A PhD RESEARCH PROPOSAL

THE EFFECTS OF USING PODCAST AND VIDEO PODCAST ON ESL

LEARNERS’ ORAL PROFICIENCY

AZMI ABDUL LATIFF

DEPARTMENT OF HUMANITIES
FACULTY OF SCIENCE, ARTS AND HERITAGE
UNIVERSITI TUN HUSSEIN ONN MALAYSIA
1.0 Introduction

Since the early 90s, the Internet has been booming at an electrifying pace and enjoying an
overwhelming response world-wide. The phenomenal growth of the Internet has surely
benefited the education sector and identified as the main benefactor of multimedia
technology (Manjit and Ramesh, 2001). As the content is generally very current and up-to-
date and the language used to present it is real and authentic (Brown, 1999), the Internet is
a potentially useful source for language teachers and learners. Maddux, Johnson and Willis
(1997) believe that the capability of the Internet as an educational tool is only limited by the
imagination and creativity of teachers and learners; while, Chantrill (2000) claims the
Internet as the most exciting and rapidly developing innovations in CALL.

There is little doubt that the advent of the Internet and especially with the arrival of
the World Wide Web or the WWW has transformed the way information is disseminated.
Virtually anyone, from the largest multinational corporations to individual teachers and
students can become an information provider to the world. This could be due to the
inexpensive and easily learned technology for creating a Web site (Trochim, 1996). Access
to this information is taking place at the global stage, instantaneous, and increasingly
available to more and more individuals and organisations.

The World Wide Web technology continues to improve. Previous Web applications,
termed as Web 1.0, would only allow their users to be receivers of information. The
expansion of the Web technology has witnessed the introduction of new applications that
are categorised under Web 2.0. What differentiate these applications from their
predecessors is these applications allow users more than just retrieving information but
also let them to contribute and own information as well as share and collaborate with other
users.

Just like the first generation Web, applications in Web 2.0 are also used for
educational purposes. Applications such as wiki, blog, flickr, podcast and Youtube have
been used by educators during teaching and learning processes. In language classes,
language teachers have used Web 2.0 applications such as wiki for collaborative learning,
blog for reflective writing and critical reading and so on. Application of Web 2.0 in language
classrooms received positive responses from language learners, developed learners’
autonomy and create active learners in classroom (Duarte and Shinall, 2008).

2.0 Background of Research

Podcast is one of the Web 2.0 applications that are widely used especially at higher
learning institutions. Many top universities in the world have embraced podcast by putting
their lectures in mp3 and video format that can be downloaded or listened to and watched
by their students or the public at large. A very good example of this practise is
collaborations between the universities and the giant computer maker Apple in the Apple’s
iTunes U platform.

Launched in 2007, the iTunes U is another channel in the company’s iTunes. In the
beginning, this academic-oriented channel provides free content such as course lecturers,
language lessons, lab demonstrations, sports highlights and virtual campus tours provided
by top colleges and universities in the United States including Stanford University, UC
Berkeley, Duke and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Later in 2008, Apple forged
partnerships with three universities in Europe which are the Open University and University
College London as well as the Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland to contribute their learning
materials in the platform.

Besides iTunesU, there are also many podcast channels available where users can
download or listen to and watch materials in audio and video formats respectively. The
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) websites provides a special page on podcast
(http://www/bbc.co.uk/podcast). This page contains several podcast channels on topics
that range from drama, sports, finance, farming, news and English language learning
among others.

An analysis by eMarketer (2009) showed that podcasting is a growing activity among

the US Internet users. The number of podcast downloaders in the country is expected to
improve from 9% in 2008 to 17% in 2013. Listening to podcast was also recorded as the
fourth most popular online activity in 2008 behind email, text-messaging and social
networking. Meanwhile, until mid-July 2009 the Open University (2009) recorded a total of
634, 122 downloads of its podcast content in the iTunes U by users in the UK. Outside UK,
major downloaders of the Open University podcast content are in Japan, Australia and
other European countries such as German, Netherlands, Italy and France.

