Podcasting – Past, Present and Future: Applications of Academic Podcasting In and Out of the Language Classroom

Where We’Ve Been: Documented Research On Podcasting

The latest edition (3^rd) of the Oxford English Dictionary defines podcasting as “a digital recording of a broadcast” that is typically “made available on the web for downloading to a computer or personal audio player” (Simpson, 2009). Podcasting is considered a Web 2.0 tool which can be used in ways that are dynamic, collaborative, and interactive. In fact, the dynamic nature of podcasting is linked with any audio or video file that listeners can download and play on a digital player (Barsky & Lindstrom, 2008). The use of audio in language learning itself is not particularly new or innovative; however, Web 2.0 tools take advantage of existing technologies or platforms and use them to do more and different tasks, as will be discussed in this chapter. While the use of audio in language learning is well documented, research on podcasting has only recently begun to appear in the literature. This section, in order to pave the way to where we are now, addresses the research that has already documented, including reports on previously implemented podcasting projects and some of the more empirical results of podcasting research.