The Effect of Podcasts and Vodcasts Among Motivated Iranian Learners of English: Different Listening Proficiency Levels

Abstract

These days, technology is an inseparable part of our lives. There is still comparatively little research into effective podcast or vodcast design and students’ perceptions and attitudes towards this method. In the present study, the purpose is to clarify the impact of podcasts and vodcasts on motivated learners’ improvement in listening skills. The researchers used purposive sampling, and learners were divided into control and experimental groups. To this end, a validated version of a questionnaire that shows the degree of interest in improving listening skills was used to select a good number of motivated learners. Among the selected learners, 250 intermediate and advanced learners aged 18-35 who were studying English as a foreign language in Ayandegera Institute in 2020 were asked to fill out two questionnaires. Among 60 podcast files and 50 vodcast files, 10 podcasts and 10 vodcasts were chosen according to content validity ratio (CVR) and content validity index (CVI) (0.42, 0.79) formula. The design of the study was experimental. In the current study, descriptive statistics and ANCOVA tests were applied in the analysis of the quantitative data. It was implied that there was a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test scores of the experimental group in both podcast and vodcast groups, whereas there was little significant difference between the pre-test and post-test scores of the control group. Also, the findings showed that there was no significant difference between listening to podcasts and watching vodcasts.