Advances in digital and communication technologies over the past decades have accelerated the development of educational platforms, apps, and content authoring tools. Today, the design and development of digital materials for language learning/teaching purposes are not as complicated as they were a decade ago. Language teachers with average technological knowledge can use online platforms and authoring tools to design relevant instructional content and learning activities for their classrooms. Despite these advances, technological compatibility with the structural features of different languages is still a challenge. A thorough examination of tools and platforms available for developing digital materials reveals that most of them are designed to support languages that use the Latin alphabet or include special characters, such as hànzì in Chinese or hongul in Korean. Persian script, on the other hand, as a less commonly taught language (LCTL) in the world, is either not supported in these platforms or is mistaken for the Arabic script. These challenges make the process of digital materials development for teaching Persian to speakers of other languages (TPSOL) a cumbersome task for ordinary teachers. The present chapter reviews these compatibility issues and highlights the specific structural features of the Persian language to be addressed in educational technologies to make the process of materials development for TPSOL more straightforward and realistic.

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Digital Materials Development for TPSOL, Persian Language Script, and Technological Compatibility: The Challenges

  • Fatemeh Nami

摘要

Advances in digital and communication technologies over the past decades have accelerated the development of educational platforms, apps, and content authoring tools. Today, the design and development of digital materials for language learning/teaching purposes are not as complicated as they were a decade ago. Language teachers with average technological knowledge can use online platforms and authoring tools to design relevant instructional content and learning activities for their classrooms. Despite these advances, technological compatibility with the structural features of different languages is still a challenge. A thorough examination of tools and platforms available for developing digital materials reveals that most of them are designed to support languages that use the Latin alphabet or include special characters, such as hànzì in Chinese or hongul in Korean. Persian script, on the other hand, as a less commonly taught language (LCTL) in the world, is either not supported in these platforms or is mistaken for the Arabic script. These challenges make the process of digital materials development for teaching Persian to speakers of other languages (TPSOL) a cumbersome task for ordinary teachers. The present chapter reviews these compatibility issues and highlights the specific structural features of the Persian language to be addressed in educational technologies to make the process of materials development for TPSOL more straightforward and realistic.