Guidelines to Consider When Making ESL/EFL Podcasts

By Charles Kelly
Aichi Institute of Technology (Toyota, Japan)

Introduction

These are guidelines that I have been developing for myself in hopes of producing more useful and effective podcasts.  Other podcasters and potential podcasters should find these guidelines helpful.

Outline

  • General Guidelines for Any Podcast
  • Additional Guidelines for Educational Podcasts
  • Additional Guidlines for ESL/EFL Pocasts

General Guidelines for Any Podcast

Get the best possible sound quality possible.

  • Get a good microphone.
  • Record in a quiet place.
  • Avoid recording in places with hard walls that give a slap-back echo.
  • Speaking close to the microphone often gives good results, but not so close that you get distortion or "pops" on letters like "P".
  • Avoid hum, hiss, computer fan noise and other distractions.
  • Don't record with levels so high that you get clipping.

Make the podcast easy to listen to with headphones, even in noisy situations like when commuting on the train, shopping, driving in traffic, etc.

  • Be careful to keep the recording level constant so the listener doesn't need to change the listening volume.
  • Perhaps consider not using intro music (jingles), interludes and background music under the speaking since the listener may be listenng to music of his/her own choosing already.  Background music under the speaking often makes the speech more difficult to understand.

Keep the sound as natural as possible.

  • Don't use, or be very careful about adding sound effects.
  • Don't use, or be very careful about altering the sound -- things such as adding echo, time stretching, etc.

Make your audio file as small as you can.

Not only will smaller files conserve bandwidth, they will be downloadalbe by more people. Remember that there are still people who aren't using broadband
  • Make the audio file mono and not stereo if possible.
    • For most podcasts, mono is good enough and you can get the same quality sound with half the file size.
  • Encode the MP3 file at the lowest possible kbps.
    • 16 kbps may be acceptable for voice-only podcasts.  The quality is similar to what telephones deliver.
    • 32 kbps (mono).  In recent versions of iTunes this means you set the stereo rate to 64 kbps.
    • 48 kbps (mono) is perhaps the highest level you would ever need for just speech.  It's not so bad for music either.
    • 64 kbps (mono).  Some podcasters use this.
    • Experiment with these. Which is the lowest kbps that sounds acceptable to you?
  • Keep the time of the show as short as you can.  Don't include irrelavent things, longer than necessary intros, etc.

Tag your MP3 files.

  • Put in the Artist, Title, etc.
  • Just about any modern MP3 player will display these.
  • Just one note, unfortunately Apple's iTune software will replace some of your tags.  However, all other podcast aggregators that I've seen are more polite and do not alter what the producer of podcasts have put into the tags.

Use MP3 instead of WMA, RealAudio or ACC.

  • No matter what your own personal preference is, MP3 is the most compatible and usable by the widest audience.
  • It's always better to use open and universal formats when trying to reach a wide audience.

Edit the sound files before uploading.

  • Cut out the silence before and after the show.
  • Cut out long silences.
  • Cut out coughs and throat-clearings, etc.
  • Normalize the complete show.

Identify your podcast briefly and clearly in the RSS feed and in the MP3 file.

  • Your RSS feed description can be longer than what you say in the file.
  • I think it's best to announce the title of your podcast at the beginning and the URL at the end.
  • When listening to a series of podcasts, it's nice for the listener to know when they move on to another podcast and to know what that podcast is.
  • You want to be careful not to bore your regular listeners by saying your URL too many times.  That is why I think it's best to only say it once at the end of the show.  If someone has received the MP3 file, but doesn't know the URL of the website, he/she is unlikely to try to write down the URL before hearing the show, so there is no need to also include the URL at the beginning of the show.

Give your podcast a descriptive non-generic name.

  • Don't give your podcast a generic name such as "The Music Podcaast" or "The Grammar Podcast."  You can easily make generic-sounding names less generic by including a name such as "Charles Kelly's Music Podcast"or  "George Washington High School's Grammar Podcast."
  • Giving your podcast a descriptive name means people know what to expect  by just seeing the title.  "John's Study Podcast" is not as good a name as "John Smith's SAT Vocabulary Study Podcast."

Don't change the title of your podcast.

  • Remember that most, if not all, podcast software will put all your podcasts together if the title is the same.
  • There are reasons that you may need to change the name once.
    • If you have named your podcasts "The Daily English as a Second Language Podcast" and then later decide to do only one podcast per week, you should probably rename your podcast so people don't think you are being dishonest.
    • If you have a podcast with a generic-sounding name (as mention above), you should probably change the name.

Decide on the content you will offer.

  • Keeping this the same from show to show might be a good idea, since people who like what you offer are likely to return.

Decide on a schedule.

