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2006) and are good revision tools (Evans, 2008), as they can be listened to outside
class and repeatedly so, which is important to develop automaticity (Alonso et al.
2005: 221). Other advantages of podcasts are that they allow for flexibility, they are
portable and they allow students to learn autonomously (Edirisingha, Salmon and
Fothergill, 2007). Finally, podcasting is sustainable as it is a low cost, low barrier
technology (Rosell-Aguilar, 2007).
The blog
The blog, for which I chose the easy-to-use Posterous platform which can be updated
via email, served mainly as a delivery platform, which allowed students to access the
podcasts and transcripts in a fast and simple way to either read and listen online or
download them to their computers or mobile phones for offline listening and reading.
I also occasionally provided additional exercises and links to useful websites.
Figure 2: Blog for the taxi English course on the Posterous platform

As can be seen in Figure 2, the blog had a search function (top right) so that students
could find the topics they were interested in reviewing easily. I also tagged each blog
post/podcast episode with relevant keywords, which were automatically listed on the
right sidebar of the blog under the heading ‘Tags’. Clicking on any of the tags
or keywords brings up a list of all the blog posts/podcasts with related content.

The blog also allowed students to subscribe to it via RSS, which informs blog readers
about new blog posts or podcast episodes and allows them to see the content with
so-called ‘aggregators’ or ‘RSS readers’ on the web, a computer, or on a mobile
device without having to visit the website itself. I did not specifically explain this
feature because my students knew when I would upload a new podcast. This feature
is more interesting for those who follow or subscribe to several blogs and podcasts.

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