ASSESSING TEACHING AND LEARNING MATERIALS

Raquel Varela Méndez

Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia
Varela, R. (Coord.) (2003): All about teaching English: A course for teachers of English
(Pre-school through Secondary). Madrid: Editorial Universitaria Ramón Areces

Key words: Assessment, Evaluation, Selection, Teaching and Learning Materials.

AIMS

• To make teachers aware of the different ways of evaluating the materials they
use in their classrooms.
• To offer a sample of evaluation template for books and CD-ROMS.

1. INTRODUCTION

English teachers are fortunate enough as to be visited by every publishing house

distributing course books in Spain and given free samples of books for their classes.
This apparent advantage can turn into a disadvantage when we have twenty books on
the table to choose from.

It happens sometimes that we have no much time left and we have a look at the
books in a superficial way, ending up prescribing the one which looks the nicest and has
more free supporting materials for the teacher (CD-Rom, video, flashcards, etc.). This is
no good policy, as you will have to suffer your decision (or lack of decision) for four
years and if you don’t like the book you teach with, it is very rare that your students like
it.

Of course, a book cannot be analysed in a lab, breaking its pages into pieces of
research, as it is just a teaching and learning tool which can work well or badly
depending on the hands of the teacher and the students. The way of “using” the book,
the context, the group of students, the resources and materials used, etc. are some of the
factors which can determine the success or not of the teaching or learning with a certain
book.

Having pointed out that this static analysis is just the starting point for choosing a
book, we do think it is necessary to proceed in a serious way of studying the pros and
cons of a certain book in order to prescribe it. Families in Spain are carrying a heavy
financial burden to buy children’s books, so they deserve to work with the materials that
are considered the best by their teachers.

The same as books, we offer some considerations for choosing audiovisual and
technologically based materials.

2. COURSE BOOKS

We have to take into account different aspects. Before considering the content, the
format should be also analysed.
Physical format. Size and number of pages.

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 Cover.
Authors.
Title
Level
Components of the method
Price

Index: number of units, pages per unit, annexes. Glossary. Grammar,

Units:

3. AUDIOVISUAL AIDS

Many English methods come along with flashcards, wall charts, cards, etc. so that
teachers who prescribe them have many different visual resources for reinforcing the
lessons they teach. But of course, not all flashcards or posters are the same. Some are
useful and appealing and others just the opposite.

Wall charts have to be big enough to be seen by all students in the class, but easy to
handle at the same time. There are some calendar like posters which come together and
can be easily hang on the blackboard or put on the teachers table. They usually offer at
least one picture for reviewing the vocabulary of one term. Posters which are folded and
stored in a file are easily broken and those which are rolled and stored are difficult to
hold straight.

Flashcards are very useful for presenting vocabulary. They should come in boxes of
at least 80 flashcard per level with the name in capitals and small letters at the back.
They can be classified by letters or by topics (clothes, food, toys, etc.). The drawings
have to be appealing for the children and the meaning has to be completely clear. For
older children instead of drawings photos can be used. Most publishing houses offer an
alphabetical index of flashcards and some tips and activities which can be performed in
the classroom with them.

The size of flashcards is also important. To be seen from the back of the classroom,
they should be at least A4 size. For small children teachers should have both large size
and small size for playing cards or memory games in small groups.

Summing up, we can answer these questions:

- Are the flashcards showing all the words taught in the course book?
- Are all of them easy to understand? (try to guess the meaning first
without looking at the words at the back).
- Are the pictures attractive?
- Can the flashcards be seen from all points in the classroom?
- Can the flashcards words be read from all points in the classroom?
- Is the material firm enough to last for at least a couple of years?
- Can they be easily stored and classified in a box?

Regarding audio materials, the first choice a teacher has to do is if he or she prefers
a cassette or a CD. We all know the advantages or disadvantages of both, and we guess

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this choice depends on the school budget and equipment, although nowadays the prices
for CD players are about the same as the only cassette recorders. As everyone knows,
CDs are lighter, easier to store, more durable, their sound has a better quality than
cassettes, it is easier to go to a certain teaching point, etc.

Then, you can look at the accents of the speakers. They should be native speakers
with a good pronunciation, as it will be the model the students have to follow. It does
not mean that only British English must be shown. On the contrary, it is positive to find
some American English from the beginning so that students know that there are many
different ways of pronouncing English, and the main ones are the British and the
American one.

