Monday, April 28, 2025

Principles of AI-Supported Materials Development for Language Teachers

Principles of AI-Supported Materials Development for Language Teachers

Session Handout and Resources

-Mark Cormier, 2025



Introduction: This blog contains content, activities, and support material for a two-hour interactive workshop given at Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica Campus Coto on May 7, 2025 as part of their Didactics Seminar 2025 - Innovation and Technology in English Teaching event. 

Goals: 
  • Reflect on the role of the teacher as a materials developer.
  • Identify criteria for evaluating effective language teaching materials.
  • Explore a selection of interactive activity types that can be generated using AI.
  • Create a first draft of an original activity and accompanying materials using a flexible AI prompt template.

Guiding Questions: 
  • Why are teachers uniquely suited to develop materials for the classes they teach?
  • What are the qualities of effective language teaching materials?
  • How can I use AI to create effective language teaching materials?

Table of Contents

Click the links below to access the section of the blog you would like to see.










Topic 1: Warm Up - Getting Creative with Materials 

Talk to the person next to you. Consider the following materials. Choose one and think of all the creative ways you might be able to incorporate this resource in an English class. You have 3 minutes to brainstorm your ideas.

Post-It Notes


Beach Ball


Old Magazines

  • Going Further: How many creative ideas did you come up with? What does this suggest about the role of the teacher in the skillful development and use of materials to support learning?









Topic 2: Theory Input - Materials in Language Teaching

Let's start by reviewing some important concepts from the field of materials development in language teaching.


What are Materials?


Defining our Terms: Tomlinson defines materials as "anything which is used by teachers or learners to facilitate the learning of a language" (1998, p. 2). That's a pretty broad definition and it highlights the wide range of possibilities we have to incorporate resources in creative and engaging ways to support learning. McGrath (2016) goes further to specify two categories of materials.

  • Non-Verbal Materials: Realia, objects, photos, videos without language and other artifacts that can serve different teaching purposes like providing context, helping students understand meaning, and stimulating a spoken or written response.
  • Verbal Materials: Anything that contains language such as traditional worksheets, textbooks, and listening tracks or authentic content such as clips from TV shows, magazine articles, advertisements, and others.



What do Materials do?


Purpose: Tomlinson (2001) gives us a useful framework for describing the potential roles of language teaching materials.

  • Instructional Role: Materials can inform learners about the language. 
    • Examples: A grammar chart, a teacher-created presentation introducing new vocabulary, a list of words and their definitions, etc. 
  • Experiential Role: Materials can expose learners to language in use.
    • Examples: A listening, reading, or video that learners process while focusing on understanding the meaning.
  • Elicitative Role: Materials can stimulate learners to speak or write.
    • Examples: A text, audio, video, or image that learners discuss or respond to.
  • Exploratory Role: Materials can help students make discoveries about how the language works.
    • Examples: Guided discovery activities, inductive grammar activities, and others that help learners notice patterns and figure out rules.



What is Materials Development?

Texts and Tasks: Tomlinson defines materials development as "anything which is done by writers, teachers or learners to provide sources of language input and to exploit those sources in ways that maximise the likelihood of intake: in other words, the supplying of information about and/or experience of the language in ways designed to promote language learning" (1998, p. 2). This means it's not just a process of creating texts, but also designing tasks that learners will do with them.




Who should Develop ELT Materials?

Teachers as Developers: Most commercial materials and textbooks are written by a team of experienced professional writers. Their products are usually carefully organized and have a professional look and feel to them, but some criticize them as often being "insufficiently relevant and appealing to the actual learners who use them" (Tomlinson, 2013, p. 4). Because no writer knows your students and teaching context as well as you do, you are in a unique position to develop materials and tasks that better fit your students' needs and interests. Although some teachers feel a little insecure about their ability to produce their own course materials, Tomlinson (2013) argues that "teachers throughout the world only need a little training, experience and support to become materials writers who can produce imaginative materials of relevance and appeal to their learners" (p. 4).




