ABSTRACT
This study aimed to analyses the effects of podcasts on the listening comprehension of Ethiopian undergraduate learners. The samples involved two experimental groups of 60 pre-engineering first-year undergraduate learners at Arba Minch University, Ethiopia. They were selected non-randomly and assigned to two intervention groups, intervention group one (IG1) and intervention group two (IG2). The IG1 listened to the selected ELLLO podcasts while the IG2 listened to the same texts read by script readers and recorded as Ethiopian Instructors’ English accent (EIEA) podcasts. The t-test independent sample for mean result confirmed the homogeneity of the participants before the intervention; however, the t-test for paired result revealed that each of the groups improved their listening ability in post-tests. This result revealed that podcasts can improve listening comprehension ability of these groups. Besides, there were no significant difference between the mean score of the two groups in post-tests. Hence, listening to podcastswith different English accents has a positive effect on the listening comprehension of first-year undergraduate learners in Ethiopia. The overall findings of the study could be useful in teaching listening skills using podcasts, either using non-native or native speakers’ accents, to Ethiopian EFL first-year undergraduate learners.
