bab 9 & 10

4.     MATERIAL EVALUATION

We must grant the artist his subject, his idea, his donne : our critism is applied only to what he makes of it.

(henry james : the art of Fiction)

Having completed your needs analysis and course design, you must now decide what you are going to do with it. One option, of course, is to decide that the whole thing is completely impossible and throw the result in the wastepaper bin. Assuming, however, that you wish (or have) to proceed, there are three possible ways of turning your course design into actual teaching materials

a)      Select from existing materials : material evaluation

b)      Write your own materials : material development

c)      Modify existing materials :material adaption

The material writers can learn a lot in term of ideas and techniques from evaluating existing materials.

1.      Why evaluate materials?

Evaluation is a matter of judging the fitness of something for a particular purpose. In any kind of evaluation, the decision finally made is likely to be the better for being based on a systematic check of all the important variables. The result of an evaluation will probably lead to a large investment of money in a published course or a large investment of time in home-produced or adapted materials. One such an investment is made, you will probably have to live with the sequences of it for some time, even if it later proves to have been a bad choice. A careful evaluation, then, can save a lot of expense and frustration. On the positive side, it can also help in justifying request to sponsors or other members of an ESP team for money to buy materials or time to write them

2.      How do you evaluate materials?

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. In the final analysis, any choice will be made on subjective grounds. If you were choosing a car, for example, you might just as easily choose it because you like the look of it as because it can reach 100mph in 10 second. It depends on what you considered to be important

We can divide the evaluation process into four major steps

1)   Defining criteria

2)   Subjective analysis

3)   objective analysis

4)   Matching

Most of the work for the first two stages will have been done in the course design stage. It will be useful, however, to set out your criteria and your own preferred realisations of the criteria in a form which will make it easy to compare different sets of materials. We can now present our own checklist of criteria for objective and subjective analysis. This is not an exhaustive list. You may find other criteria which you feel are important.

The following steps should be followed in using the checklist:

1)      Answer the  A questions first to identify your requirements

2)      Analyze the materials you have selected your answering  the B questions. If possible, test your ideas by teaching extracts from the materials.

3)      Compare the A and B findings. This can be done impressionistically or by awarding points:

0 = does not match the desired feature

1 = partly matches the desired features

2 = closely matches the desired features

Total the points and analyze the result. Note that the highest number of points does not necessarily indicate the most suitable materials. Since the points may be concentrated in one area. Note that the highest numbers of points does not necessarily indicate the most suitable materials, since the points may e concentrated in one area. Look for the widest spread of desired features and concentrations in the areas you consider most important.

And then make your choice and use your findings to prepare Any documentation needed for defending your decision.

COMMENTS

In this chapter we learn about the evaluation. I think this is very difficult, because evaluation in order to measure the student’s knowledge and to make an evaluation is not easy, because we must to know about validity and realibility. Even if we eventually decide to make our material, the evaluation of existing materials can provide a good source for ideas and techniques. It can also save a lot of duplication of effort by possibly revealing existing materials that can provide all of part of our material needs.

5.      MATERIAL DESIGN

A man may write at any time, if he will set himself doggedly to it

(Samuel Johnson)

Material writing is one of the most characteristic features of ESP in practice. In marked contrasts to General English teaching, a large amount of the ESP teacher’s time may well be taken up in writing material.

a)    A teacher or institution may wish to provide teaching materials that will fit the specific subject area of particular learners. Such materials may not be available commercially.

b)   Even when suitable materials are available, it may not be possible to by them because of currency or import restrictions.

c)    ESP materials may also be written for non-educational reasons: for example, in order to enhance the reputation of an institution or an individual. Materials are a visible product of activity, regardless of whether such activity is useful or even necessary.

Rightly or wrongly, material writing is a fact of life or a large number of ESP teachers, and so, accepting this fact, let us look at some techniques for producing useful and creative ESP materials.

1.    Defining objectives

In defining their purpose, we can identify some principles which will guide us in the actual writing of the materials.

a)      Materials provide a stimulus to learning. Good materials will, there fore, contain :

-          Interesting texts ;

-          Enjoyable activities which engage the learners’ thinking capacities ;

-          Opportunities for learners to use their existing knowledge and skills;

-          Content which both learner and teacher can cope with.

b)      Materials help to organize the teaching-learning process, by providing a path through the complex mass of the language to be learnt.

c)      Materials embody a view of the nature of language and learning.

d)     Materials reflect the nature of the learning task. We have noted in previous chapters that language learning is a complex process involving many different kinds and levels of knowledge.

e)      Materials can have a very useful function in broadening the basis of teacher training, by introducing teachers to new techniques.

f)       Materials provide models of correct and appropriate language use.

2.      A materials design model

The model consists of four elements: input, content focus, language focus, task.

a)      Input: this may be a text, dialogue, video-recording, diagram or any piece of communication data, depending on the needs you have defined in your analysis. The input provides a number of things:

-          Stimulus materials for activities

-          New language items

-          Correct models of languages use:

-          A topic for communication

-          Opportunities for learners to use their information processing skills;

-          Opportunities for learners to use their existing knowledge both of the language and the subject matter.

b)      Content focus: language is not an and in itself, but a means of conveying information and feelings about something.

c)      Language focus: our aim is to enable learners to use language, but it is unfair to give learners communicative tasks and activities for which they do not have enough of the necessary language knowledge.

d)     Task: the ultimate purpose of language learning is language use.

3.    A materials design model: sample materials

The basic model can be used for materials of any length. Every stages could be covered in one lesson, if the task is a small one, or the whole unit might be spread over a series of lessons.

4.    Refining the model

A number of possible refinements to the model can be seen in the unit above. We can relate these points to the nucleus of the model to provide an extended like these

 

5.    Materials and the syllabus

At this points it is useful to mark materials design process:

a)      Predictive. This kind of models provides the generative framework within which creativity can operate.

b)      Evaluative. This kind of model acts as a feedback device to tell whether you have done what you intended.

6.    Using the models : a case study

The models we have presented are ones that we have used in preparing our own materials and in this part we shall look at how they were used in creating the blood cell unit.

COMMENTS

In this chapter we learn about material design. In this material explanation about writing, because writing is one of the most characteristic features of ESP in practice. I think this chapter is very complete, because there are explanation about the detail of the most characteristic features of ESP and how to operate the model practice. If we learn the real material we will can be knowledge which anymore, because there are some explanation who will become we are understand. But, in writing, we must careful about grammar and vocabulary, because false one word will be fail.