Podcasting in ESl/EFL classrooms

It is a good idea to use podcasts in language teaching in general but I don’t think it is a good idea to use it in the classroom. Students can listen to podcasts and develop aural skills outside the classroom instead of reading. They can work on their listening and speaking skills when they are not in class by creating materials of their interests. And there are so many second language learners who are obsessed to develop their listening and speaking skills outside the classroom and sometimes it is hard to find a native speaker to practice the language.  So it will be a great opportunity for them to create audio and practice it meaningfully at home. Especially, not always the movies and talk shows on the TV are appropriate for the proficiency level of the second language learners and they cannot help them develop their second language.  But on the contrary it may cause some frustration and demotivation if they couldn’t understand due to the cultural differences. So podcasting can empower students by giving them opportunities to create and publish for a real audience and it also focuses on students’ oral and aural skills outside the classroom helping them to be better speakers and listeners. But all the activities written in the EsLEFl podcasting activities article, ESL teachers can do the same without using the podcasts. For example, students can role play while the teacher checks on them and podcasting could be as homework. I agree with Christofer Shamberg that kids now are consumers and creators of digital media and all these blogging and micro blogging can help students to be creative and learn how to use the technology effectively but I didn’t like the idea of using podcasts in the classroom. Even the research of the University of South Carolina by Lara Ducate and Lara Lomicka couldn’t prove any improvement in the ESL learners’ pronunciation after using the podcasts. It is true that the number of the students in the research was not enough and we cannot generalize the results but I still believe that it’s not a good idea to use it in the classroom. Podcasting could be used in English dominant schools in language lab classes and I think it would be perfect. Where the students practice meaningfully the form of the language for the whole session. But it is hard to use it in Language centers.