THE ENHANCEMENT OF EFL LEARNERS’ LISTENING AND SPEAKING SKILLS THROUGH THE USE OF PODCASTS OUTSIDE CLASSROOM

Abstract

Listening is considered as the most frequently used language skill during communication, accordingly many researchers in the field of language teaching and learning such as Lundsteen. S( 1979) and Gary (1975) agreed on the importance of listening skill in enhancing other skills. This work purports to enhance listening and speaking through the use podcasts outside classroom. To do so, an experimental study has been conducted in Khemis Miliana University, faculty of Law, option of Social Security. This experimental study included listening to podcasts for five weeks outside classroom, in this range pre and post tests have been conducted regarding social security students listening and speaking skills. The objective behind using this tests is to look at the possibility of improving students‟ ability to speak and the extent of which listening to podcasts interferes in affecting this enhancement. Additionally two questionnaires were delivered for both teachers and learners. In which we have thrown the light on teachers personal views and attitudes toward listening and speaking skills and the use of podcasts. In this sense we address the learner perceptions of listening to podcasts and their self-evaluation of one‟s performance in individual listening and speaking practices. The results obtained from the experiment were somehow positive. A slight improvement has been noticed concerning the speaking ability, particularity the amount of vocabulary used. Concerning the listening abilities, a noticeable enhancement was achieved. The learners were positive towards using the podcast technology into their language learning process. Some of the reasons for those positive perceptions include the opportunity for students to learn at their own pace so that they can listen to specific materials they don‟t understand multiple times. At the end, we proposed some pedagogical implications and suggestions to attempt to remedy the shortcomings associated with teaching and learning the spoken language. The suggestions are mainly related to ways of integrating podcasts in classroom instruction.