What do Good Materials Look Like?

Need for Guidance: Because of their essential role in the learning process, teachers need to develop a critical mindset regarding the materials they use and create. Here are a few ideas which may help you develop your own criteria for effective materials.  

Nunan's Six Principles: Nunan (1988) outlines six principles that all materials should aim to achieve:
  • Materials should be clearly linked to the curriculum they serve. This means the materials we find or create must support students' achievement of the learning goals of our course, not just filler activities to pass the time. Can you think of examples of irrelevant or time-wasting materials?
  • Materials should be authentic in terms of text and task. This means the materials we find or create should reflect how language is really used and avoid grammatically correct but awkward examples like "Netflix is watched by the woman," just because you are studying passive voice. Can you think of other awkward or inauthentic uses of language in materials?
  • Materials should stimulate interaction. This means the materials we find or create should incorporate opportunities for students to collaborate in their exploration and use of the language. We often associate interaction with speaking tasks but nearly every kind of exercise can be transformed into a collaborative activity if students are encouraged to work with a partner to complete it. Can you think of ways that collaboration and speaking can be incorporated into activities like reading comprehension, grammar excercises, or vocabulary work? 
  • Materials should allow learners to focus on formal aspects of the language. This means the materials we find or create should help draw students' attention to how the language works including how sentences are constructed, how word families are formed using prefixes and suffixes, patterns of words (collocation), and other important features. Most traditional materials have, in my opinion, are excessive in their focus on formal aspects of language and don't give enough attention to exposure to language use and language production. What do you think about this? How can we find the right balance?
  • Materials should encourage learners to develop learning skills, and skills in learning. This means that the materials we find or create can help students use and improve abilities that can help them in other subjects besides English. Can you think of ways we can incorporate skills like critical thinking, soft skills, communication strategies, and metacognition in our lessons?
  • Materials should encourage learners to apply their developing skills to the world beyond the classroom. I understand this to mean two things. One, our materials should incorporate real-life examples of language use (advertisements, TV shows, letters, social media posts, etc.) and encourage learners to seek out opportunities to use language outside of the classroom. How do you think this could work in a country like Costa Rica where the first language of most people is Spanish?





Four Suggestions from Tomlinson: Tomlinson (1998) provides 16 recommendations regarding effective materials use. I chose to highlight four of my favorites below.  

1. Materials should achieve impact: This happens "when the learners' curiosity, interest and attention are attracted. If this is achieved there is a better chance that some of the language in the materials will be taken in for processing" (p. 7).
  • How: Materials can achieve impact through novelty, variety, attractive presentation, and appealing content.

2. Materials should help learners to feel at ease: "Most learners are more relaxed with materials that are obviously trying to help them to learn than they are with materials which are always testing them" (p. 7). 
  • How: Students can better connect with materials that are written in a friendly and personal "voice" that shares the characteristics of spoken language like: contractions, active voice instead of passive, personal examples and anecdotes, and inclusive language. 

3. Materials should help learners to develop confidence: We can do this with "activities which try to push learners slightly beyond their existing proficiency by engaging them in tasks which are stimulating, which are problematic but which are achievable too" (p. 9). 
  • How: You can improve students' confidence by incorporating some of their non-language skills into the design of your tasks such as having students use their imagination, creativity, and critical thinking.

4. Materials should not rely too much on controlled practice: There is no evidence that controlled practice activities lead to better long-term accuracy or fluency with the target structures but most commercial materials are disproportionately filled with them compared to more useful and enjoyable activities that promote language processing and use.
  • How: Keep controlled practice activities short and sweet. Drilling students on the same grammar topic with page after page of fill-in-the-blanks and conjugation exercises will put them to sleep and it won't make a big impact on their communicative abilities. 
 


Why am I Worried about Teachers and AI Materials?