The voices of the speakers are also important. They should present feminine,
masculine, of different ages and good actors with the capacity of reproducing a certain
situation. The speed is also important as young learners cannot cope with the normal
speed and need a very clear and slow pronunciation.

4. CALL

CALL stands for Computer Assisted Language Learning. Nowadays there are
several technological based materials which can help students learning English.

E-books
DVDs /VCRs
Multimedia products:
On-line materials / CD-ROMs

E-books are the electronic version of books. There are special machines very
affordable nowadays to download many books so that they can be read whenever it is
desired. Many people wonder why to read a book on a screen if a paper book is easier to
carry and more comfortable to read. However, e-books have the advantage of being
portable, small, light, battery powered and with some features that help the reader, such
as possibility of change the size or type of fonts, built-in dictionary, underlining or
highlighting choice. But their main characteristic is the storage capacity. Imagine you
go on holidays and want to take twenty books with you. You will need two large and
heavy suitcases for your books, while if you had an e-book, everything could be stored
in 250 grams. Nowadays, books can be also downloaded into the popular Personal
Digital Assistants (PDAs), such as Palm, or even in some cellular phones. Anyhow, the
evaluation of e-books is the same as the evaluation of paper books, as the only thing that
changes is the physical support, but the content is absolutely the same.

In the previous chapters we have seen some characteristics of DVDs and VCRs
and some criteria for choosing them for teaching purposes. Therefore, we are going to
focus on multimedia products, which nowadays are mainly the materials found in the
Internet and in CD-ROMs. Multimedia means that several media are combined in the
same support and can be manipulated in an interactive way. By showing these media
learning is more motivating and effective as it comes from different sources, and it suits
more learning styles than just listening and reading which are the linguistic skills more

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practised in the traditional English classrooms. In a CDROM students have voice, text,
music, photography, graphics, drawings and video together.

CD-ROMs can be produced linked to textbooks to offer extra practice on some

specific lexical or grammar aspects. They can be very varied, not only self learning
courses, but also dictionaries, test preparation CDs, etc.

If teachers have to deal with large classes, they could divide them so that half of
the students stayed with the teacher, and the other half went to the computer room to
work with the multimedia course, and the next day, vice-versa. Teachers would be more
relieved, and students could review their weak points, and at the same time advance on
other aspects of the learning of English. With these programs the students can practise
alone without being annoyed by their classmates (faster or slower than them) and
without feeling bad in front of the teacher.

As the computer has got infinite patience, the student can sit in front of the
screen and repeat something as many times as he or she needs until he/she learns it
properly. In addition, students can use the computer whenever they need it, so it
promotes flexible learning. This is very important especially for ESP students who are
adults that are already working and don’t have time to attend regular language classes.
They also like to have a complete and planned progress system, selected exercises with
self-assessment and feedback.

Factors to be taken into account

The practice provided for the four linguistic skills have to be taken into account
in case of evaluation. Of course, it seems natural that some skills (reading and writing)
seem more appropriate than others (speaking and listening) for CD-ROM practice.
When multimedia English language learning products are used, not only the four
linguistic skills must be considered, but also the underlying teaching models.

BEHAVOURISM

This model is based on the theories that propose that a language is learned through an
association of stimuli and response. Teaching should prepare the students to use
relevant language structures automatically when in a specific situation. In order to
achieve this, oral repetition exercises are used, which train the students to be able to
respond accurately and with fluency. The computer has also been very successful when
used to practice "drills". The first programmes offered only text but nowadays with
CD-ROMs, there is an equal amount oral content. This offers the possibilities of
programmes of voice recognition and comparison of the student's intonation and
pronunciation with that of the original recording.

COGNITIVE CODE

This model is intended to give the student a conscious knowledge of the

language. Whilst the audio-lingual model emphasized the acquisition of habits and
mechanical practice, this model pays more attention to the acquisition of rules of
conscious form by means of example and practice. The CD-ROM can serve this model
by offering explanations of the rules, giving examples and then testing the student

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through practice exercises, which the student has to satisfactorily solve in order to
continue to the next level.

COMMUNICATIVE

This approach states that communication is the goal of learning a language and
therefore it is needed in the classroom. One learns to communicate by communicating,
to drive by driving or to swim by swimming. For this reason, the most typical
techniques of this model are the simulations, the role-plays and the practice of the four
linguistic skills. The simulations are more difficult to practice using educational
software. Most of the software includes role-play and games, as well as activities that
connect and promote all the skills. Besides these functions they include a lot of
audiovisual information that provides attractive and credible contexts, as well as socio-
cultural information.

