Podcast Usage: Expanding English Learning of Undergraduate Student

Imam Tyas Sansinadi, Dwi Suny Wardhany, Winarkoe |13 Podcast Usage: Expanding English Learning of Undergraduate Student Podcast Usage: Expanding English Learning of Undergraduate Student Imam Tyas Sansinadi1, Dwi Suny Wardhany2, Winarko3 Magister Program of English Education Universitas Ahmad Dahlan Yogyakarta imamtyass@gmail.com1, dwi.wardhany@gmail.com2, winarko0996@gmail.com3 Abstract A podcast is an audio or video program that can be downloaded via the Internet to your mobile phone or computer in the form of an audio or video material. It is an interesting media that some people use to provide and share information. The use of Podcast is another enjoyable way to expand the learning of English. This allows both students and teachers to develop their quality of learning. The style can also be more interesting and fun, as students and teachers can explore new ways of learning. This study aims to analyze the benefit of using Podcast to enhance English skills for undergraduate students at Universitas Ahmad Dahlan. The method used in this research is a qualitative approach. The objects of this research are the undergraduate students of Universitas Ahmad Dahlan who have been using a Podcast in their daily life. The instruments used in this research are direct observations and semi-structured interviews. The process of data analysis is started by collecting data from direct observation and semi-structured interviews. Then, the results of data analysis are integrated into the descriptive form. The results showed that the undergraduate students of Universitas Ahmad Dahlan had a positive attitude towards Podcast as a tool/media to expand their ways of learning English. The use of Podcast can motivate them to learn English. In addition, it can also help them to increase their vocabulary and encourage them to speak and to correct their pronunciation.


Introduction
A Podcast is a program (music or talk) in the form of audio or video content available on the Internet that can be downloaded over the Internet to your mobile phone or computer (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). It is an interesting media that is used by some people to provide and share any information and entertainment.
Based on Geoghegan & Klass (2007) Podcast is going to get immediate interest from people who share the same interest. As the Podcast grows, so does the audience base. Through a Podcast, there are many choices of categories that can be heard in accordance with the users' interest such as sharing stories, tips, and Journal of English Teaching and Research information about that subject matter. This can be in the form of information and language learning itself.
As stated by Darwis (2016) the use of technology in language learning may vary, for instance, as a medium for teaching and learning the language. As the impact of the use of technology in education, nowadays, many students spend most of their time browsing on the Internet. One of the positive effects on this is students find it interesting and fun ways to be able to support their learning process, for example, by connecting to the Internet, they can find a certain learning application (apps on play store or app store) through their own mobile phone that can help them in English language learning. Besides, they can obtain learning materials from browsing on the Internet. The utilization of technology through the Internet has attracted student's interest in learning.
Many students said that learning English is difficult. They face some problems in learning English as a second language or foreign language.
Souriyavongsa, Rany, Jafre and Lai Mei (2013) conducted a study, on the reasons why students are poor in English language performance, it is said that the English language is difficult to learn due to students are not well-motivated, encouraged and gained learning strategy. So there are factors that make them unmotivated in English language learning. One of the factors in the difficulties of English Language Learning is students' lack of exposure to the English language after they leave school. This research has a purpose to inform that there is a fun, interesting way to make students get more exposure to the English language outside the classroom by listening to the Podcast. It can grow students' interest in English language learning and motivate them to improve their English skills. The scope of this study is a Podcast as a medium that students can use everywhere and anytime to help them in expanding their English language learning and to encourage them in improving their English skills.
Using Podcast or being a Podcast user is another fun way to extend English language learning besides watching movies or listening to music that uses English as a native language. Yaman (2016) explained that Podcast has provided audiovideo resources in the form of digital natives that can help students in their language studies so that students have their own option to extend their studies out of the classroom and improve their language skills on their own. In other words, As stated by Ramli (2018), "there are lots of Podcasts web that students are flexible to adopt and adapt according to their learning needs". They can find their interesting topic, take the favorite, relevant and useful information for their learning in every situation. It can bring the learning process to come out from the classroom to the learners' pockets. So, using Podcast is a revolution in the English learning process.
Some Podcasts, such as language courses contain several file formats, such as videos and documents to teach more effectively. Thus, Podcast users will hear a variety of interesting topics of their favorite categories to get the information. For English learners, by being a Podcast user it will be the way of expanding English language learning and develop English skills. Not only English listening skills that the user can improve, but also getting a new vocabulary, stimulating to imitate or to pronounce English words correctly, as well as stimulating English speaking skills.