Going Forward or Going Backward?: In today’s rapidly evolving technological landscape, free artificial intelligence tools allow teachers to instantly create an unlimited quantity of exercises and texts at the push of a button, giving the impression that we are witnessing the emergence of a new paradigm in education; one that will allow teachers to become less reliant on textbooks and other traditional sources of learning materials and empower them with more professional autonomy. However, if teachers do not have a critical understanding of the role of materials in language teaching and clear criteria that describe the qualities of effective materials and tasks, there is a real danger that they will simply rely on AI to continue producing excessive quantities of ineffective materials that do not engage learners and fail to provide them with the conditions needed to develop their communicative competence. 









Topic 3: Exploration - SLA Principles and Materials Development Strategies

Tomlinson (2010) describes six principles of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and materials development strategies connected to each one. I want you to review four of these principles and strategies. Click on your assigned link and read your principle and associated materials development tips. Then mingle with other people in the room and discuss the following:
  • What is your language learning principle?
  • What does it mean to you? What is your opinion about it?
  • How can we develop materials that are supported by this principle?
  • What is similar between our two readings?




 








Topic 4: Install an AI App on your Device 

For the second half of the session you will need access to an AI application such as ChatGPT (my preference) or Gemini. These tools are free but require you to have an account which you can quickly create using a Google, Microsoft, or email account. If you are using your phone, I suggest you install the application for best functionality:










Topic 5: Developing Quality Materials with Prompt Templates 

Here is a selection of materials and activity types that promote personal engagement, communication, and meaningful processing of language. They are all easy to reproduce, adapt, and personalize and they represent a more promising alternative in materials development compared to the generation and overuse of drills, matching, and other traditional language practice activities.


1. Jigsaw Reading and Speaking Activity

In a Jigsaw Reading and Speaking activity students are separated into groups and each group is given a unique text. They read and process the text with their classmates. Then the teacher mixes the groups up and students have to explain (without reading) the important parts of their text. It is helpful to provide a list of prompts or a graphic organizer that students need to complete as they interact with their partners. AI can be used to generate the texts and prompts you need for this kind of task. 


Prompt Template: Copy/paste the text below into an AI and follow the instructions to create the first draft of your Jigsaw Reading and Speaking activity! 


Task Specifications
Create a Jigsaw Reading activity for an English as a Foreign Language class. Jigsaw Readings are activities where students are divided in groups and each group reads a different text then shares the key information with students from the other groups during a speaking activity (e.g., a mingle task or expert group discussion). Each text should include 2-4 discussion questions to guide the speaking phase. Use accessible, level-appropriate language for the learners that will support their efforts to understand and communicate. Follow the format and content specifications below. If the user does not specify, use your own ideas.

Format Specifications
1. Number of texts: [e.g., 3 or 4]
2. Approximate word count for each text: [e.g., 75-100 words]

Content Specifications
3. Topic or theme: [e.g., daily routines, holidays around the world, famous inventors, environmental problems]
4. Student age group: [e.g., teenagers, adults]
5. Student proficiency level: [e.g., high beginner, low intermediate, B1, etc.]
6. Preferred tone and style: [e.g., informative, descriptive, narrative, persuasive, artistic, etc.]
7. Any specific cultural or regional context to include?: [e.g., characters from Costa Rica, include Latin American examples]
8. Vocabulary words and grammar structures to include: [e.g., any specific vocabulary words or grammar structures you want to be incorporated naturally into the texts]

Initial LLM Response
When this prompt is entered, you will acknowledge that you have analyzed and understood the user’s request and you will solicit from the user the seven format and content specifications you need to fulfill the request. Ask the user to provide one specification before you request the next. Give the user the option to pass if they don’t have a preference. If the user does not specify, use your own ideas.





2. Roleplay Cards

Roleplays are a popular speaking activity type in which students are assigned a role and they have a conversation with their partner based on a particular context. To support students in a roleplay, you can create Roleplay Cards that specify the situation, the specific roles and goals of each student, the structure and flow of the conversation, and useful words and phrases that students can use. AI can help you generate a first draft of a set of roleplay cards!
More about Structured Roleplays: CLICK HERE to access a blog post by my colleague Jonathan Acuña with more ideas about structured roleplay materials.

