Week 5: CALL and Language Skills

Nowadays, audio files could be downloaded easily from the Internet. Some can even be downloaded for free. There are many types of audio files that can be downloaded from the Internet. Language learners could download texts read in the targeted language and this can be used in language learning.

This week's lesson was on PODCASTS. A podcast is an audio file that can be downloaded from the Internet, while podcasting is the publishing of audio or video via the Internet. It can be listened from an MP3 player, iPod or any mobile phones that has podcast application.  Podcast can be very useful for students who wish to listen to lecture notes provided that it has been recorded for the purpose of learning.

One advantage of podcast is its mobility. It can be carried everywhere in a small device and learners could listen to it anytime they wish to do so.

An example for language learning podcast can be viewed here. There are a variety of examples of listening podcast on this website which could be very useful for learning language.

In short, podcast has made language learning easier and it is an effective tool to be used in language learning.