podcast e pressing their opinion on so ething in the podcast or preparing for discussion in future lessons.
ResearchQuestions
s this as a preli inary atte pt to use podcasts in English language ith learners ho are relative eginners in the language it as y de nition an e ploratory study. That is to say the ai as to try to shed light on possi le relevance of using podcasts in this environ ent and to try to understand so e of the characteristics of podcasts hich ight prove to e attractive to these students. If podcasts are to eco e a useful addition to educators tool its it is i portant to understand hat factors ight otivate students to listen to podcasts of their o n volition and not
erely as co pulsory class assign ents.
peci cally the follo ing research uestions ere for ulated 1. hich topic or topics ill students nd ost interesting
2. hat ill students thin of the characteristics of the podcasts in ter s of length speed and di culty of English
. hen and here and ith hich inds of devices ill students listen to podcasts . o often ill students listen to the podcasts
. ould students e interested in using podcasts ore often after this initial e perience
In order to elucidate students perceptions of these issues t o uestionnaire surveys ere conducted one at the eginning of the course and another at the end of the first se ester appro i ately three onths later. total of students too the initial survey and responded to the second survey.
Results
s has een noted a ove the students in this study ere not English a ors and could reasona ly e classified as having a relatively lo level of proficiency in English. That ho ever does not necessarily ean they are uninterested or un otivated. ll ut t o students had studied English for si years or ore one for three years and one for ve years ith si students reporting English study of 10 years or ore. hile in any cases this see s not have een very ene cial in ter s of
their a ility to use the language they had still decided to enrol in an English class at university . In fact the a ority of students in this study clai to li e studying English see gure 1 . The pro le of the responses to this uestion shifted slightly in a positive direction after listening to podcasts ho ever it is i possi le to say hether this is directly attri uta le to the introduction of podcasts.
In oving fro high school to university students e perience any changes in their lives and study circu stances of hich the introduction of listening to podcasts in English as ust one.
Figure1.DoyoulikestudyingEnglish?
This in itself as encouraging in so uch as it indicated at least a illingness on the part of ost students to engage ith the language. dditionally all student students indicated in the rst survey that they considered listening and spea ing s ills ore i portant than reading and riting s ills hich as also encouraging for the introduction of audio podcasts. Interestingly in the second survey tudents are re uired to ta e a foreign language in the rst year of their study ut this need not e English.
Other languages availa le for enrol ent ere hinese orean er an panish and rench.
ve of the students clai ed that they thought reading and riting s ills ere ore i portant than listening and spea ing s ills. Unfortunately no reasons ere given for this change and this ay
e a su ect orthy of deeper investigation.
ith regard to esearch uestion 1 hich topic or topics ill students nd ost interesting students ere as ed to ran the podcasts in order of interest fro 1 see ta le 1 . In this ran ing the podcast on soccer ere rated ost highly perhaps re ecting the fact that the faculty in hich these students are enrolled has a ports Manage ent depart ent ith a large nu er of students ith an interest in sport. On the other hand it ay si ply e that soccer hich is highly popular in Japan is a topic ore accessi le to students.
Table1.Averagerankofpodcastsbytopic.
Soccer Business English Finance News
. 2. 2.2 2.0
o ever the choices ere li ited to four topics and it ay e that other topics ould also prove interesting to students. Eight students 19 e pressed an interest in listening to podcasts in English on other topics suggested topics ere travel orld food culture as et all and ase all giving researchers an indication of hat other topics ight e appreciated y students.
egarding esearch uestion 2 hat ill students thin of the characteristics of the podcasts in ter s of length speed and di culty of English students ere as ed to ran podcasts on the follo ing criteria speed of the spo en English the overall length of the podcasts and the degree of di culty of the English see gure 2 . s has een entioned the podcasts ere designed ith a particular group of students in ind as the target audience. The responses to this uestion suggest that the speed length and degree of di culty ere pitched at a reasona le level. It is pro a ly fair to suggest that if students had felt that these criteria ere not fast enough or not long enough or too easy it is unli ely that uch real educational value ould have een attached to the podcasts.
Figure2.Rankpodcastsaccordingto...
ith regard to esearch uestion hen and here and ith hich inds of devices ill students listen to podcasts although it as e pected ased on o served student ehaviour that students ould prefer to use their o ile phones to listen to the podcasts the reality as that all students used their o ile phones. Though the university provides ca pus ide i fi and several places including the li rary co puter e uipped classroo s and a student centred co on roo ith co puters or ta lets they ere not utilised.
Only t o students reported encountering any pro le s ith technical issues related to either do nloading or listening to the podcasts re ecting the aturity of sta ility of this technology. One of the t o students said that she or he had trou le do nloading the podcasts hile the other student did not ela orate on hat pro le s occurred.
hile the fact that students used only their o ile phones to listen to the podcasts see ed to indicate that the essentially o ile aspect of podcasts i.e. do nload hen an Internet connection is availa le and listen later any here as eing utilised in fact the ost co on place here the podcasts here listened to as at ho e see gure
Figure3.Wheredidyoulistentopodcasts?
tudents ere also as ed to ran in order fro 1 the ost li ely ti e for the to listen to the podcasts. The t o ost li ely ti es ere in the evening and efore school see ta le 2 as ight e e pected given that the ost co on place to listen to the podcasts as at ho e.
