Examining the Effects of Podcast-Based Extensive Listening on EFL Learners' Pronunciation and Listening Comprehension

Abstract

The present study focused on the impact of extensive listening using podcasts on pronunciation and listening comprehension of EFL learners in Pakistan. Limited exposure to authentic spoken English within the classroom was a common problem faced by Pakistani EFL learners in terms of accurate pronunciation and effective listening comprehension. The researchers used quasi-experimental design with 60 intermediate level EFL learners from a public sector university who were assigned into two groups, experimental and control groups, with 30 learners in each group. The experimental group was taught the listening lesson through podcasts for 8 weeks, and the control group was taught the listening lesson according to the regular curriculum. To assess the pronunciation and listening comprehension before and after the intervention, pre-test and post-test were conducted for both groups. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS by independent samples t-test and paired samples t-test. The results showed that the experimental group showed the significant improvement in pronunciation and listening comprehension as compared to the control group. The results showed that the podcast-based extensive listening was an effective pedagogical technique in improving the spoken language skills of the EFL learners. In conclusion, the study found that the use of podcasts in the EFL classroom had a significant positive impact on students' pronunciation accuracy and listening comprehension skills. The researchers suggested that EFL teachers in Pakistan should incorporate podcasts into their teaching as part of extensive listening in their classrooms to make the learners independent and enhance their language proficiency.