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3. Evaluation Scheme
Hutchinson and Walters 1987, pp.37-38 suggests an interactive view of material evaluation. They emphasize the deeper level of materials evaluation by
asking the question why materials are the way they are. They claim that materials evaluation plays such an important role in language teaching that its potential for
influencing the way teachers operate is considerable. Materials evaluation can and should be a two-way process which enables teachers not just to select a textbook,
but also to develop their awareness of their own teachinglearning situation. Hutchinson and Walters 1987, p.96 give this definition
, „Evaluation is a matter of judging the fitness of something for a particular
purpose.‟ Cunningsworth 1984, p.
64 puts forwards the idea „…that the process of evaluation could not be a purely mechanical one and that professional judgment
was involved at every stage.‟ He goes on to say, „Professional judgment, founded
on understanding of the rationale of language teaching and learning and be backed up by practical experience, lies at the base
of evaluation procedure‟. In other words, materials evaluation helps us to make decisions in selecting materials,
form professional judgment as well as raise awareness of or reflect on our teaching and learning experience.
Having seen the significance of evaluating materials for language teaching and learning process, let us move to the things concerned with the ways of
evaluating materials and the criteria followed in the process of evaluation. Sheldon 1988, p.237 maintains that since no one
‟s set of criteria is applicable to all different situations, researchers can only commit themselves to
29 checklists or scoring system. The process of evaluation is inevitably a subjective
activity. To avoid the danger of allowing subjective factors to influence judgment in the analysis, Hutchinson and Waters 1987, p.97 emphasize the importance of
objectivity in evaluation. „Evaluation is basically a matching process: matching needs to available solutions. If this matching is to be done as objectively as
possible, it is best to look at the needs and solutions separately. ‟ Thus, the
evaluation process is divided into four major steps, i.e. 1.defining criteria, 2.subjective analysis, 3.objective analysis, and 4.matching.
The materials evaluation scheme used in this study is a checklist-based using the quality of the certain criteria in each aspect ranging from 1 to 3. The
evaluation assesses the materials in relation to the following areas: general appearance, design and illustration, accompanying materials, objectives, topic
contents, language contents, social and cultural contexts, language skills, teachability, flexibility, practice and
testing. The evaluation scheme is designed with the aim of evaluating the ability of the materials to fulfill the principles of
language assessment which are shown in the areas of materials evaluation above in order to promote the teaching and learning process and to see the strengths and
weaknesses of the material being used.
4. Description of an Automatic English Module
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