A case study of using podcasts in ESL modules for Hong Kong pre-service teachers and its impact on their attitudes toward podcasting

With the advent of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), language educators around the world are finding ways to integrate technology into teaching in the hope of improving the quality of teaching and learning (Warschauer & Healey, 1998). In the past few years, as Web 2.0 applications have become so much more user-friendly, academic podcasting in English as a Second Language (ESL) is now widely used by college educators. In particular, many ESL teachers have also started to exploit this technology to help learners acquire better listening skills in English. As English is fast becoming the world's lingua franca, the ownership of the language is no longer exclusive to those of English speaking countries (Crystal, 2003; Hu, 2004; Seidlhofer, 2001). While conventional ESL listening materials have a tendency to be Anglocentric, podcasts allow both teachers and students to create content that is more suitable to the local context, which empowers learners to take charge of their own learning. This chapter reports on a project situated in the theoretical context of the pedagogical value of podcasting in language learning (Facer, Abdous, & Camarena, 2009; King & Gura, 2009) and teacher education (Hockly & Dudeney, 2007), with particular reference to Hong Kong pre-service teachers. The first part of the chapter describes the way in which podcasts are used for instructional, informational, and developmental purposes in two different English language modules for pre-service teachers. The second part of the chapter analyzes a survey conducted at the end of these modules and examines the quantitative and qualitative feedback collected. The third part of the chapter provides an insight into the attitudes of these prospective teachers toward podcasting in education and its future use in schools. As a result of this project, this chapter concludes that podcasts have a lot of potential, not only as an integrative and supplementary learning tool, but also as a powerful generator of knowledge, which encourages active learning - a view shared by Sturgis (2008).