Podcasting and learning a language - how does that go together?

Very nicely! Especially when it comes to practising pronunciation, podcasts are a unique and effective learning method. Recording your own podcasts forces you to actively produce the language, which strengthens your speaking skills and integrates correct pronunciation into your own language use.

This active speech production helps to internalise the correct sounds and intonation. After recording, you can listen to the podcasts and analyse your own pronunciation. This self-reflection makes it possible to recognise specific weaknesses and work on them in a targeted manner. This increases your self-confidence when speaking and helps you develop a more natural and fluent way of speaking.

Normally, students in the B1.2 course (intermediate level) prepare a classic presentation on a specific topic. As the podcast studio opened in the university library this semester, we ventured a new approach in the course. The idea of recording a podcast was very well received by the participants, as the short audio formats are currently very popular internationally.

And the results were immediately presentable? Pronunciation doesn't always come easily to many learners of German...

No, it took a lot of practice to get a good result - but I think practising while podcasting was a lot of fun. In fact, pronunciation is a practice session in its own right. Not every student has the confidence to speak loudly and clearly in class and formulate their ideas in German. The interaction during podcasting with two hosts helped to overcome this hurdle.

The excellent technical equipment in the podcast studio made production much easier and enabled the students to achieve professional results. And that provides additional motivation! A total of 17 podcast episodes have been produced, which deal with sustainable production and consumption.

The German course is currently taking place for students at TUBAF and soon the students of the University Alliance EURECA-PRO (European University on Responsible Production and Consumption) will also be added. The study programmes relating to sustainable production and consumption also aim to improve the language skills of members of the university alliance. How does the German course manage to combine the two?

By having the participants think about which aspect of sustainability they want to talk about and what linguistic means they can use to do so. For one of the podcast episodes, for example, the students conducted an experiment: They counted their possessions and realised that they owned too many clothes and shoes. This led to discussions about how to reduce consumption and live more sustainably - even outside the podcast studio.

Another exciting topic was analysing advertising language. The students examined how advertising influences and manipulates them and discussed whether certain advertising messages tempt us into wasteful behaviour. This critical analysis helps students to scrutinise their own consumer habits.

Will other student groups in the language course now produce their own podcast?

Yes, that would be great. The concept has proved successful for me and I will continue it in other courses. Of course, this depends on the language level of the students.