Using Podcasts to Help Learners Develop Listening Comprehension and Autonomy

I’ve been using podcasts for a while with my teaching, and they are something that I really enjoy incorporating into classes. There are a variety of reasons for this:

1. They are rich sources of authentic texts with both native and non-native speakers of English interacting.
2. There are podcasts that cover almost any topic imaginable, and there are new episodes coming out on a regular basis.
3. Students can listen to podcasts while cleaning, cooking, or doing other mundane tasks. Before the pandemic they could also listen while in the car or on public transportation, but that is not as common now.
4. Students can really develop a sense of accomplishment by listening to and understanding an entire podcast in English on their own.

Before getting to the main topic, there are a few points I should make:

1. With this post I am talking about podcasts for native English speakers with authentic texts. The podcasts I use are the type that I listen to in my free time. While podcasts created for people learning English can be very valuable, they are quite different and not the focus on what I’ve done in my classes.
2. I have used podcasts with individual students or in classes of two students. What I do can be adapted to larger classes, but you will need to consider things like putting students into groups, giving them the power to play things back, and collaborate as a group to help each other out.

Key Ideas

Regardless of the podcast I use, I keep some things in mind:

• I make sure to give students plenty of support and be sure that they are at the appropriate level before trying to listen to a podcast. That means activating prior knowledge, previewing vocabulary, learning about the topic of the podcast episode as well as the podcasters, and previewing the structure so that students are well prepared. When listening to a podcast, students don’t have the support of visual cues to help them like when they’re watching a video. I wouldn’t use a podcast with a student below the intermediate level.
• It’s important to give students bite-sized chunks of text to listen to at a time, and they need to listen for either specific information or the broad general idea. I check for understanding through true/false or multiple choice questions, fill in the blanks, or short answer questions. Another technique is to ask students to summarize what they just heard. By providing small parts of text and helping them be successful, we can help students build their confidence and sense of accomplishment.
• There’s nothing wrong with listening to a section multiple times and spreading a podcast out over 2, 3, or even 4 classes. I will often listen in class with students with the help of a listening guide, and I give them the homework or listening again for homework.
• Eventually I preview the listening guides in class, and their homework is then to listen to a portion or all of it on their own. In the following class we then discuss it and I help with any questions they have.
• I have the ultimate goal of my students being able to listen to and enjoy podcasts on their own. I communicate that goal to them and let them know that it’s a skill that takes time to develop but that is worth the effort.

What podcasts have I used in classes?

There are three main podcasts I have used on an ongoing basis with students. I’m going to discuss each of them since they are all different and I vary how I use them.

National Public Radio: Planet Money

This was the first podcast I ever used in classes. It basically talks about current events related to the economy and explains them in a way that people with no background in economics can understand. There are sometimes people from different countries in the interviews, so it’s also a nice way for students to hear different accents.

Despite the fact that it is for the common person, there is still a good amount of vocabulary that I need to prepare students for. When I create the listening guide, I include prelistening discussion questions, key vocabulary, listening questions, and discussion questions for afterwards.

The episodes vary in length, but most that I use are between 20 and 35 minutes long. Here is a listening guide that I created with an interesting episode about an economist’s adventure in giving his children allowances in an effort to influence their behavior:

You can listen to the episode here

Happier with Gretchen Rubin

This is a podcast that I listen to on a weekly basis. It’s all about happiness, habits, and human nature. A lot of what they talk about is based on Gretchen Rubin’s research about The Four Tendencies, so if you’re not familiar with it I suggest visiting her site at this link to read about it before listening or using her podcast in class.

The podcast is actually like a conversation between Gretchen and her sister Elizabeth, and I always find it entertaining. With the listening guides for Happier, my approach is quite different. I simply create an outline indicating the main topics and put some guiding questions. I use it with students that are at an upper intermediate or advanced level, and there is a strong focus on understanding the main ideas and details, not every word.

The episodes build on each other, so it is best if you listen from the beginning. That obviously isn’t required though. Here is the listening guide for the first episode:

You can listen to the episode here.

Freakonomics

Of all three podcasts, Freakonomics is the most challenging. It uses higher-level vocabulary than the other podcasts, and the episodes are usually 40 minutes or longer.

It’s based on the book with the same name, and the idea is that it explores the hidden side of things. There are often interviews with researchers, and listening requires more mental energy than NPR Planet Money and Happier.

Given the length of the episodes, I usually need 4 or even 5 classes to get through one episode with my students. One of the positives is that the audioscript is available on the website, and it’s a huge help for students to be able to follow along after listening a first time or to listen on their own.

Here is the listening guide I created for an episode about how to become great at just about anything:

In addition, here is a PDF of the audioscript:

You can listen to the episode here.

Conclusion

If used in the right way, podcasts can be a great way to help students develop their listening comprehension and autonomy. It takes a lot of work up front, but it is worth the investment of time and energy due to the long term benefits.

Do you have any thoughts about using podcasts in classes? If so, leave a comment below.