  • Some people consider regularly occuring podcasts to be more effective.
  • Others don't care, since the RSS feed delivers the new shows automatically.

If you feel you must include advertising, consider the following.

  • Pocasts ads should probably not be the same as radio ads or TV ads.
  • Keep the ad very short, otherwise the listener will just fast forward through them.
  • Change the wording for each podcasts, so your advertiser benefits. If you use the same wording, then the listener is likely to either get bored or "tune out."
  • Perhaps, something like the following would be effective: [Product name] [with this benefit] can be found at [URL]. Each podcast could mention a different benefit. If the company offers more than one product, you could even introduce differenct products. This kind of advertisement would be short enough so people won't reach for the fast-forward button and since you are telling the listener something new each time, he/she is more likely to listen.

Cut the off-topic chit chat.

  • If you are doing a technology show with a co-host, avoid the temptation to talk about your dog and family, etc.
  • Many otherwise good podcasts are spoiled by off-topic talking.
  • Listeners would rather hear a 5 minute on-topic podcast than a 6 minute podcast with 1 minute of off-topic talk.
  • Remember that this doesn't apply to podcasts that loosely string together assorted topics, since nothing is really off topic for that kind of podcast.

Listen to various podcasts and make a list of things you think they are doing wrong, then avoid these things.

  • We learn from mistakes, even if these mistakes are not our own.
  • Why did you decide not to listen to certain podcasts that you thought might be interesting when you first found them?

Avoid boring the listener.

  • Remember that you do not have a captive audience.  People can fast-forward through parts of the show, people can jump to the next podcast on their playlists.
  • Only include the bare minimum non-content material, so listeners don't have to fast-forward past boring stuff.
    • Don't include long "podcast ID" intros.
    • Don't include long "sign offs" at the end of the podcast.
  • Avoid advertising or keep it to the bare minimum.

Avoid losing potential regular listeners.

  • While some podcasts prosper using "offensive" language, if you are trying to reach the widest possible audience, then don't use words that you wouldn't use when giving a speech at an old folks home or at church.  The same is true for offensive topics.
  • It probably only takes one boring or offensive show (or part of a show), to lose a potential regular listener, especially the first time listener who only listened to that one show.

Conserve bandwidth.

  • Conserving bandwidth doesn't only save you money, but means visitors get faster access to your files.
  • Keep the file-size down.  
    • Encode your files in mono and at the what you consider the lowest acceptable encoding.
    • Keep the time of the podcast as short as you can.
  • Limit the number of MP3 files that get downloaded.
    • Only list one or two recent podcasts in the RSS feed.
      • Some podcast software may redownload files after a listener has deleted his/her local copy of the file.
      • This also limits the number of files new listerners or irregular listeners will download.
    • Limit the number of people who download the MP3 files.
      • Though you want a lot of people to listen to your podcast, you do not want excessive downloads by people just "checking it out" or people who download the podcast thinking it is something else. It may be better to post your link in directories aimed at your audience (like http://iteslj.org/links/ESL/Listening/Podcasts for ESL students) than to general directories like iTunes and some other large podcasts directories. 
      • If you really need to cut down the number of downloads, consider discontinuing your RSS feed.  This would mean that only those visiting your website would be downloading the MP3 files. (Note that some people do not consider downloadable MP3 files "podcasts" unless there is an RSS feed.)
      • There is also the possibility of not even publicly announcing your RSS URL. For example, a teacher could give the URL to his/her students on a blackboard.

Additional Guidelines for Educational Podcasts

Educational podcasting should be cooperative and not competitive.

  • Though I'm sure you've probably heard various (non-educational) podcasts bragging about how they are on the top of the list at such-and-such-dot-com or are on the top ten list in iTunes, you will (or at least should) probably not hear this kind of thing on educational podcasts.
  • Wouldn't it be great if we had a wide range of podcasts that might appeal to various ESL students.
    • If you are planning on starting a podcast, don't try to duplicate (or even make a better version of) something that exists, but try to add to the variety of what is already available.
    • We already have the (daily) Breaking News Podcast, the (almost) Daily Idiom Podcast, the Way We Say It (set phrases etc.) Podcast, the Jokes in English Podcast and the Learn a Song Podcast.
    • There are so many other possibilities: Sentence Pattern of the Day, Travel Survival Tip of the Day, How to Do Things in America (UK, Australia, etc.), Let's Learn American (Australian, Irish, etc.) Slang, Grammar Tip of the Day, Listen to a Story, History Lessons in Simplified English, perhaps even podcasts aimed at a smaller audience would be good, such as a podcast for ESL musicians (cyclists, mathematicians, etc.).

Additional Guidelines for ESL/EFL Podcasts

Make podcasts assuming that each show will be listened to more than once.

