Taking EFL Textbooks Digital ― What, Why and How?
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE Taking EFL Textbooks Digital ― What, Why and How? Maxim WOOLLERTON Summary The future of publishing, including educational publishing, is digital. The transformation has already begun and will likely accelerate because of clear advantages driving this change in the developed world. There are still significant challenges that are hampering this process, however. This paper looks at the motivating factors of the various stakeholders, the technical, commercial and pedagogical challenges, and what options are available for authors and publishers who wish to go digital. Keywords English, EFL, publishing, textbook, digital, conversion, software, hardware 1. Introduction The future of publishing, including educational publishing, is digital. The transformation from paper and ink to software and hardware has already begun. Over the coming years, it is likely that this evolution will continue and perhaps gather pace. There are clear advantages in going digital that are driving this change and some of the barriers that have impeded it are beginning to fall away. It is not necessarily the case everywhere, but at least in the parts of the world where sufficient investment has been made in the telecommunications infrastructure to allow fast Internet data transfers ― 313 ― to occur and where there has been a sufficient development of digital commerce, it is true that digital publishing brings many advantages. Educational publications, especially those to do with language learning, present a more difficult challenge to convert into a digital format than other types, however. This paper will, therefore, first examine the reasons that may motivate stakeholders to support the conversion of educational materials from print to digital format.
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