بکارگیری پادکستینگ بعنوان یک راهبرد انگیزشی برای بالا بردن انگیزه زبان آموزان ایرانی : نگاهی بر درک قدرت شنیداری

this study was conducted to investigate the impact of podcasts as a learning and teaching tool on iranian efl learners’ motivation for listening as well as on their listening comprehension ability. the study also investigated the learners’ perception towards listening to podcasts and examined whether the learners were likely to accept podcasts. out of fifty-five intermediate learners studying english at an institute in gonbad-kavoos, iran, thirty-four of them who were homogeneous in terms of listening ability were chosen as the participants in the main phase of the study. they were divided into two groups. the experimental group received the treatment i.e. podcasts, while the control group underwent the traditional practice. the results of data analysis revealed that the students in the podcasting group outperformed the students in the control group in their overall listening comprehension tests and in english listening comprehension motivation scale (elcms) as used to measure changes in the motivation of learners for listening. to triangulate the quantitative data, students views and reflections about the program were elicited via podcast contribution questionnaire and individual interviews. the results of analysis of qualitative data showed that students perceived improvement in their listening achievement. additionally, the qualitative data underwent thematic analysis and the major extracted themes i.e. listening achievement, learning by listening, learner choice and flexibility, and podcasts as a useful supplementary tool were discussed in detail. in sum, the findings suggest that listening to podcasts as a motivational strategy might empower learners learning of english listening, hence emphasizing the pedagogical potential of podcasts in efl classes. the results have some implications for curriculum development and teaching and learning of l2 listening.