Prompt Template: Copy/paste the text below into an AI and follow the instructions to create the first draft of your Roleplay Cards! 


Task Specifications
Create a set of Structured Roleplay Cards for a speaking activity in an English as a Foreign Language class. Structured Roleplay Cards are a kind of reference document to support learners as they participate in a roleplay activity. It provides the context of the exchange, the roles and communicative goals of each speaker, a list of topics to explore, and a bank of useful phrases and vocabulary. Use accessible, level-appropriate language for the learners that will support their efforts to understand and communicate. Follow the format and content specifications below. If the user does not specify, use your own ideas.

Format Specifications
Create the Structured Roleplay Cards, one for Student A and one for Student B, in the following format:
1. Title: Creative title inspired by the theme in bold
2. Situation: A 50-75 description of the context in which the conversation takes place.
3. Roles: A brief description of the roles of Student A and B [e.g., Who they are, What they need, What they are trying to do, etc.].
4. Communication Stages and Prompts: Divide the scene students will perform into a sequence of 4-6 communicative acts with short phrases to prompt students [e.g., Greeting: Say hello and introduce yourself, Exploring the problem: Explain the problems with the computer system, Proposing solutions: Mention 2 or three possible solutions, Making a decision: Choose one solution and say why you prefer it, End: Thank your partner and finish the conversation]. Present these stages as a bulleted list.
5. Useful Language: Bank of relevant vocabulary, phrases, and discourse markers relevant to the context and content of the scene that students should attempt to incorporate.

Content Specifications
1. Topic or theme: [e.g., daily routines, holidays around the world, famous inventors, environmental problems]
2. Student age group: [e.g., teenagers, adults]
3. Student proficiency level: [e.g., high beginner, low intermediate, B1, etc.]
4. Any specific cultural or regional context to include?: [e.g., characters from Costa Rica, include Latin American examples]
5. Vocabulary words and grammar structures to include: [e.g., any specific vocabulary words or grammar structures you want to be incorporated naturally into the texts]

Initial LLM Response
When this prompt is entered, you will acknowledge that you have analyzed and understood the user’s request and you will solicit from the user the five content specifications you need to fulfill the request. Ask the user to provide one specification before you request the next. Give the user the option to pass if they don’t have a preference. If the user does not specify, use your own ideas.

Follow Up LLM Response
After you produce the first set of roleplay cards, ask the user the following request: I can create more roleplay cards with different situations but related to the same theme and language. Do you want me to do that now?





3: Discussion Map Speaking Activity

A Discussion Map is a reference document that students look at while they participate in a structured speaking activity in pairs. The document is divided into three or more subtopics that the students will explore in their conversation. Each subtopic has a list of useful vocabulary and phrases that they should try to incorporate into the conversation. There are also question stems and sentence starters to help students articulate their ideas. AI can be used to generate a first draft of a Discussion Map based on the topics and language points you are studying in class. 

Prompt Template: Copy/paste the text below into an AI and follow the instructions to create the first draft of your Discussion Map speaking activity! 


Task Specifications
Create a Discussion Map for a speaking activity in an English as a Foreign Language class. Discussion Maps are a kind of reference document to support learners as they participate in a structured conversation. It specifies specific subtopics to be explored as well as keywords and phrases, question frames, and sentence starters to help students articulate their own ideas.

Format Specifications
Create the Discussion Map in the following format: number, title, and communicative outcome of the subtopic in bold and large font. On the next line Keywords and Phrases: in bold followed by useful vocabulary separated by commas text not bolded. On the next line do the same for Question Stems. Next line is the same for Sentence Starters. Use accessible, level-appropriate language for the learners that will support their efforts to communicate. Follow the content specifications below. If the user does not specify, use your own ideas.

