Abstract:

The paper presents a case study on an attempt to introduce ‘BBC Interviews Extra’ video podcasts (SpeakOut Pre-Intermediate and In-termediate by Pearson) as a out-of-classroom learning English module.

The article explains the reasons of choosing SpeakOut video interviews for extra listening activities: video content from the BBC, a balanced approach to topics, language development and skills work, a bridge between the classroom and the real world, availability of videos and worksheets at Pearson’s website.
Rules and requirements of the syllabus are tested: weekly but not obligatory assignments, 'passed'/'non-passed' grading scale, no impact on the final grade of the English course.

The survey focuses on students’ experience of studying English with video podcasts, which proves to be positive: students are observed to be motivated to develop learning autonomy and satisfied with their learning results; they have become more independent and reflective learners.

From a teacher's perspective, benefits and drawbacks of controlling individual listening activities of students are deducted, where advantages are an ability to have an insight of what, how and how much students study when they are not in the classroom, an ability to get a common error report and plan remedial teaching. However, on the downside, there is no automatic accompanying grading component to podcasts, which would allow to track how many exercises have been done, whether they have been done one or more times, and what scores are6 therefore, workload of a teacher increases dramatically.

The video podcasts solution to improve listening skills has worked well for students, and practice tasks on interviews are an excellent supplement to classroom-based instruction and prepare students effectively for progress testing. English language instructors got proves that students are ready to take on a responsibility for their learning outcomes and their autonomous learning contributes to foster better communicative results.

Keywords:

Teaching English, teaching listening, efficiency of learner autonomy, a language barrier, blended learning, SpeakOut video podcasts, BBC Interviews.