This presentation examines how audio editing in L2 podcast production sparks language acquisition beyond traditional speaking practice. Drawing on open-ended reflections from 103 university students in an EMI media studies course, we demonstrate how technical editing decisions become opportunities for language hypothesis testing.

Students answered four reflection prompts after producing podcast episodes. Using inductive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006), three teacher-researchers, working in pairs, independently coded responses by question. Based on preliminary codes, we collaboratively developed a codebook with defined categories (Nowell et al., 2017) and maintained reflexive audit trails. Average interrater agreement was 74.6%, with discrepancies resolved through discussion.

Emerging themes showed relationships between editing difficulties, collaboration, and perceived utility for English learning. As students determined whether recordings “sounded right,” they engaged in critical listening and gained awareness of how to improve their English. Technical challenges increased motivation and investment through authentic purpose, editorial autonomy, and the desire to produce polished work.

Findings echo Kuhn (2015) on collaboration and Azizi et al. (2022) on podcasting’s value for linguistic output. Podcast editing fosters metacognitive awareness and supports language refinement, offering a meaningful context for L2 development. Implications for integrating technical skills into language learning curricula will be discussed.