LANGUAGE LEARNING MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT

TYPES OF MATERIALS EVALUATION

I. INTRODUCTION

Evaluating materials or instructional materials is as important as its

development. Since language teaching and learning is complex process as it basically
entails teacher's background, sensitivity and responsiveness to the students varying
needs. More than the utilization preparation and utilization of materials, the
evaluation phase is considered critical as it involves gathering feedback both from
students and teachers. These would serve as potent input for improvement and for
making the teaching and learning better every single year.

II. OBJECTIVES

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

a. Recognize the types of materials evaluation

b. istinguish the differences of each type of materials evaluation
c. Cite examples of tips in evaluating materials

III. CONTENT

A. What are types of materials evaluation?

1. The external evaluation - conducted to have an overview of the organizational

foundation of material.
 the "blurb" or the claims on the cover of teacher's/student's book
 the introduction and table of contents

2. Internal evaluation - refers to an 'in-depth' investigation of the materials to find

out how far the claims made by the publisher and authors are justified and
whether those claims have been adequately translated into teachable content.
 the nature of the text
 teacher-learner balance in the use of materials? Is there provision for self-
study?

B. Types of material evaluation (Tomlinson's VIEW)

WHEN IS THE EVALUATION CARRIED OUT?

1. Pre-use evaluation - involves making predictions about the potential value of

materials for their users (Tomlinson, 2003c).
 2. Whilst-use Evaluation- involves measuring the value of materials while using
them or while observing them being used (Tomlinson, 2003с).
It can be more objective and reliable than pre-use evaluation as it makes use of
measurement rather than prediction (Tomlinson, 2003c).
3. Post-use Evaluation- is probably the most valuable/informative type of evaluation
because it can measure the actual effects of the materials on the users (Tomlinson,
2003c).

We should take into account the following while conducting a whilst-use evaluation:
 Clarity of instruction
 Credibility of the task
 Achievements for performance objectives
 Potential for localization
 Appeal of materials
 Motivating power of materials

We should take into consideration into account the following while conducting a post -use
evaluation:

 What can learners do which they could not do before starting to use the materials?
 To what extend have the materials prepared the learners for their examination?
 Did the mathia help teachers to over the sylue of the learners?
 Did the materials help teachers to cover the syllabus?

Tips in evaluating instructional materials for language learning

1.Alignment of purpose
2.Capacity of the learners
3.Localization and contextualization
4.Physical appearance of the instructional materials
5.Challenge for lifelong learning

IV.

ENHANCEMENT ACTIVITY
1. As a future classroom teacher, what types of evaluation is difficult to apply?
2. How will you recognize if the material is well- designed?
3. If you were a beginning teacher/s, what tips are you going to apply in evaluating your
own instructional material?

V.

REEFERENCES
Amrani, F. (2011). The process of evaluation: a publisher's view. In B.

Tomlinson (ed.), Materials Development in Language Teaching,

Cunningsworth, A. (1995). Choosing your Coursebook. Oxford: Heinemann.

Ellis, R. (1997). The Empirical Evaluation of Language Teaching Materials. ELT Journal
51(1)36-42.

Ellis, R. (1995). Does it Work? Evaluating Task. Folio 2(1) 19-21.

McDonough, J. & C. Shaw. (1993). Materials and Methods in ELT. Oxford: Blackwell.

McDonough, J. & Shaw, C. (2003). (2nd edition) Materials and Methods in ELT. A Teacher's
Guide. Malden: Blackwell.

McDonough, J., Shaw, C. and Masuhara, H. (2013). Materials and Methods in ELT, 3rd edn.
Malden: John Wiley and Sons.

McGrath, I. (2002). Materials Evaluation and Design for Language Teaching.

Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

London: Bloomsbury. (chapter 3 The professional literature and chapter 5 How teachers evaluate
coursebooks.)

Mishan, F. & Timmis, I. (2015) Materials Development for TESOL. Edinburgh: Edinburgh
University Press. chapter 4: Materials evaluation and adaptation.

Tomlinson, B. (Ed.). (1998) Materials Development in Language Teaching.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Tomlinson, B. (2003). Materials Evaluation. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), Developing Materials for

Language Teaching (pp. 15-36). London: Continuum.9

Tomlinson, B. (2003b). Developing principled frameworks for materials development. In B.

Tomlinson (ed.), Developing Materials for Language Teaching, London: Continuum, 107-29.

Tomlinson, B. (2013) Materials evaluation. In: Tomlinson, B. (ed). Developing Materials for
Language Teaching. London: Bloomsbury.