materials development, digital materials, EFL, ELT
This chapter offers an overview and analysis of the impact of digital tools on language learning materials. For context, it first of all provides a rough sketch of the current landscape of technology use in language learning, with the caveat that writing on technology can have a short shelf life (Chun, Kern, and Smith, 2016); advances in digital technology outpace the print medium.
It then homes in on the business of the chapter and seeks to define what we mean by ‘materials’ in the digital age. The parameters of materials have expanded since the advent and use of digital tools in language learning, to the point where it can be hard to separate the ‘material’ from the ‘tool’ that is generating it. The chapter attempts to disentangle ‘technologies/digital tools’ from ‘materials’ and sets usable parameters for ‘digital materials’ for application in subsequent evaluation analysis. In this section and throughout the chapter, theoretical discussions are supported by illustrative samples of technologies and technology-mediated materials.
A refrain from practitioners ever since technology came on the language learning scene is that it is essential not to ‘put the technological cart before the pedagogical horse’, i.e. not to be dazzled by technology to the extent that we lose sight of the fundamental role of language learning materials. The next theoretical section of the chapter examines how the basic principles of second language acquisition hold up or, it is argued, evolve, when learning takes place in radically altered learning environments (via digital tools, online etc.). This will inform the choice of an established set of evaluation criteria for technology-mediated materials which will be used in evaluating what Tomlinson and Masuhara 2017 call ‘materials delivered digitally’ (p.171), i.e. commercially available courseware and materials found on course book companion websites and reputable portals such as the BBC and the British Council.
The chapter, finally, includes a (small-scale) meta-analysis of the chapters on materials development and technology published over the previous (7) years. This serves to contextualise this chapter itself and to offer useful further reading for readers.