| Over the past 40 years of reform and opening-up,China’s English education has advanced considerably.But in the meantime,there are still some areas that need to be improved.EFL teaching in China does not place much emphasis on communicative approach,but instead the focus caters more to grammar and translation.In addition,the lack of real social settings for English use outside of the classroom led to the poor oral English skills of Chinese students.Not only that,current English textbooks in schools and universities are mainly based on introducing the culture of English-speaking countries;while the Chinese cultural knowledge proportion is on the low side in the textbooks,which leads to an inadequate intercultural competence for Chinese students.As the world transitioned into a new century,the rapid development and popularization of the Internet;alongside podcast,blogs,and MOOCs have provided new avenues for digital and mobile English learning;as well as new opportunities for English learning.Among them,podcast,as a computer-assisted language learning and teaching tool for playing audio and video materials,has changed people’s passive way of listening to a traditional radio for learning and supports learners to independently choose what to listen to and how to listen.Additionally,teachers and students can be engaged in oral English teaching and learning while spreading Chinese culture to the outside world through self-made podcast.Therefore,there is a promising prospect for the application of podcast for the development of oral and cultural teaching in English education.Judging from existing literature,the podcast is widely used in improving the EFL learners’ listening skills,while little attention has been given to the application of podcast to improve oral English and promote cultural knowledge.Based on the current background,this paper sets out to conduct an empirical study of the impact of podcasting on students’ oral English proficiency and Chinese cultural knowledge.This research includes three questions,namely:(1)What influences do self-made podcast have on high,intermediate,and low proficiency EFL learners’ language proficiency in terms of oral fluency,accuracy,and complexity?(2)What influences do self-made podcast have on high,intermediate,and low proficiency EFL learners’ cultural learning?(3)How do the high,intermediate,and low proficiency students perceive the effects of making a podcast on their oral English and Chinese culture learning?This study selected three learners who represent high,intermediate,and low levels respectively.The focus point of this paper is to provide a theoretical basis and evidence for conducting podcast teaching and learning activities that can cater to different proficiency learners.In this study,the podcast teaching experiment is divided into three stages: pre-experimental,experimental,and post-experimental stages.In the pre-experimental stage,firstly,the researcher conducted pre-tests on the subjects’ oral level and Chinese cultural knowledge;Secondly,the researcher carried out podcast technical training.Finally,the researcher distributed designated cultural learning materials.In the experimental stage,each subject was asked to produce and publish an “introducing Chinese culture podcast” in English.In the post-experimental stage,the teacher conducted oral and Chinese cultural post-tests and conducted in-depth interviews with the subjects on podcast teaching.The tests and interview data were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively.This study found that:(1)The oral proficiency of the three subjects improved,especially in oral fluency and accuracy,while the complexity is of no difference;Among them,the fluency improvement of high,low,and intermediate proficiency learners increased in turn and the accuracy improvement of high,intermediate,and low proficiency learners increased in turn;(2)The cultural knowledge of all three subjects has also improved,and the cultural knowledge improvement of low,intermediate,and high proficiency learners increased in turn;(3)The three subjects have positive attitudes toward the use of podcast to carry out oral and cultural teaching.Through producing Chinese culture podcast in English,it creates a platform for learners to use English to spread Chinese culture to the outside world and enhanced learners’ motivation to speak English as well as confidence in Chinese culture.The current study presents some pedagogical implications.On the one hand,it is recommended that language teachers include self-made podcast activity in foreign language teaching to develop students’ speaking skills,particularly in oral fluency and accuracy.On the other hand,podcast is a digital tool that can help the diffusion of Chinese culture to the world.Under the background of promoting Chinese culture going out it is suggested that English researchers to take up the mission of spreading Chinese culture and to design relevant podcast tasks to enhance students’ intercultural competence of speaking Chinese Culture in English.As the high proficiency learner acknowledged the effects of improving such a sense of pride in Chinese culture,it is suggested that teachers can design learning tasks that make English podcasts to introduce Chinese culture and promote the learner’s ability to express Chinese culture in English.It is suggested that teachers can design different podcasting tasks in accordance with different language proficiency learners’ needs. |
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