Textbook 4.0 – From Paper-Based Textbooks with Digital Components to Interactive Teaching and Learning Environments

1. On the Genesis of This Volume

In January 2020, the first Round Table on Textbook 4.0 took place at the Herder Institute of the University of Leipzig. The reasons for choosing the title of the Round Table were twofold: Firstly, we wanted to recognize that the textbook – even and especially in its paper form – continues to be a central element in foreign language teaching. Nonetheless, the textbook is in transition, both in terms of its conceptualization and its realization. Therefore, we also borrowed the version number ‘4.0’ from the field of software development to emphasize that new system solutions are and must be considered. In addition, in economic discourse, ‘4.0’ stands for a fundamental process of innovation and transformation in industrial value creation. The guiding principles of this transformation are new forms of doing business and working in a global, digital ecosystem: Today’s rigid and firmly defined value chains are being replaced by flexible, highly dynamic, and globally interconnected value creation networks with new types of cooperation. Data-driven business models put customer benefits and solution orientation in the foreground and replace product centricity as the dominant paradigm of industrial value creation. Availability, transparency, and access to data are key success factors in the networked economy and play a decisive role in defining competitiveness.¹

However, the Round Table was by no means intended to focus primarily on economic changes in the production processes of textbooks, even though these naturally play a key role in their development. Rather, it was offering a place for exchange about innovation and transformation processes in foreign language didactics. The Round Table 2020, meant as the first event of a Think Tank to further the development of (digital) textbooks for foreign language learning, was attended by approximately thirty invited representatives from relevant fields: textbook authors, researchers in teaching and learning media, who might also develop prototypes, representatives of textbook publishers and of alternative educational companies, providers of production tools, and students who beforehand had developed visions of Textbook 4.0, which were presented during the Round Table. On two days, participants discussed the future of foreign language textbooks in various working groups. Following this very productive first Round Table on Textbook 4.0, the present edited volume was planned, and the corresponding papers were written. Originally, it was to be made available before the second Round Table, which unfortunately could not be realized. However, this means that the results of the second Round Table, which took place in September 2022, are also included in this publication.

Like the Round Table, the volume deals with developments of foreign language textbooks that can be associated with digitalization: developments that might have been expected – or that continue to be awaited – in light of ongoing digitization (see Section 2. for a distinction between the terms digitalization and digitization); but also, developments that can or should perhaps only be considered at this time. Before presenting the contributions to this volume, a basic problematization of the notion of the digital textbook is needed (Section 2.); this will, unfortunately, lead to a deconstruction of this concept and the proposal (or revisiting) of a more apt terminology. Nonetheless, the term digital textbook will be used frequently in the contributions to this volume as it is deeply embedded in the discourse of publishers and the scientific community. Through this volume, however, we want to contribute to a more differentiated view of the process of digitalization of teaching and learning materials, and of textbooks. Through the process of a multi-perspective view and the joint conceptual considerations of various actors, different and innovative design possibilities for future learning and teaching environments can arise. The papers collected in this volume (Section 3.) include assessments of the status quo and the characteristics of current as well as past (digital) textbooks, point out deficits and challenges, and offer perspectives for new developments.

2. Digital Textbooks – A Deconstruction

Although this volume deals with the influence of increasing digitalization on foreign language textbooks, we have deliberately avoided the term digital textbook by using the title Textbook 4.0. To explain why we consider the term digital textbook problematic, we will first elaborate on what we mean by the term textbook in this volume and then turn our attention to the term digital textbook. We will explain our concerns with the term digital and propose a different terminology for what thus far might have been called digital textbook. We will finally address the term digitalization, which is central to our volume, and distinguish it from digitization.

For a long time, the term textbook included the coursebook, the workbook, and a teacher’s guide, and sometimes also glossaries, grammar booklets, or overhead transparencies. With the development of digital media, the range of textbook-related materials expanded (cf. Würffel in this volume). This made it increasingly difficult to grasp which components a textbook comprised, especially since each publisher organized their components differently. In addition, more and more designations were developed for what publishers included in their offerings and what they wanted to sell. Moreover, the emerging terms were not intended to be clear and common designations, but to consciously distinguish one’s product from those of other publishers and to make it more visible to potential customers. Therefore, it does not make sense to be guided (only) by the publishers’ terminology when approaching the phenomenon textbook terminologically.