Podcast
A Podcast is an audio -and sometimes also a video -a recording made available online. It's the words broadcast and iPod, an MP3 player for Apple.
Nevertheless, the word podium does not mean we need an iPod or even an Apple  (Deal, 2007).

English Language Learning
To master English language skills in a non-English speaking country like Indonesia is not easy because we are lack of exposure to the English language itself in everyday life. As said by Bustari, Samad, and Achmad (2017) that "in most of the non-native countries, for example, China, Vietnam, and Indonesia, most students may find speaking English at a good level of function is difficult". Not only speaking skills that students feel hard for mastering the English language, but also other skills such as listening, reading and writing. They face some problems in learning a foreign language i.e. English. The problems are found in the learning process. The problems are caused by internal factors and external factors. According to Chairunnisa, Apriliaswati and Rosnija (2017), the internal factors that caused problems for students in the difficulties to learn English are anxiety, demotivation, negative attitude, and low self-esteem. Whereas the external factors are lack of family support and unsupportive school environment. In addition, the use of English for interacting or communication and getting exposure to the English language in society are very rare. The learners only get exposure to the English language in the classroom. After they leave the language classroom, their mother tongue will be dominant in interacting with each other. As stated by Sa'ad and Usman (2014), one of the causes of poor performance in English is the dominance of the mother tongue.

Learning English through Podcast
To overcome those problems as mentioned above, both teachers and students must seek fun and interesting ways to learn a foreign language that can help us to master a foreign language, in this case, English. We live in the era of technology today where we can explore many things to improve what we are learning especially in learning a foreign language. Internet as one of the products of the technological advancement that affect the educational style nowadays. Dentzel (2013, par. 15) said that: "The Internet has clearly impacted all levels of education by providing unbounded possibilities for learning. People can use the Internet to create and share knowledge and develop new ways of teaching and learning that captivate and stimulate students' imagination at anytime, anywhere, using any device".
Based on the statement above, it can be understood that the utilization of the Internet has impacted education which provides no limits of possibilities in learning. By connecting to the Internet, people can create and share knowledge, also can find a new method for teaching and learning that can attract and motivate students using any device anytime and everywhere. Furthermore, a Podcast can help teachers or students to reach the goal of the learning process. Deal (2007) defines Podcast developments thereby establishing the emergence of a new era in the learning process. Teachers can provide assignments or teaching outside the classroom through this Podcast, while for students, Podcasts are very helpful in giving a deeper understanding of teaching English, the channels provided in the Podcast are very varied, the language provided is also diverse. Thus, understanding to learn English will become easier. One of the advantages of Podcasts, it can be downloaded through their mobile phone, so students can hear or learn through Podcasts anywhere and can be repeated without the Internet.
Some previous studies have discussed the use of Podcasts by students to improve listening or speaking skills in English. For instance, a study conducted by Bustari et al (2017) to the 30 second-grade students of SMA Negeri 11 Banda Aceh showed that by using Podcast, there was a significant improvement of the students' speaking skills performance after undertaking treatments. Another study conducted by Qasim and Fadda (2013) to 46 female Saudi EFL students in higher education showed that Podcasts can enhance students' listening comprehension better than traditional classroom instruction. Meanwhile, in this study, the researchers want to find out more about the use of Podcasts for the undergraduate students at Universitas Ahmad Dahlan in learning English that covers all skills.

