Using authentic podcasts in Spanish in students' extracurricular activities in a non-language higher education institution

The article addresses the potential of authentic Spanish-language podcasts as teaching materials. The research mainly aims to outline the possible ways of using authentic Spanish-language podcasts in extracurricular activities of senior students. The objectives pursued within the framework of this aim are as follows: to examine the concept of authentic podcast as a teaching material, to identify the distinctive features of independent work with podcasts, to elaborate the criteria for selecting podcasts, and to give practical recommendations for working with them. The methodology of the research consists in systematising and summarising the experience gained in the field of using podcasts in language teaching, as well as in selecting, systematising and interpreting Spanish-language materials available on audio streaming services. The authors of the present research analysed free online podcast listening platforms (Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts) and selected Spanish-language non-adapted podcasts with didactic potential. The authors used three criteria for selection: the duration of the episode varies between 15 and 30 minutes; the episode has a heterogeneous structure; the speech in the episode is characterised by a neutral accent. The selection results generated a list of non-adapted podcasts that can be used in extracurricular activities, such as "Hoy en El Pas", "Manana empiezo", "Acontece que no es poco", "Picasso. La forja del genio" and "Tu eres tu lugar seguro". The authors prove that the integration of authentic podcasts into the educational process as part of extracurricular activities corresponds to current trends both in Spanish language teaching and in the educational environment in its current stage of development. Putting special emphasis on the student's personality, interests, background and life experience allows not only to boost motivation to learn Spanish, but also to gradually turn the process of interacting with Spanish-language content into a part of students' everyday life, which is essential for maintaining the general level of language proficiency. The provided algorithm of selecting authentic podcasts and integrating them into extracurricular activities can be used directly in the learning process, as well as in the implementation of individual educational trajectories. The experience of extracurricular activities supervised by the teacher and subject to subsequent reflection can be successfully implemented in the process of student's independent interaction with Spanish-language content. The authors declare no conflicts of interests.

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