When speaking of digital textbooks, the adjective digital might be used to only describe the form in which the product is presented: it is digital and can be displayed on computers. Thus, for users, the term indicates which technology they need to be able to use the digital textbook. A definition that follows this logic therefore characterizes digital textbooks as purely digital or online-only materials (cf. Wicke 2021: 62). The fact that these kinds of definitions speak of purely digital materials or materials that are only available online indicates that there is a demarcation towards the various mixed forms that are not (allowed to be) considered digital textbooks accordingly. However, these hybrid forms have been around for a long time, since digital components accompanying print textbooks have been available from the 1990s on, even if they were not advertised as such.²

Obviously, for a long time, it did not seem important to focus on the digital nature of the materials, even though digital hardware was needed to listen to, view, or print them. This observation indicates that the appearance and the popularity of the term digital textbook cannot be justified solely by the fact that the textbook comes in a different technical form of presentation (i. e., the coursebook now exists also as a PDF version of the printed textbook). In our view, the need to create a new term, both among publishers and in the academic discourse, is related to the fact that more profound changes had to be named and made visible. We aim to substantiate this hypothesis via two approaches: By asking ChatGPT for a definition of the term digital textbook and by looking at the research literature.

Firstly, we asked ChatGPT: “What is a digital textbook?”

A digital textbook is an electronic version of a traditional textbook that can be accessed and read on digital devices, such as computers, tablets, or smartphones. Digital textbooks can include multimedia elements, such as videos, audio files, and interactive simulations, that enhance the learning experience. They can also offer features like highlighting, note-taking, and search functionality, which can make studying more efficient and effective. Digital textbooks can be downloaded or accessed online, and they may offer features such as progress tracking, quizzes, and assessments. Many digital textbooks also have social features that allow students to connect with peers and instructors to discuss content and collaborate on projects. Overall, digital textbooks offer a more modern and interactive approach to learning that can be customized to suit individual needs and preferences. (“What is a digital textbook?”, ChatGPT 4.0, 11.08.2023)

As can be seen, the definition by AI describes digital textbooks referring to the following aspects. As discussed above, there is a technical core of making a textbook available via digital devices, and in addition, there are other characteristics that make up the added value of the digital textbook or which must be emphasized in its definition as an added value. In this respect, the definition given sounds, in part, like an advertising brochure from the publishers: The characteristics listed enhance the learning experience, make studying more efficient and effective, offer a more current and interactive approach to learning, and suit individual needs and preferences. In fact, many of these characteristics also apply to non-digital textbooks (paper textbooks can also be marked up) or at least have been part of the textbook for a long time, even when these were not even called digital textbooks. Clearly, the definition given by ChatGPT does not seem very suitable in terms of a scientific definition, it is more like a marketing text of textbook publishers (and these kinds of texts were probably in large part the basis for the AI).

Unfortunately, a look at the research literature reveals that connotative and normative meanings are used here as well when talking about digital textbooks, e. g., the term digital is often associated with specific expectations. Because of its digital format, it is expected to exhibit new or changed characteristics: different learner control, interactivity, greater currentness due to easier revision, etc. Accordingly, Franke and Plötner (2022: 9) ask: ‚“[…] welche digitalen Innovationen sie [die Lehrwerke] übernehmen, wie sie Medien(einsatz) thematisch und methodisch in ihren Reihen weiterentwickeln”³, making it clear that the digitalization of textbooks is or should be primarily associated with innovation. Based on definitions of digital teaching and learning media (cf. Rösler 2010: 78–79 and 82, Rösler 2012: 52–55) Burkhardt (2022) puts forward:

Ein Lehrwerk kann dann als digitales Lehrwerk bezeichnet werden, wenn

• – die Anwendungsform in einem digitalen Medium vollständig stattfinden kann,
• – es mindestens den gleichen didaktischen Ansprüchen wie ein Printlehrwerk gerecht wird, also die curricularen Vorgaben so zu didaktisieren, dass mit sinnvoller Progression der Lernprozess erfolgreich gesteuert wird,
• – es eine didaktisch-methodische Konzeptgrundlage hat, die den Mehrwert des technischen Formats insofern ausschöpft, als dass ein gewisser Grad an Interaktivität vorhanden ist, der über die bloße digitale Abbildung des Printlehrwerks hinausgeht.⁴ (Burkhardt 2022: 12)

Burkhardt’s definition suggests that (a) the digital textbook is not only defined on a purely technical level in the academic discourse but (b) it is also defined with the help of normative statements and differentiated from its paper counterparts, and (c) there is no agreement on the minimum standards for a digital textbook that conforms to the resonating norm. This is not surprising, since many discussions about digital textbooks deal with didactic-methodological issues that are widely debated. However, these didactic-methodological questions should be discussed in detail and not hidden in a discussion about digital textbooks. And the results should then be applied to every form of textbook – and not pretend that they only concern digital textbooks. To illustrate this with an example: The discussion about interactivity of learning materials is to a considerable extent a discussion about the promotion and support of self-directed learning in general and specifically via feedback. However, when discussing feedback, one should not only talk about feedback learners get from the interactive digital courseware, but also about the feedback that they get from the instructor. At the same time, it should be made clear not only how the different material- or system-driven feedback modes can be implemented in diverse ways in the textbook, but also, and more importantly, how all feedback modes can meaningfully complement each other. Instead of discussing aspects of interactivity (as is similarly done with adaptivity, differentiation, individualization, etc.) primarily in the context of the digital textbook, one should discuss more fundamentally how the degree of teaching and learning scenarios in foreign language learning can be increased regarding their interactivity, differentiation, adaptivity, and individualization and how the various actors and contextual conditions can work together.