Content Specifications
(Required) Topic: [Insert topic here]
(Required) Learner Age Group: [Insert age group, e.g. teens, adults, kids]
(Required) Proficiency Level: [Insert level, e.g. beginner, low-intermediate, B1, etc.]
(Optional) Include these subtopics: [Insert sub topics or themes to explore, if any]
(Optional) Focus on this vocabulary: [Insert any key vocabulary or word sets to include]
(Optional) Include these language structures: [Insert grammar forms or sentence patterns to focus on]

Initial LLM Response
When this prompt is entered, you will acknowledge that you have analyzed and understood the user’s request and you will solicit from the user the content specifications you need to fulfill the request: topic, learner age group, proficiency level, and the three optional inputs (desired subtopics, vocabular, and language structures. Ask the user to provide one specification before you request the next. Give the user the option to pass if they don’t have a preference. If the user does not specify, use your own ideas.





4. Photo Generation Prompt

AI tools are very helpful for generating visuals to include in your materials. Here is a useful framework to create an effective prompt that will generate images that meet your needs. A good prompt should describe seven elements: subject, setting, mood, colors, style, perspective, and other specific details you want to see. 

  • Example: I used the prompt template below to generate an image with the following characteristics. 
    • Subject: A boy playing in the park
    • Setting: Sunny day, other kids playing in the background
    • Mood: Joyful and playful
    • Colors: Bright, natural
    • Style: Realistic
    • Perspective: Over the shoulder
    • Additional Elements: The boy is wearing a skateboarding helmet and elbow pads. 


Prompt Template: Copy/paste the text below into an AI and follow the instructions to create the first draft of your image!


Task Specifications
You are an AI assistant that will help the user generate an image that meets his/her needs following the content and format specifications below. If the user does not specify, use your own ideas.

Content Specifications
1. Subject - What is the main subject of the image?: [e.g., a lion in a tropical rainforest, a child holding a balloon, etc.]
2. Setting - Describe the environment or background of the image: [e.g., The rainforest should have dense trees, mist, and sunlight filtering through the canopy.]
3. Mood - What mood or emotion do you want the image to express?: [e.g., peaceful, dramatic, joyful, funny, scary, action, etc.]

Format Specifications
4. Colors - What colors do you want to see?: [e.g., bright, muted, dark, neon, pastel, specific colors, etc.]
5. Style - What artistic style do you want?: [e.g., realistic, cartoon, abstract, manga, watercolor, pixel, etc.]
6. Perspective - What angle do you want to image to have?: [e.g., eye-level, bird’s-eye, worm’s-eye, over the shoulder, close-up, medium shot, wide shot, etc.]
7. Additional Elements - Are there any other details you want to include?: [e.g., The lion is looking at the camera., The teacher is pointing at a map on the wall., etc.]

Initial LLM Response
When this prompt is entered, you will acknowledge that you have analyzed and understood the user’s request and you will solicit from the user the seven format and content specifications you need to fulfill the request. Ask the user to provide one specification before you request the next. Give the user the option to pass if they don’t have a preference. If the user does not specify, use your own ideas.






5. Structured Image Analysis Activities

You can also use AI to create a speaking or writing activity sequence in which students analyze, describe, and react to an image. The activity is divided into three stages. In the first stage, students react to prompts based on Barrett's (1976) Taxonomy of Reading Comprehension which has been adapted to help students process an image at five levels of comprehension:
  • Literal Comprehension
  • Reorganization
  • Inferential Comprehension
  • Evaluation
  • Appreciation
The next two stages involve language output inspired by the image. First students complete a brief creative writing task and they finish by participating in a collaborative speaking activity.  

  • Example 1 - Healthy Habits (AI Generated Image): CLICK HERE
  • Example 2 - Stages of Life (Uploaded Image): CLICK HERE

Prompt Template: Copy/paste the text below into an AI and follow the instructions to create the first draft of your Structured Image Analysis Activity!


Task Specifications
Create a Structured Image Analysis activity for an English as a Foreign Language class. Structured Image Analysis activities contain two stages. The first stage is based on Barrett’s (1976) taxonomy that describes five levels of comprehension of an image. In the activity students follow a series of prompts based on each of the comprehension levels to articulate their own description and understanding of the image. This stage serves as priming for the second and final stage in which students follow a prompt to participate in a creative writing and/or collaborative speaking activity inspired by the image. Follow the format and content specifications below.

