The Effects of Podcasting on EFL Pre-Intermediate Learner’s Speaking Proficiency

This study investigated the effect of using podcasting on EFL pre-intermediate learners’speaking proficiency. To accomplish the purposes of the study. It examine students' speaking skills among Iranian Islamic Azad University of Shahreza at BA course level. 90 students took a proficiency test developed by Richards (2008) and 60 learners whose scores were one standard deviation above the mean and one standard deviation below the mean were selected as the research sample. The Cambridge oral unlimited placement interview test was given to students to estimate speaking proficiency level. Sixty participants were non-randomly divided into two equal groups (i.e., the experimental and control groups). the oral sample test was given to eight students who were not in participants’ members, but they were at the same proficiency level. Then, the participants were taken a pre-test on the podcasts.The scores were collected by two raters to achieve the inter-rater reliability. the checklist for improving speaking skill developed by Hughes (2003).The experimental group was taught eight sessions each session 30 minutes. The control group was taught the conventional instruction. Finally, a post-test was administered to two groups and data were collected. Data was analyzed through Paired and Independent Samples t-tests, and descriptive statistics. Results showed that the experimental group outperformed the control one on the post- test (p<.05).The findings suggest that this approach could also be useful for improving both fluency and accuracy of the EFL learners’ speaking skill.

کلیدواژه ها:

Podcasting ، Standard deviation ، Mean ، Proficiency Level ، Sample t-test