Human drive and humanistic technologies in ELT training

In a language teaching context increasingly dominated by a vision of learners as active, social, in-teracting members of globalized cultures, the role of technology is suffering from a syncing paradox: while technology is becoming progressively varied and integrated in everyday life (it is cheaper, more open, user-friendlier) its educational roles are often not fully synchronized with the prefer-ences of the learner, and suffer from outdated traditional paradigms of instructed learning based on studying-to-the-test. This study aims at measuring engagement by comparing the impact of traditional, printed, form-focussed material with multimedia course content. An end-of-term questionnaire was administered to B1 university students of English for two running years to check their engagement and enjoy-ment of book vs MM language content. Pedagogical problems are discussed in relation to comple-menting the bi-dimensionality of technology with the x-dimensionality of human beings, with the aim of modelling a teaching perspective conducive to self-efficacy, autonomy and positive L2-guides in the language learner.