Format Specifications
Generate a sequence of question prompts in simple, age and proficiency level appropriate language that encourage students to articulate their responses to the five comprehension levels described below. Include one or two questions for each level.
1. Literal Comprehension: Questions that deal with information explicitly visible in the image.
2. Reorganization: Questions that require analysis, synthesis, or organization of information explicitly visible in the image.
3. Inferential Comprehension: Questions that involve making connections and drawing conclusions even if not explicitly visible in the image like identifying implied meanings, themes, or speculations.
4. Evaluation: Questions that involve making judgement, justification, and reason.
5. Appreciation: Questions that elicit the viewer’s subjective feelings about the aesthetic qualities of the image and personal connection with the content or themes.

Then provide two follow up activities based on the image.
1. Writing Task: A short creative writing prompt and example text.
2. Collaborative Speaking: A short speaking activity with clear instructions that specify the communicative outcome and a brief list of useful vocabulary, phrases, question stems, and sentence starters.

Content Specifications
1. Image preference: [e.g., generate a new image now or upload a file]
2. Student age group: [e.g., teenagers, adults]
3. Student proficiency level: [e.g., high beginner, low intermediate, B1, etc.]
4. Lesson topic or theme: [e.g., sports and recreation, hobbies and pastimes, daily routines, etc.]

Initial LLM Response
When this prompt is entered, you will acknowledge that you have analyzed and understood the user’s request and you will solicit from the user the four content specifications you need to fulfill the request. Ask the user to provide one specification before you request the next. Give the user the option to pass if they don’t have a preference. If the user does not specify, use your own ideas.









Topic 6: Hands on Activity - Create your Task and Materials

Now it's time to try these prompts and create the first draft of your materials. Work with a partner. Choose one of the activity types and click the button below to copy the prompt. Then open ChatGPT or Gemini, paste your prompt, and answer the AI's questions to generate your activity. Be ready to share your activity, explain how it works, and any modification you will need to make to it before bringing it to the classroom. 












Topic 7: Final Thoughts

The Future is Now: In 2013 Tomlinson outlined his hopes for the future of materials development in language teaching. “The reality is that publishers will probably still play it safe and stick to what they know they can sell; but the hope is that a decrease in customer satisfaction and an increase in local materials development projects will help some of the following to develop:
  • Even greater personalization and localization of materials;
  • Greater flexibility of materials and creativity in their use;
  • More respect for the learners’ intelligence, experience and communicative competence;
  • More affectively engaging content;
  • A greater emphasis on multicultural perspectives and awareness;
  • More opportunities for learners with experiential (and especially kinaesthetic) learning style preferences;
  • More attempts made to engage the learner in the language learning process as an experienced, intelligent and interesting individual” (p. 12-13).

The capabilities of free generative AI tools allow teachers to make Tomlinson's vision a reality as long as they follow a principled approach to materials development that focuses on the needs and interests of the learners and is in alignment with what we know about how people actually acquire a foreign language. 

Practical Tips for Using AI in Materials Development: Here are a few of my personal tips and suggestions for anyone getting started with AI materials development.

