Foucault with radio anyone?

This article presents a case study of a compulsory first-year undergraduate communication degree subject (Language and Discourse) that combines critical discourse analysis, genre and multimodality studies with the teaching of radio production. Using audio/radio as its primary focus, the subject is delivered to over 700 students per semester and aims to produce communications professionals whose everyday practice is informed by an understanding of how theory and practice work together. Described here are the rationale, pedagogical approach and early outcomes of this subject through qualitative research methods including interviews with key course designers, tutors and students. In this subject students produce genre-diverse radio/audio pieces that reflect an understanding of complex theoretical concepts, such as Foucault’s work on discourse analysis. The article concludes that radio has a distinctive part to play in the teaching of language and media studies to large cohorts of students using the skills and resources brought to the subject by a generation of digital natives.