Dina Yousefi - MA in Applied Linguistics, Farhangian University, Ferdows, Southern Khorasan, Iran
Mohammad Davoudi - Assistant Professor of TEFL, Department of English Language and Literature, Hakim Sabzevari University, Sabzevar, Iran

The present study is a state of the art article on the use of podcasts in ELT. The study summarizes four decades of research on podcasting, through a critical review of the published literature on podcasts. Issues such as theoretical underpinning of podcasting, their significance, different definitions of podcasting as well as taxonomies of podcasts are delineated in this study. Then, the effects and impacts of using podcasts in various fields of studies such as language learning, college-level learning, listening comprehension, speaking ability and vocabulary learning are illustrated through references to published studies on podcasts. In conclusion, some future potential trends and recommendations are offered for those researchers interested in podcasting research

Podcasts; Language learning, Language Teaching, Audio podcasts, Video podcasts