Chapter Five Conclusion  25 

5.1 Major Findings  .  25 

5.2 Implications  25 

5.3 Limitation and Recommendations for Future Research   29 

References    31 

Appendix    33 
Effects of Podcast on the Motivation of   College English Learning  Chapter One Introduction
1.1 Research Background We are now in the  Internet Era. The appearance of  the  Internet has brought remarkable changes to our life style, work style as well as study style, especially in the field of  language teaching and learning. Since late 20th century, with the wide application of Internet technology in English teaching,  web-based autonomic   language learning has become a crucial part of the English teaching reform. According to the new College English Curriculum Requirements released by the Ministry of Education in 2007, reforms are  inevitable in existing  teacher-centered pattern of language teaching. And a new kind of multimedia-assisted and Internet technology-based teaching model has emerged as the times require. In some ways, the purpose of the  reform is to free language teaching from the limitations of time and place and to form a student-centered autonomic language learning model.   Podcast-based language learning has the potential to bring changes appealing to the requirement.  Since Adam Curry, known  as Podfather, launched his show Daily Source Code  in 2004,which is commonly believed to be the first podcast published online, a new way  of  transmission online appeared. Then  a community of pioneer podcasters  followed. These  years witness the growing maturity  and development of podcast technology. At the same time we have seen that more and more educational podcast applied in English teaching. “Podcast” is roughly ten years old, and the genre seems more alive than ever.   Nowadays podcast is easily accessible to by using some podcast software.
Also, podcast  is  simply more professional compared to amateurish one  in the past. Compared to traditional learning materials,  podcast  can provide rich and authentic language learning resources in the form of video, audio or PDF, etc. Thus  language learners  can have  a larger  choice  of learning materials  and  higher English learning interest. Besides, in such a podcast-based environment,  student-oriented learning mode will be created, during which the learners’  autonomic  learning ability is emphasized and cultivated. They  can choose learning materials that fit their own language proficiency and learning pace  and  learn language via computers or some other mobile devices according to their  own  time plans and learning needs. The interactive learning via podcast is another advantage. However, as a part of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL), research conducted on podcast, an emerging medium, is still in its early period, especially the study on the motivation of EFL learners in the use of podcast.