Research Method
This research is descriptive with a qualitative approach. This method is able to assist the researcher to describe the use of Podcasts in mastering English as a foreign language in their environment (Utarini, 2000). The subject of this research is chosen using a purposive sampling method. It is not randomly chosen but it is based on a certain consideration established by the researcher. This is according to the inclusion criteria assigned by the researcher (Sarwono, 2006). In other words, the subjects are chosen based on the study objectives.
Data analysis is carried out after the process of data collecting and data organizing. The process of data analysis is started by collecting data from direct observation and semi-structured interviews. Then, the results of data analysis are integrated into the form of descriptive.

Results and Discussion
After conducting the semi-structured interview regarding the use of Podcasts in expanding English learning, the results showed that the undergraduate students of Universitas Ahmad Dahlan had a positive attitude towards Podcasts as one of the ways that can help them to learn English.

The undergraduate students of using technology (Podcast) in learning English
As we know, technology is very important in this era. Likewise in education, we can utilize existing technology. By using Podcast as Edu-Techno is to expand English skills. Many ways that we can use to improve English skills. The support of technology has made the students know the easy way to improve their English skills. Below are some statements from the participants. The participants' names were not mentioned but they were only initials, such as K.A., N.E., and so forth.

C.K. stated:
"It is a good way to improve our English skills. My listening and speaking can improve, also our pronunciation is automatically improved when listening to Podcast. Also, getting new vocabulary".
All the participants noted that using Podcast in expanding English learning was significant. They expand their English skills by using Podcast but they have different ways to do it. In this case, almost all participants like listening to music and hearing news to expand their English skills.

The benefits of using Podcast as the way of expanding English skills
After the researchers conducted a semi-structured interview with the participants with several questions about their experiences in using Podcast, all of them know what Podcast is and its uses. Some of them have only been using Podcasts within a few months, but some have used Podcasts for several years. From some statements made by the participants above, those show that the benefits of using Podcasts as a medium for learning English are one of the best ways at this time because they can use Podcasts anywhere via mobile phones which everyone must have a mobile phone. Furthermore, it can improve various kinds of English skills after using Podcasts in their daily lives. One of them is improving listening skills. As stated by Wiyanah (2015) that Podcast is one of the media which can help students comprehend the listening materials better. So this media can help students who want to improve their English skills anywhere and anytime through Podcasts.

Podcast has been one of the ways of expanding English learning
Some media can be used to help English learners improve their English skills such as learning English through watching movies, listening English songs, reading English literature (novel, short stories, poems, etc.) or in this technological era nowadays where the use of Internet access has grown rapidly, an English learner can use language-learning apps available on play store or apps store that also can help them in learning English. The Podcast as one of the technological From the data, the undergraduate students agreed that Podcast motivated them to learn English. Based on the undergraduate students' statements above, it indicates that listening to a Podcast can help them to increase their vocabulary, encourage them to speak and can help them to have English pronunciation better. This finding was supported by Hasan and Hoon (2013) who stated that to motivate students outside the classroom is sometimes difficult, but the use of Podcasts can assist this issue. This finding also correlated with the study conducted by Darwis (2016) which found that Podcast has motivated students in learning English because it has exposed them with an interesting topic and clear native pronunciation that makes learning more exciting.

Conclusion
The emergence of Podcast as one of the technological series has given the impact on the style of students' learning. It can ease students in the process of learning, especially in English language learning because many contents in a Podcast are presented in the form of English as a native language so that it can help students to learn English and get many exposures of English after they leave the language classroom. After researching in Universitas Ahmad Dahlan towards the undergraduate students who use the Podcast as one of their way in learning English, the findings showed that the Podcast has been used by them to expand their way of learning English. Podcast has been the media/ tool that they can use independently outside the language classroom to develop their English skills. The undergraduate students agreed that Podcast can motivate them to learn English.
They expressed that listening to a Podcast can help them to increase their vocabulary, encourage them to speak and to correct their pronunciation.
Furthermore, the benefits of Podcast are it can be downloaded and can be heard anytime and anywhere, it can be a media to get entertained besides enhancing English skills.