Revisiting Linguistic Evaluation of ELT Coursebooks in the Era of AI
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18835734Keywords:
ELT coursebooks, linguistic evaluation, corpus linguistics, artificial intelligence, language teaching materials.Abstract
This study revisits linguistic evaluation of English language teaching (ELT) coursebooks in light of recent developments in corpus linguistics and artificial intelligence (AI). While traditional coursebook evaluation has largely emphasised pedagogical and practical criteria, emerging research highlights the need for more systematic analysis of linguistic content, including lexical, grammatical, and discourse features. Drawing on a structured review of previous studies, this conceptual investigation examines how corpus-informed and AI-supported tools have been applied to linguistic analysis of ELT materials and identifies key trends, challenges, and methodological gaps. The findings indicate growing reliance on automated lexical and syntactic analysis, alongside persistent limitations in discourse-level evaluation and theoretical integration. The study argues that AI-supported tools should function as analytical supports rather than autonomous evaluators and emphasises the importance of grounding data-driven analysis in established linguistic theory. This reconceptualisation contributes to a clearer methodological understanding of linguistic evaluation in the era of AI.
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