  • ESL students are likely to want to relisten to the files.
  • Keep them short, so they are easy to listen to more than once.
  • Focus on one thing per show, so they make nice entries on playlists.

Don't include things that interfere with understanding.

  • Don't include background music under the talking.
  • Don't include sound effects (or at least keep them to a bare minimum.)

Speak with natural intonation and rhythm even when speaking slowly.

  • I believe that it is acceptable to pause at natural phrase breaks a little longer than normal to allow students to digest the information, but pausing between each word leads to unnatural intonation and rhythm.  The Voice of America Special English announcers, who have been doing this kind of thing for years, usually manage to maintain a fairly natural intonation and rhythm while speaking slowly, by pausing only at natural breaks.
  • Note that sometimes speaking at a regular speed, but making the pauses between phrases a bit longer, is all that is needed to make what you say more understandable.

Include the script (the text) of the podcast on the website.

  • This allows students to easily look up words they don't understand.
  • It may also allow students to use the material in ways that the podcaster hasn't considered.
  • Hearing impaired students can also benefit from your material.
  • Search engines can help people find your podcasts.

Don't speak unnecessarily slowly.

  • If you have included the script (the previous suggestion), then perhaps there is less of a need to speak slowly.
  • However, there is nothing wrong with speaking a little slower than you usually do.  You probably know a lot of native speakers who normally speak slower than you do.  Aiming at somewhere near that speaking speed might not be a bad idea.

When possible, use a limited vocabulary.

  • Why make a podcast aimed at ESL students, if it's not much different than the "mainstream" podcasts?

Don't just do another podcast very similar to ones already aimed at native speakers.

  • There are many of these already out there.  Just find one and refer your students to them.
  • Doing a podcast similar to one that is aimed at native speakers, but using a limited vocabulary or speaking a bit slower would be offering something new.

Make short podcasts.

  • Why make long lessons, the kind of things students can already find on CD's or radio?
  • Think like a student.  Which would you listen to first, a 2 minute short lesson or a 2 hour lecture?
  • It's easier for the listener to commit himself/herself to a short amount of time.
  • Wouldn't it be great if there were various short podcasts that ESL students could pick and choose from to make up their own personal cocktail of daily listening.

Make podcasts using only English.

  • Though I'm sure there are many good potential bilingual podcasts, if you make your podcast only in English, more people can benefit.
  • This means your web page should only include English, too.
  • The exception, is a podcast aimed only at a smaller niche, for example first-year Japanese high school students studying English.
  • One thing to avoid is the following.  I once heard a podcast in which the announcer introduced his podcast in Japanese, then went on to do most of the rest of the podcast in English, occasionally throwing in Japanese words to explain easy English words, but never to explain difficult English words.  Any Japanese student that could understand the difficult parts of the podcast that were not explained in English, definitely would not need the Japanese definitions for the easy words.  If the announcer had only used English, students all over the world could have benefited from his podcast.

A Sample Podcast of Mine

For those who are interested, this is a breakdown of a recent podcast, showing the time required for each of the 6 parts.

http://www.manythings.org/songs/
Let Me Call Your Sweetheart
  • 1. Intro, Podcast ID = 0:04 seconds
    •  "You are listening to the Learn a Song Podcast"
    •  NOTES:
      • If you load a bunch of podcasts on their pod (MP3 player), I think it's useful to know when the next podcast has begun and what it is.
      • I don't give the URL here, since it's at the end. A listener is not likely to write down a URL until after they've heard the show. There is no need to include it more than once per podcast.
      • I could include a podcast theme song, but I don't. (I find these irritating when listening to podcasts, since they force me to push the fast forward button.)
      • I could give more info during the intro, such as my name, who the podcast is designed for, the episode number, etc., but I don't.  This information is on the website and would become boring if repeated over and over again from podcast to podcast and would probably be irritating if the listener listens to the same show over and over--something an ESL student would likely want to do.
  • 2. Explanation of what to do  = 0:02 seconds
    •  "Please listen and repeat."
    •  NOTE: 
      • Brief and to the point in language every ESL student understands.
  • 3.  The "Listen and Repeat" section  = 1:18
  • 4. Explanation on what to do next = 0:06
    •  "Now let's sing the whole song.  To make it easier I will prompt you with the words."  (Note that the 2nd sentence is actually spoken over the musical intro to the song, so it doesn't really require extra time.)
  • 5. The complete song = 0:55
  • 6. Sign off, giving the URL. = 8 seconds.
    •  "This podcast comes from www.manythings.org/songs."
    •  NOTE:
      • A regular listener, perhaps doesn't need this, but I think it's a good idea to include this in case someone receives the file from another listener, or can't remember where the podcast is.

References


Copyright © 2005 by Charles Kelly. All rights reserved.