Learning Materials Evaluation Learning Material Design a. The Role of Materials

d. Learning Materials Evaluation

Hutchinson and Waters 1987: 96 generated a concept about materials evaluation. According to them, materials evaluation is a matter of judging the fitness of something for a particular purpose. They added that at the end of the evaluation, there will be no absolute good or bad, but there will be a particular degree of the fitness of the material. It is really important to evaluate materials to get the feedback toward the materials that are developed, as well as to determine the next thing to do with the materials. Tomlinson 1998: 220 defines the material evaluation as: Materials evaluation refers to attempts to measure the value of the materials. In many cases this is done impressionistically and consists of attempts to predict whether or not the materials will work, in the sense that the learners will be able to use them without too much difficulty and will enjoy the experience of doing so. So, it can be simply concluded that materials evaluation is a whole process of assessing and judging a particular material to check its fitness, in accordance with the particularly agreed goals and objectives. Below are some reasons why we need to evaluate materials. 1. We carry out systematic evaluations of materials currently in use in order to find out to what degree and why they do not facilitate language learning so that we can identify the popular and successful features of existing materials, which will help us to produce better materials. 2. We evaluate existing materials with a view to choosing suitable materials for language programs. 3. We evaluate the materials that we have already chosen or that have been chosen for us so that we can adapt the materials in order to make them better suit the needs of the students and the needs of teaching. 4. We also evaluate the materials produced by ourselves so that necessary revision can be made.

e. Principles in Materials Evaluation