It has become clear that the term digital is too narrow in its denotative meaning and too vague and imprecise in its connotative meanings to be suitable for scientific discourse: if multiple attributions of meaning and normative ideas resonate in scientific discourse without this being explicitly named by the chosen term, it always remains unclear which form of digital teaching or which problem is being discussed. One could now start looking for a better adjective. However, we advocate for simply abandoning the adjective digital, because (just as in the discussion about Blended Learning, where the central question of whether there is any teaching that does not mix digital and non-digital components anymore was already debated 10 years ago) we claim that digital textbooks – including its many mixed forms – are already ‘the new normal’ and therefore the adjective digital is no longer needed. On this occasion, the terms textbook or even textbook compendium should also be dispensed with, since the unity expressed in them has already dissolved anyway (cf. Rösler 2008, who predicted the end of textbook analysis as early as 2008, because in digital textbooks it is no longer clear what belongs to a textbook and what does not, ibid.: 377).

From our point of view, the term learning environment, which was already established in the late 1990s (cf. Würffel in this volume), could replace the terms digital textbook, hybrid textbook, and paper-based textbook. However, this term needs to be supplemented by the perspective of the teachers, since the media programs publishers offer now include applications for learners and teachers alike. And even if the user interfaces and contents available to learners and teachers continue to differ from each other (as was the case with the course book and workbook for learners and the teacher’s manual or annotated course book for teachers), they no longer represent separate entities. Instead, they are now used in a system that links the two accesses, so that adjustments in the one can lead to changes in the other. We therefore propose to speak of an interactive personal learning and teaching environment.⁵ The special characteristics of individual components of the interactive personal learning and teaching environment could be named in a second step and discussed in terms of their didactic-methodical as well as technical characteristics. All in all, at least the scientific discourse should make more of an effort to use its own, differentiated terminology instead of adopting the terminology of the publishers, which must follow other requirements (i. e., those of a market economy). However, this effort should not only be about the replacement of terms. The use of the term learning and teaching environment could also (finally) lead to opening the discussion about the design of digital textbooks or interconnected media towards the discourse about learning environments taking place in the last 25 years (see also Würffel in this volume):

Mit dem Begriff Lernumgebung wird also signalisiert, dass die Didaktik, die ja eigentlich schon seit über 30 Jahren auf ihre Forderung nach dem Lernerbezug lehrenden Handelns stolz ist, nun auch bei der Bereitstellung von Zugängen zum sprachlichen Material stärker an die Perspektive des Lernens als die des Lehrens denkt. Dies wird besonders deutlich, wenn der Begriff in die konstruktivistische Diskussion eingebettet wird. […] Lernumgebungen in diesem Sinne müssen reiche Sprachangebote machen, die es den Lernenden ermöglichen, ihre eigenen Lernwege zu gehen.⁶ (Rösler 2010: 80)

Even if we argue for dispensing with the term digital textbook, we do not deny that there have been further developments of foreign-language textbooks in the past decades that relate to digitalization in the broadest sense. Here, too, it is worth taking a more differentiated look than is often done in previous publications. To examine the respective processes more closely, we draw on the distinction between digitization and digitalization. It has been stated repeatedly that both terms are easily confused (cf. Brennen / Kreiss 2016: 1), even though they can be differentiated from each other. On the one hand, digitization refers rather undisputedly to taking analog information and transferring it into a digital format (cf. Bloomberg 2018: n. p.). In the context of language textbooks, this was the case when audio or video trails on tapes (like VHS or cassettes) were converted to CDs or DVDs, or when a printed textbook was converted to a PDF document. Thus, Wicke’s (2021: 62) definition of the digital textbook (or Burkhardt’s first point, ibid. 2022: 12, see above) describes the digital textbook as the product of a full digitization process. Würffel in this volume aims at describing this process of digitization of textbooks in more detail.

The term digitalization on the other hand is less straightforward. According to Brennen and Kreiss (2016: 2), digitalization refers to the process in which domains of social life are reorganized in terms of digital communication and media infrastructure. The term stems from economics, where it describes change processes in businesses, including changes in organizational processes and leadership. The extent to which digitalization can be detected in textbooks has not yet been systematically investigated (but will be discussed in Ketzer-Nöltge / Würffel in this volume).