The Importance of Material Evaluation in EFL Teaching
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Learn carefully the attached teaching materials.
How would you assess the attached materials in relation to the concepts of EFL materials evaluation?
Answer:
Materials evaluation is conducted based on the analysis of learners’ needs and situations (Soepriyatna, 2019). Material evaluation means the process of evaluating teaching materials including media which can be in the form of books, other printed materials, and digital content used as part of the language teaching process (Tomlinson, 2003).
Based on Learning Resources Evaluation Guidelines in Soepriyatna (2019) there are some criteria that should be considered in the evaluation process as follows:
- Physical Quality (durable and accessible for learners)
- Content/Format (accurate, authentic, current, and suitable for the learners)
- Social Considerations (avoid inequality of gender bias, social status, religion, race, etc.)
- Instructional Design (relate to curriculum and consistency)
- Qualifications of developer (validated by qualified people)
- Cost (reasonable regarding the cost or budget)
In conducting material evaluation Soepriyatna (2019) mentioned three categories which can be conducted as follows:
- Pre-Use Evaluation
In this case, the teacher subjectively perceived the prospective values of the material to the course, and This type of evaluation is very important, particularly, in the process of materials selection. Tomlinson (2003) stated this level of evaluation involves making predictions about the potential value of materials to people who use them.
- Whilst (In)- Use Evaluation
The value of materials is evaluated. It measures the value of the materials whilst observing or using them. This evaluation observes the performance of students in completing tasks or exercises.
- Post-Use Evaluation
It is the most important and valuable and can measure the actual material effect. This type of evaluation is very helpful and useful for identifying points of strength and weakness that arise during the use of textbooks (Cunningsworth in Soepriyatna, 2019).
Curningsworth (in Soepriyatna, 2019) proposed 4 principles for evaluating materials as follows:
- Principle 1: Correspondent with the learners’ needs and fit to the course goals and objectives.
- Principle 2: Equip learners to use language effectively for their own purposes.
- Principle 3: Facilitate a learning process, and the material must be relevant to learning and can facilitate student learning
- Principle 4: Function as a support for learning, mediating between learners and the target language.
- Language Content,
It focuses on language forms and skills. In language form, the teachers must consider what to teach in grammar and vocabulary. Language skill involves listening, reading, speaking, and writing.
- Methodology,
This means that the material should provide an idea of how language should be learned and taught. The material must inform the needs of the students that they want to achieve.
- Non-linguistic aspects.
This includes the topics and content of the subjects and how they are treated, as well as other non-linguistic aspects of social and cultural values and relevance with their real life.
And last, the steps in conducting materials evaluation based on the attached teaching material (according to Soepriyatna, 2019) are as follows:
1. Pre-evaluation,
This is the first step, pre-test in materials evaluation is done by asking the pre-test takers to check the materials by using the criteria developed. The criteria that have been created will be included in the questionnaire as points that should be filled in by the evaluators (learners/students and peers).
2. Peer Test
In this step, ask the colleague to evaluate the materials using the criteria designed.
3. Revision and
finalization
To revise it, we should do the following steps:
- We should analyze the comment of learners and peer pre-test
- We should interpret the data and improve them
- Discuss the points that will be revised in the group and how to revise
- Make the final materials.
4. Conducting the
evaluation
We should prepare several things related to materials evaluation, such as place and time, duplicate materials, and other equipment.
So, we conclude that in carrying out a material evaluation of the attached material is to carry out the steps described above with several existing considerations and principles so that it will produce a final material that is in accordance with the needs of students
References:
- Soepriyatna. 2019. EFL Curriculum and Materials Development. Tangerang Selatan, Banten: Universitas Terbuka.
- Tomlinson, B. 2003. Developing materials for language teaching. London: Continum