Table2.Whendidyoulistentopodcasts?
Before
school At school
before class Lunchtime During other
classes At school after class
Travelling to/from
school At night
. .2 .1 2.0 . . 2 .
lightly orryingly it appears that so e students ay have ta en the opportunity to listen to the podcasts hile attending classes or lectures for other su ects although this option as the least or second least li ely option to e chosen y ost students.
egarding esearch uestion o often ill students listen to the podcasts students ere as ed ho any ti es they listened to the podcasts efore turning in their ho e or ith the a ority listening ore than once see gure . gain this is encouraging as typically students rarely engage ith English after class. o ever this is so e hat o set y 2 of students reporting that they ould not have listened to the podcasts if they had not een set as ho e or .
Figure4.Howmanytimesdidyoulistentopodcastsbeforehandinginhomework?
ith regard to esearch uestion ould students e interested in using podcasts ore often after this initial e perience students ere as ed several uestions a out their i pressions of using podcasts and future listening intentions. Eighteen students or 2 responded that they ould li e to listen to ore podcasts si ilar to those they listened to for this study and seventeen students or 0 felt that they ould e interested in continuing to use podcasts in English language education.
Only one student used this e perience to search for other podcasts in English on the topic of English conversation. s has een entioned a ove eight students 19 e pressed an interest in listening to podcasts in English on other topics such as travel orld food culture or other sports.
Discussion
The results of this preli inary study on the use of podcasts in English language education in Japan are encouraging to the proposition that podcasts can e of value to English language learners.
The students in this study had ne t to no e perience ith podcasting technology prior to this ut ere a le to access and do nload podcasts ith very fe pro le s for ost ith no pro le s hatsoever. This is due to the fact that the technology underlying the study has progressed ithin a short period of ti e to the e tent that as ith any other digital technologies it has eco e very sta le and accessi le to users. s little as a decade or so ago nu erous technological issues ere noted y researchers e.g. Lee han 200 Mon 200 in the use of podcasts in education. heaper prices and develop ents in various technological factors such as the uality of video and audio recording e uip ent i prove ents in editing soft are including ore accessi le user interfaces and ore nu erous and etter organised podcast hosting and distri ution sites ean that creating podcasts is no longer solely the do ain of specialists or enthusiasts. ertainly there is a learning curve involved ut this is no a technology hich can e adopted and applied y educators and students at ost institutions in Japan.
enerally students appear to have reacted to the podcasts in a positive anner in ter s of interest and use. hile that as not universal the results of this study at the very least suggest that podcasts have a role to play in English language education in Japan in the 21st century. urther studies in this area should egin to focus on hat tangi le enefits in language learning if any can e attri uted to the use of podcasts uantitatively in various language related areas such as listening co prehension voca ulary develop ent and enhance ent pronunciation as so on ut also in a ective areas such as illingness to co unicate and otivation to learn English.
The podcasts used in this study ere short deli erately so given the profile of the listener students and only focussed on a s all nu er of topics. It is possi le that so e learners ith a higher degree of proficiency ay find the trivial for that reason though e ually that ay not e that case and is a proposition still to e tested . o ever ith a s all a ount of ingenuity educators could adapt or e pand the or sheets associated ith each podcast in ays hich are ore suita le to their o n conte t or as has een suggested use the sa e technology to produce purpose ade podcasts for their o n learners and institutions.
The ost co on ti e and place for the students in this study to listen to podcasts as in the evening and at ho e. It had een theorised that any ould use the ti e they spend on pu lic transport for doing these ho e or tas s. Perhaps filling in ho e or or sheets on cro ded uses and trains precluded that option for ost students at the institution here this study as underta en ut it ay not e the case for the a ority of students in all conte ts. This gives educators and researchers a starting point for considering ho future podcasts could or should e developed. If students are listening to these aterials at night and at ho e there ay e a ective factors at play hich ean they prefer slightly di erent characteristics in a podcast than if they ere to listen at a different ti e and location such as hile at school et een classes or in the orning on the train. To the e tent it is possi le a ective factors li e this ought to e investigated.
hile any students e pressed an interest in using podcasts in their English language learning only one fro a group of too the autono ous step of loo ing for ore podcasts. Ulti ately if podcasts are to e of value to learners of English ays of a ing the attractive enough to students that they ill do nload and listen to episodes even hen not allocated as ho e or or class or assign ents or to search for podcasts hich eet their o n personal interests ill need to e devised. onse uently further research into the factors for e a ple a focus on topics of interest to students the use of hu our usic and sound e ects peer produced podcasts the use of video podcasts etc. hich ight contri ute to that o ective also ought to e an area of further investigation.
Acknowledgements
This paper as supported y annan University esearch unding n Investigation in the alue of Using ontent ased Podcasts for English Language Education in Japan .
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