Feature article: ELT materials

After providing a working definition of ELT materials that encompasses both commercial and noncommercial instructional resources, I differentiate between studies of materials content, consumption, and production, reviewing notable studies of each type, most of which have appeared in the pages of TQ. Studies of materials content are classified into studies of erasure, representations of culture, critical discourse analyses, and corpus-based research. Studies of materials consumption focus on studies of teachers and learners creating, using, adapting, or subverting materials. Consumption studies also focus on the use of innovative curricula and the acquisitional effectiveness of the materials. Studies of materials production can be cognitive, focusing on the process of materials writing, or ecological, paying fuller attention to the contextual environment within which the materials are produced. I close by outlining the pedagogical implications of my survey of the literature, and proposals for future materials research projects.