MATSDA is a non-profit making international
association, which was founded in 1993 by Brian Tomlinson to bring together
researchers, publishers, writers and teachers to work together towards
the development of high quality materials for the learning of languages.
:: Conferences
MATSDA holds conferences which focus
on issues related to the development of language learning materials.
Such conferences have been organised in Buenos Aires, Cambridge,
Canterbury, Colchester, Cordoba, Dublin, Durban, Tokyo, Leeds, Limerick,
Luton, Nottingham, Saffron Walden and Singapore.
:: Workshops
MATSDA has organised materials development
workshops for teachers and curriculum developers in Argentina, Botswana,
England (Ilkley, Totnes, Whitewell, Ingleton, Slaidburn), Japan,
Mauritius, The Seychelles, South Africa, Turkey and Vietnam.
:: Folio
MATSDA publishes a journal, FOLIO,
twice a year. This journal focuses on theoretical and practical
issues related to the development of language learning materials.
:: Books & Publishing
MATSDA acts as a consultant to textbook
projects and has done so in Bulgaria, China, Malaysia, Ethiopia,
Morocco, Namibia and Singapore.
MATSDA has published books. Tomlinson,
B. (ed.) 1998 Materials Development in Language Teaching, Cambridge
University Press (revised version in press). Tomlinson, B. (Ed.)
2003. Developing Materials for Language Teaching, Continuum Press.
Tomlinson, B (Ed.) 2008 English Language Learning Materials –
A Critical Review, Continuum. Most recent book is Tomlinson, B.
and Masuhara, H. (Ed.) 2010. Research for Materials Development.
Continum Press.
We are neither attached to L2
materials publishers nor constantly 'knocking' them; we believe that
published and self-produced materials
can co-exist
happily in the language classroom. We hope to help teachers become
more confident in producing their own materials and, at the same
time, encourage
publishers to take account of ideas outside the mainstream.
:: Members
As well as having many members from Britain,
MATSDA has members from the rest of Europe (Austria, Bulgaria, Germany,
Holland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden),
from North America (USA, Canada), from Africa (Madagascar, Mozambique,
Namibia, South Africa, Sudan) from the Middle East (Oman, United
Arab Emirates), from Asia (India, China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea,
Malaysia), from South America (Argentina), and from Australia.
We hope that
this website will bring together members and non-members
around the world in a spirit of co-operation. MATSDA's future
is very much as an international organisation.