THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PODCASTS ON FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORED STUDENTS’ LISTENING COMPREHENSION AT KHANH HOA UNIVERSITY

Abstract

Listening skill plays an essential role in second language learning process. However, this is a challenging skill and many students find themselves struggling with English listening skill. How to help students improve their listening skill is a great concern of many teachers. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the effectiveness of using Podcasts on first-year English majored students’ listening comprehension and their attitudes towards the use of Podcasts in learning listening skill. To achieve the objectives, sixty first-year English majored students at Khanh Hoa University were chosen to participate in this research and divided into two groups with 30 students in the experiment group and 30 students in the control group. This quasi-experimental research was carried out in ten weeks of the academic year 2021-2022. Listening tests based on the curriculum and the close-ended questionnaire were employed to explore their listening achievement as well as perspectives towards the use of Podcasts. The results indicated that using Podcasts in the listening classroom had a positive effect on students’ listening achievement, and they had positive attitudes towards this method. Students perceived that podcasts provided authentic materials, interesting activities and enriched their vocabulary, so they felt more motivated to learn English and focused on listening skill. Consequently, it is recommended that teachers should consider applying Podcasts in listening periods to help students learn listening comprehension better.