Fostering Intercultural Competence and Language Skills through Collaborative Podcasting

Abstract

This article examines an ongoing collaboration between the Tourism Management programs at Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences and the University of Cádiz. Forty students, learning Spanish or German at A2–B1 level, jointly created podcasts focused on tourism-related topics in their respective home cities and countries. Grounded in task-based language learning (Ellis, 2003) and intercultural communicative competence (Byram, 1997), the project integrates linguistic development and intercultural awareness through student-centered collaboration. The initial data collection included an exploratory survey of students’ podcast habits and their perceived role in language acquisition and cultural mediation, aligning with research on mobile-assisted language learning (Burston, 2014) and the pedagogical potential of podcasts in second language education (Llinares et al. , 2018). The project combined online sessions with two mobility exchanges in Cádiz and Frankfurt, providing students with classroom learning and cultural experiences that culminated in the creation of tourism-themed podcasts. Collaboration was scaffolded through the CampUAS Moodle platform, enabling synchronous and asynchronous interaction, peer feedback, and instructor support, in line with principles of computer-supported collaborative learning. Funded by Erasmus+, the initiative is currently in its evaluation and post-production phase. The finalized podcasts will contribute to students’ oral examinations and will be published on the University of Cádiz website as open educational resources