In the UK, its Higher Education Academy supported a collaborative research effort by
several universities there in a project called Informal Mobile Podcasting and Learning
Adaptation (IMPALA) (www.impala.ac.uk). (Salmon and Ming Nie, 2008). Generally, the
project showed that podcast can give positive impact on students learning. Furthermore,
the participants also enjoyed listening to educational materials on their mp3 players,
enabled them to access the materials while on the go and helped them to become
independent learners.

3.0 Statement of Problem

There is a persistent need to clarify that although English has been accorded the status
of a second language in many parts of the world including Malaysia, it is actually not a
second language to the definition in applied linguistics. English language may not
necessarily be the second language of the ESL students. It can be the first, second, or
even a foreign language depending on among other things, the locality they live in. For
most students in the rural areas, English is a foreign language based on the quantity of
exposure and usage to the language. As a result, those whose exposure and usage to
the language were limited to the language classroom became underachievers. Sadly,
they would continue to be so as the pace of teaching could not be slowed down. Bearing
this situation in mind, it is unthinkably daunting to imagine their oncoming uphill battle
as they moved on in their pursuance for academic excellence.

In countries where the education system has shifted to using local languages and
English language is thus given the status of a subject in the school curriculum with the
allotment of 200 minutes a week, one could expect the level of competence to drop.
Carrying the status as an essential second language, the role of English language in these
countries is fast changing from being the language for education and official proceedings
to being a tool of communication in limited circumstances. Despite the fact that the role
of English in these nations has changed from an official language to that of a second
language, there is a continued need for to be competent in the language. English is
essential for employment opportunities and for higher education, and English is a
necessity to rise up the socioeconomic ladder.
 Though much has been done to enhance English as the most important
language, it is neither correlative with the intensity of use of the language, nor is it with
the level of proficiency attained. There is a steady decline in the standard of English
language. The opinion from various quarters that there is a drop in the standard of
English among ESL speakers is undeniably justified.

Podcast can be used to expose students on spoken English languages.

Furthermore, despite the popularity of podcast in these countries and a

comprehensive number of researches done on it, this Web 2.0 application does not
seem to deliver the same impact in Malaysia. A Google search for podcast in this
country shows a list of some local sites dedicated to it. One of the websites namely
Siaran.net (http://www.siaran.net/directory/) serves as a directory and links to all local
podcast sites. Further checks in the directory found that majority of them have ended
their podcast activity.

Furthermore, unlike their counterparts in the UK and US, local higher learning
institutions seem to lag behind in developing and providing educational podcast for their
students and public. Open University Malaysia (OUM) is the only local private college
that uses podcast to deliver its course content through the University’s radio service
(http://iradio.oum.edu.my). Other learning institutions like Kolej Damansara Utama
(KDU) merely provides links to several podcast channels at overseas as one of its library
online services.

In terms of research, to date there is only one research on podcast by a local

researcher which is Mustafa (2009) who conducted a study to find out the effects of
podcast to phonetics instruction.

It is very unfortunate that the potential of podcast for educational purpose is not
tapped considering the advancement in information technology infrastructures that has
been taking place in Malaysia for the past two decades. Furthermore, from the
researcher’s own observation, mobile gadgets such as handphones and mp3 players
are very popular among young people including undergraduates.

It comes to the interest of this research therefore to study the potential of utilising
podcast to improve Malaysia’s ESL students’ language proficiency particularly on their
oral communication skill.

4.0 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

The research objectives are as follow:

4.1 to find out the perception of university students and lecturers in Malaysia on podcast.
4.2 to find out the potential of implementing podcast-based mobile learning in Malaysia.
4.3 to develop a set of guidelines for evaluating podcast content for ESL teaching and
learning.
4.3 to develop an instructional framework for improving Malaysia’s students English
language proficiency through podcast.

5.0 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The research questions are as follow:

5.1 What is the perception of Malaysia’s ESL students on podcast?

5.2 What is the perception of Malaysia’s ESL lecturers on podcasst?
5.3 What is the potential of implementing podcast for educational purpose in Malaysia?
5.4 What are the

Mustafa, Dr. Zarina The Effects Of Utilising ESL Podcast In Phonetics Instruction.
Working Paper. Universiti Sains Malaysia.