Innovation in Language Learning

Teaching English to Education students should guarantee their communication skills because they are primary teachers-to-be and in the European context nowadays there is a strong move towards plurilingualism in education. Therefore, English courses for education students must include a strong component of productive and receptive oral skills. We think autonomy is a pivotal aspect to guarantee lifelong learning in any sense, but especially in language learning. 

The present contribution will delve into students’ habits to practise listening on their own to promote the use of podcasts as a material to reduce their anxiety and fear when developing listening activities. The use of podcasts as a teaching resource has already been addressed by several scholars in order to assess the possible benefits on the improvement of students’ language competence.

The principal idea behind this work plan is that increasing students’ exposure to real input in an anxiety-free environment by means of ICT may help to improve their listening skills in general, as past experiences have shown.

Podcasts help to select audio materials adapted to students’ personal preferences. This, together with the fact that they can be listened to wherever and whenever they prefer, fosters participation, raises motivation and boosts self-confidence.

This paper will report on empirical data on two universities in Spain where podcasting has been used with the aim to promote students’ motivation and improve receptive and productive oral skills in the subject of English as a Foreign Language.