Podcasting for Saudi EFL Learners: Evaluating New Strategies for Pronunciation Enhancement

Abstract

Saudi EFL students find English pronunciation a major obstacle to their learning experience. The reason is partly the favoured pedagogy which is grammar translation, and majorly, little or no exposure to spoken language. In this scenario, podcasts have been proven to be of a great use for providing to the learners readily available listening materials. However, such interventions are rare in Saudi learning environments. The current study aimed to fill this gap and examined the attitudes of twenty three Saudi students of English at Qassim University towards podcasts as a facilitator for proper pronunciation. Five podcasts related to the current English listening and speaking textbook were given to the learners who were to use these over a period of six weeks with a follow- up questionnaire administered at the end of the experiment. Responses indicated that students had positive attitudes and a high acceptance rate to the use of the podcasts and reported that the intervention was helpful in both learning of new pronunciation and practice of language they already knew. Though CALL as a language learning strategy is highly recommended by institutions in Saudi Arabia, micro studies on specific aspects are still few, and therefore, the findings of the current study will aid in introducing pedagogical changes for the larger good of the student community and their specific needs.