MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNING THROUGH ONLINE RADIO

Radio is the means of communication with the best adaptation to ICT changes, integrating its routine to the internet. Since the European Parliament urged the governments of member states in 2008 to enforce actions that advocate for media literacy programmes, especially in schools, there has been a development in Spain for technological modernisation, which instead of seeking an establishment in media education, has been aimed at providing technological infrastructures to schools. Ultimately a “simple” technology translation. Society in the 20th century is characterised as multicultural and multilingual as a result of cultural and human diversity. Bilingualism is the rule rather than the exception, meaning that a great part of the world’s population is able to communicate in more than one language. But being exposed passively to a language is not efficient when trying to learn it. Social interaction is fundamental to acquire the sounds of a language. An education of the 21st century must improve the way languages are learnt and used, starting with our own, and a communicational approach might be the key. Of all the existing language teaching methods throughout history since the 18th century, those oriented towards achieving communicative proficiency stand out. Reaching a “hearing education” could be obtained thanks to the radio, for the means enables speaking, benefits listening, stimulates imagination and allows the sound’s quality and typology to be understood. In this sense, we need to consider how to improve language teaching and learning for both foreign and official languages in Spain, and more specifically, the ability required for speaking. This is the context in which the school Radio at the secondary school IES Mediterrània in Benidorm appears. This online radio is proposed as a motivational tool to favour language learning in a multilingual and multicultural environment like Benidorm in a moment in which new generations are not only originators, but also producers and prosumers of mass media. It is an educational project, aimed at students between 12 and 18 years old, who play the role of journalists in front of the microphones, reaching an integrated treatment of the four working languages (Valencian, Spanish, English and French). News, interviews and cultural spaces are some of the programmes designed by themselves that can be heard on IVOOX and on the center’s website. Thirty-two programmes have been recorded so far in the languages used in the center (Valencian, Spanish, English and French). The creation and recording process of a radio programme implies working with the four competencies, both oral and written, when drafting scripts, searching information about the chosen topics and recording them (listening and writing comprehension and production). The programmes are broadcasted live weekly on the internet through the streaming programme and with recorded audios (podcast). Among the people taking part in the project we can find students with Asperger’s Syndrome, Autism, Cerebral Palsy and Down Syndrome. The radio has allowed them to be empowered like the young people they are, autonomous beings with their own initiative.