Abstract
Saudi EFL students find English pronunciation a major obstacle to their learning experience. The reason is partly the favoured pedagogy which is grammar translation, and majorly, little or no exposure to spoken language. In this scenario, podcasts have been proven to be of a great use for providing to the learners readily available listening materials. However, such interventions are rare in Saudi learning environments. The current study aimed to fill this gap and examined the attitudes of twenty three Saudi students of English at Qassim University towards podcasts as a facilitator for proper pronunciation. Five podcasts related to the current English listening and speaking textbook were given to the learners who were to use these over a period of six weeks with a follow- up questionnaire administered at the end of the experiment. Responses indicated that students had positive attitudes and a high acceptance rate to the use of the podcasts and reported that the intervention was helpful in both learning of new pronunciation and practice of language they already knew. Though CALL as a language learning strategy is highly recommended by institutions in Saudi Arabia, micro studies on specific aspects are still few, and therefore, the findings of the current study will aid in introducing pedagogical changes for the larger good of the student community and their specific needs.
Highlights
Previous research has clearly established that the key factor to good pronunciation is listening to a language as it is spoken by its native speakers
Responses indicated that students had positive attitudes and a high acceptance rate to the use of the podcasts and reported that the intervention was helpful in both learning of new pronunciation and practice of language they already knew
Though CALL as a language learning strategy is highly recommended by institutions in Saudi Arabia, micro studies on specific aspects are still few, and the findings of the current study will aid in introducing pedagogical changes for the larger good of the student community and their specific needs
Summary
Previous research has clearly established that the key factor to good pronunciation is listening to a language as it is spoken by its native speakers. Instructors in EFL limited themselves to recorded video and audio input but winking to the fact that these being specially produced for the purpose, the content was most often, artificial and removed from real language output This solution played a role in accommodating studentsneed for naturalness in a very limited way and with technology that was fast becoming redundant. It examines how such a technological tool would be viewed by the students of English in terms of the role it can play in helping to teach proper pronunciation. Gomez et al (2019) asserted that Podcasts make audio and video content accessible to learners at all times and for this and other reasons is an influential teaching strategy in EFL settings They attribute innovativeness and motivation as the added benefits of using podcasts. The students, after listening to three to five minute podcasts over the course of a semester, participated in a survey which later indicated that students perceived listening to the podcasts as worthwhile and enjoyable
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