The MATSDA Materials Writing Competition 2026

MATSDA is inviting submissions for a materials writing competition in which entrants will be asked to produce a complete unit of humanistic material for L2 learners. The unit should appear as it would in a published course and should:

• be designed to provide about three hours of activities for the learners following the course
• be addressed to the learners
• be designed to facilitate clarity and engagement through the use of spacing, staging, colour, choice of typeface, headings, symbols, illustrations etc
• be learner centred

The target learners can be of any age and of any level and be learning the target language for any purpose in any context.

The material should be humanistic in that it is learner-centred and ‘respects its users as intelligent and individual human beings with … experience of language use and life and which helps them to exploit their capacity for learning through meaningful experience’. It should include ‘activities which make the language learning process a more affective experience, finding ways to help learners to connect what is in the materials to what is in their minds and making the experience of using the’ unit rich, meaningful, personal and enjoyable (Tomlinson, 2023, p. 129).

Together with the unit, entrants should submit a rationale for the materials which provides information about:

1. their name and affiliation
2. the learners’ age(s), level, reason(s) for learning the L2 and context of learning
3. the objectives of the materials
4. the theories which have been applied in the development of the materials
5. the sources of any references, quotations and texts

Entrants can be individuals, pairs or teams and each developer should provide a brief bio of about 100 words. Anybody can enter but bots are banned.

The closing date for entries is December 31^st 2026 and entries should be sent as attachments to me at brianjohntomlinson@gmail.com  and copied to Hitomi Masuhara at hitomi.masuhara@gmail.com

The prizes for the winners will be presented at the MATSDA 2027 Conference at the University of Limerick and will consist of:

First Prize: £150 + an invitation to give a plenary presentation at the Conference + signed copies of books published by the plenary speakers

Second Prize: £100 + a signed copy of a book published by one of the plenary speakers

Third Prize: £50 + a signed copy of a book published by one of the plenary speakers

All entrants will receive priority status for:

• presenting at MATSDA 2027
• publication in Folio (the MATSDA journal)
• publication in a possible book of humanistic units of material

 

Reference

Tomlinson, B. (2023). Humanizing the coursebook. In B. Tomlinson (ed.). Developing materials for language teaching. (3^rd edn, p. 128-149). London: Bloomsbury.

 

Further Reading

Bell, D. and Tomlinson, B. (eds), (2026). Humanising Language Learning Materials. London: Bloomsbury Academic.

Bolitho, R. (2024). ‘Humanism in language teaching: Roots and practices. HLT Magazine.  https://www.hltmag.co.uk/apr24/roots-and-practices

Grundy, P. (2013), ‘Humanistic language teaching’, in M. Byram and A. Hu (eds), Routledge

Encyclopedia of Language Teaching and Learning. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 322–5.

Prabhavathy, P. and Mahalakshmi, S. N. (2016). ‘The development of the humanistic

approach in the English language’, Pune Research: An International Journal in English, 2(3),

1-9.

Weiss, R. E. (2000). ‘Humanizing the online classroom’, New Directions for Teaching and

Learning, (84), 47–51