:: 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.