Critically minded podcasts: An interactive curriculum

Abstract

In an effort to improve intermediate and advanced foreign language learners’ critical thinking skills regarding the understanding of argumentative and persuasive passages without taking up excessive class time, podcast delivered content and text reconstruction exercises were introduced. However, the challenge of implementing these additions into the syllabus in such a way that content delivered outside the classroom remained relevant to what occurred in the classroom was considerable. In order to maintain cohesion between out-of-class and in-class experiences, text reconstruction exercises were designed to raise learner awareness of explicit podcast content. While the authors found that the increased learner involvement made up for the limitations of the software, the design and implementation of these exercises raised some interesting questions regarding software inflexibility, its use, and the rationale behind the location of text-breaks.