  • Tip 1 - Quality Input Creates Quality Output!: A key skill in using AI is giving clear instructions and expectations in your prompt: 
    • Tell the AI exactly what you want.
    • Give it examples and define your terms (e.g., Create a jigsaw reading. Jigsaw reads are a kind of activity where...).
    • Upload reference documents that are similar to what you want. You can share a PDF or a screenshot of an exercise from a course book and ask the AI to create something similar.
    • Clarify your expectations when the AI misunderstands you. Working with AI is like having a conversation or negotiation.
  • Tip 2 - Develop your Toolkit of Quality Task Types!: Focus on getting good at creating a few types of materials that have high learning impact and replay value. This is beneficial for a few reasons:
    • It reduces your decision fatigue. You don't have to reinvent the wheel every time you plan a lesson. You can choose from a small selection of good task types that will serve your teaching purposes.
    • You become more skilled at creating effective prompts for this activity type that give you better quality materials.
    • Your students become familiar with the task type and can engage with it more quickly and naturally.
  • Tip 3 - Help AI Develop a Memory and Use it to your Advantage!: Start a new chat thread with the AI for each course or unit you teach so that you can have the AI recycle previously seen content:
    • Generate a text that incorporates the themes, structures, vocab, etc. that we have seen in this course.
    • Generate a quiz or practice exercise reviewing topics from two weeks ago.
  • Tip 4 - Make the Final Decision about what to take to your Classroom!: Look at AI generated content as the first draft which you need to edit before sharing it with your students.
    • AI is not perfect. It doesn't know your students and context better than you do.
    • Ask AI for multiple versions of any texts or activities you create.
      • Choose the ones you like and ignore the others.
      • Have AI combine two of them or mix elements from one and incorporate it into another.
      • Edit the texts and activities yourself.
      • Throw them out and create your own inspired by what AI created.
    • You are the materials developer for your classroom!









References:

Barrett, T. (1976). Taxonomy of reading comprehension. In R. Smith and T. Barret (Eds.), Teaching Reading in the Middle Class. Addison Wesley.

McGrath, I. (2016). Materials Evaluation and Design for Language Teaching (2nd. ed.). Edinburgh University Press. 

Nunan, D. (1988). Principles for designing language teaching materials. Guidelines, 10(2). 1-24.

Tomlinson, B. (1998). Materials Development in Language Teaching. Cambridge University Press.

Tomlinson, B. (2001). Materials Development. In R. Carter and D. Nunan (Eds.), The Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (pp. 66-71). Cambridge University Press.

Tomlinson, B. (2010). Principles of effective materials development. In N. Harwood (Ed.), English Language Teaching Materials: Theory and Practice (pp. 81-108). Cambridge University Press.

Tomlinson, B. (2013). Developing principled frameworks for materials development. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), Developing Materials for Language Teaching (2nd ed., pp. 95-118). Bloomsbury.








Session Details and Author Information


Session Title: Principles of AI-Supported Materials Development for Language Teachers

Session Abstract: In today’s rapidly evolving technological landscape, free artificial intelligence tools allow teachers to instantly create an unlimited quantity of exercises and texts at the push of a button, giving the impression that we are witnessing the emergence of a new paradigm in education; one that will allow teachers to become less reliant on textbooks and other traditional sources of learning materials and empower them with more professional autonomy. However, these new opportunities also call into question fundamental aspects of teacher identity and professionalism.
  • Will AI tools reduce teachers’ workload and support their practice or undermine their professional judgement and agency?
  • Will AI generated materials enhance the student learning process or simply perpetuate ineffective instructional practices?
Questions like these highlight the importance of teachers developing a critical perspective regarding AI and adopting effective guiding principles for using these tools to produce materials in alignment with what we know supports language acquisition and other pedagogical best practices. Participants in this workshop will explore a series of frameworks and principles from the field of materials development and experience how they can be used to generate high-quality, engaging language learning materials for a variety of classroom contexts.

Author: Mark Foster Cormier

Author Bio: Mark Foster Cormier is an English teacher and teacher educator who is passionate about materials development, reflective practice, and professional development in ELT. He earned a master of arts in TESOL from Marlboro College and bachelor’s degrees in English teaching and Latin American studies from Universidad Americana and Appalachian State University. Mark has been an EFL teacher in Costa Rica for 16 years and has specialized in teacher development for over a decade. He currently works as Head of Training and Professional Development at Centro Cultural Costarricense Norteamericano where he is in charge of new teacher recruiting and training, planning ongoing professional development initiatives, and hosting the monthly webinar series for language teachers called PD Talks: Professional Development Sessions. Click here to connect with Mark on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-cormier-elt/
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