Interactivity in digital language materials: analysis for the development of communicative competence in primary and ESO.
This study aims to systematically analyze the interactive digital materials (MDI) produced by commercial publishers, official bodies and educational institutions for the field of compulsory education (primary education and ESO) in the subjects of Spanish, English and Catalan. These MDIs include digital textbooks, interactive whiteboard (IWB) materials and materials for tablets, iPads, and interactive materials on the web.
Specifically, we are interested in the key dimension of MDIs: interactivity. We start from the fact that interactivity is the element that activates a type of learning in accordance with the educational and social demands of the moment. However, we consider that many existing materials do not take advantage of the educational potential of interactivity that MDI can promote, including activities that promote significant interactive learning and therefore develop the development of students’ communicative competence. Thus, we will analyze the interactivity of the MDIs as a constitutive element of the learning process, establishing criteria for the elaboration of future MDIs and for their evaluation by teachers with a view to their use in the classroom. As a result of the entire investigative process, it is our intention to make a contribution to “good practices” in the preparation of MDI.
To achieve the stated objectives, a mixed, qualitative, descriptive-analytical methodology will be applied. Ethnographic techniques will be combined in the analysis of the interviews with those responsible for editing the MDI to understand the implications of their development, with a qualitative and quantitative analysis based on the categories created for the description and categorization of the corpus of MDI.
This research work has its justification in the framework of the Escuela 2.0 program and in the considerable investment carried out by the central government and the autonomies in equipment, resources and digital materials. This investment will only contribute to improving the quality of education if the digital materials created are adapted to the curriculum, to the pedagogical and didactic budgets of the centers, and teachers in the specific field of languages, if they promote the communicative competence of students, including digital communicative competence. In the classroom, the materials are the axis that links the work of students and teachers and puts it in relation to objectives, content and evaluation. Therefore, we consider it essential to make an assessment of the existing language MDI, as well as to establish criteria for the creation of future interactive materials.
