This chapter has described a proposal for teaching LSP using CALL materials. The starting assumption is that ICT may be particularly
helpful for learners enrolled in LSP courses, usually in large groups characterised by diverse learning styles and needs.
Moreover, it may be extremely helpful for those LSP courses offered to adult learners with different professional interests,
for whom the concept of learner autonomy may be essential for their future development as LSP learners and users (e.g. faculty
from different disciplines who need a foreign language for attending conferences or for publishing their own research, students
in those disciplines, etc.).
Indeed, the design of any such course involves reflecting upon the ways in which ICT may be useful in the LSP context, which
implies paying attention to both the technical and methodological aspects involved. The SMAIL project resulted from our attempt
to reconcile theory and practice while, at the same time, making the most of technology. As for the methodological aspects,
in SMAIL we combined the notion of genre (so basic an assumption in many LSP courses), together with metaphor and portfolio,
as an appropriate tool to develop learner autonomy.
The SMAIL project was initially funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology (ref. TIC 2000-1182) and is still being developed
by the GIAPEL group from Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain). The language used in the program’s interface is only available
in Spanish. Other languages will, nevertheless, be offered in future versions of the SMAIL program.