EVALUATION OF MATERIALS
Terry Sutcliffe

Pre-session task
In the Materials Evaluation session we'll be using some materials (By "materials" I mean published EFL/ESL materials - tapes, supplementary materials books, videos, CD ROMs, online materials etc - authentic materials or teacher-produced materials), brainstorming evaluation criteria, looking at some of the literature on the subject and then having a brief look at how this area is dealt with in the DELTA assessment.

To prepare for the session, I'd like you to think about a couple of materials that particularly stand out in your mind as something that did one of the following:

§ worked exceptionally well
§ surprised you by working better than you thought it would
§ didn't work at all even though you expected it to be good
§ worked after quite a lot of adaptation

When you have 1 or 2 examples, please make copies for everyone and come prepared to say:

1. What the class you were working with was (level, context, size of class, purpose of course, rough summary of learning style)
2. What happened when you used the material
3. What contributed to the success / lack of success (instructions, learner expectations, learner knowledge etc)
4. How you rounded the activity off
5. What happened to the material as a consequence (you adapted it / recommended it to others / burnt it etc)

It would also be interesting if you could bring something that you rejected automatically - because it is culturally inappropriate, doesn't suit your teaching style or is flawed in some way.

The session
Please use this link if you miss the session.

Post Reading
Cunningsworth, A Choosing your Coursebook Macmillan 1995/8
Read this to see his thoughts on adaptation of coursebooks as well as materials.