Topic: Splendid Speaking Case Study
Peter Travis gives a background to the Splendid Speaking podcast.
This is adapted from an article that first appeared in the IATEFL CALL Review April 2007.

Page 1: Summary, Background and Aims
Page 2: Preparation and Interviews
Page 3: Conclusion

Conclusion
The project is now in week 20 and we have found it enormously rewarding both in terms of the relative technical simplicity in achieving a successful outcome and of course in the opportunity it gives us to communicate directly with students from around the world. It
should be pointed out that it can be quite time consuming producing each podcast. Arranging the interviews and the tasks can be completed quite quickly and the interview itself will only take 20 to 30 minutes. However, the editing of the recorded interviews, scripting of the introduction and the cutting and pasting of elements of the interview as
examples to be studied in the feedback section can take time. In total the production of each podcast probably amounts to around 4 or 5 hours of work per week. However, the time spent has been worthwhile. The podcast is currently achieving almost 2,000 downloads a day and looks to exceed our initial target. Feedback from both teachers and students has been extremely encouraging. During the course of this project it has become clear that students would appreciate the
opportunity to connect to other English learners for speaking practice and clearly there is clearly a demand for the many websites that now offer language learners the chance to connect with others through technology such as Skype. We have also had several students
who have expressed an interest in producing their own podcast, inviting colleagues or their teacher to offer feedback. We see this as a very exciting opportunity for language students: the ability to practice their speaking individually, one-to-one or in group discussions through VOIP technology such as Skype and to post a recording of this independently for review. The Flo-Joe website has recently seen an increase in the
number of students prepared to post written work to our forums in order that other students can peer review their work. Although posting audio files for review would technically be more demanding, experience of the Splendid Speaking podcast has shown that this isn’t too intimidating. The question remains whether students would find it
useful to create their own podcasts, a subject which may well prove the foundation of our next project.

References
Audacity
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Flo-Joe
http://www.flo-joe.co.uk
Flo-Joe Radio
http://www.splendid-learning.co.uk/podcast/
Odeo
http://odeo.com/
Podomatic
http://www.podomatic.com
PowerGramo
http://www.powergramo.com
Skype:
http://www.skype.com
The Splendid Speaking Podcast:
http://www.splendidspeaking.podomatic.com
Splendid Speaking (includes links to timetable and available student profiles)
http://www.splendid-speaking.com

Page 1: Summary, Background and Aims
Page 2: Preparation and Interviews
Page 3: Conclusion