HUMANISTIC

Under this collective name there are many different methods and models
included. (Suggestopedia, the Silent way, Community Language Learning, the
Confluent Language Teaching, etc.). The aim of humanist teaching is not to connect the
usage of the language with the outside world, like the communicative model sought to
do, but to develop the inside world i.e. the mind and the personality. It is difficult to
obtain these goals through the usage of multimedia CD-ROMs.

In general, CD-ROMs are evaluated in the same way as any other learning material.
The only difference is we must also analyse the pedagogy, the techniques used and the
design of the programme.

- Pedagogic factors
- Technical criteria
- Functional criteria

The most important pedagogic factors are:

• the adequacy of the content and exercises to the level or age of the students,
• the adequacy of the methodology employed,
• the variety, grade of difficulty, the level of participation of the students and
the teachers, etc.

The technical criteria make reference to:

• the general functionality of the programme and
• to the integration of the different mediums and materials appropriate to the
didactic objectives.

The functional criteria analyse

• if the design of the programme takes into account the flexibility required for
the learning and teaching of languages (e.g. the possibility of recording, help
functions, etc.

Here you have a sample of evaluation checklist. Each question in which the answer is
“yes” can be considered positive.

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Pedagogic criteria:

• Does it include a demonstration?

• Is the content of the CD-ROM appropriate for the course?
• Are the objectives of the programme made clear? Are they adequate to the
needs of the class?
• Are the instructions brief and clearly explained, thus allowing the student
and the teachers to understand what they each have to do?
• Is the level of language equivalent to that specified?
• Is the level of language appropriate to the ages of the users?
• Is it designed for use solely by individuals or does it permit usage by
groups.
• Is it able to be used in an independent manner or is some written back-up
support needed?
• How is the input received? (Multiple choice, point and click, etc.)
• How many re-attempts are permitted?
• If the answer is incorrect, is an explanation offered, are clues given?
• If the response is correct are you automatically moved on to the next
exercise? Are you offered a reward? Are notes made of the time taken,
errors committed, number of attempts, etc.?
• Whenever the programme is started, does the programme follow the same
procedure or is there an element of chance involved?
• Is there a sufficient quantity and variety of practical exercises?
• Does it lack spelling or content errors?
• Does the teacher have access to the students’ daily progress or errors?
• Can the student follow his / her own learning progress?
• Is there an option to work with either British or American English?
• Is there an option to listen to oral texts spoken by a female and a male?
• Is it possible to make recordings, allowing the comparison of pronunciation
and intonation?
• Does it present socio-cultural information?
• Does it lack any possible forms of discrimination - sexual, racial,
religious?
• Does it include a glossary or dictionary?
• Does it equally promote the four linguistic skills?
• Do the students enjoy using the programme?

Technical criteria

• Presentation: is it motivating? Are the images and graphics of good

quality? Is the size and quality of text adequate?
• Do the keyboard functions adequately work together?
• Is the programme operated solely by the mouse or is the keyboard needed?
• If the keyboard is needed, how much typing is necessary?
• Is it possible to exit the programme without having to restart the computer?
• Is the use of headphones and microphones permitted?
• Is it possible to choose different speeds of the same soundtrack?

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 • Is the programme able to be loaded easily and effectively?

Functional criteria

• Does it lack execution errors?

• Is the programme able to be used without a previous knowledge of I.T.?
• Is there easy access to the instructions, i.e. without having to constantly
refer to the user manual, and are the instructions clearly presented?
• Is the options menu clearly and well presented?
• Are the graphics and images adequately used with music and sound?
• Is it possible to directly access any part of the programme?
• Is it possible to exit the programme at any moment, i.e. without having to
finish the exercise?
• Is sufficient help supplied?
• Is easy access to previous and following pages allowed?
• Is it possible to print any part of the programme that the user considers
interesting?
• Are there volume controls, options to repeat, etc on screen.?
• Are there systems in place to check the answers? Is the user/teacher able to
print the results?
• Does the design allow the user to choose the level of difficulty? If yes, can
the user continue to the next level, without successfully completing the
previous one?

GLOSSARY

Template: pattern, model.

DVD: Digital Versatile Disk
VCR: Video Cassette Recorder
On screen: Without the help of the keyboard.

RECOMMENDED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Grant, N. (1987). Making the most of your Text Book. London: Longman.

Romiszowski, A.J. 1988, The Selection and Use of Instructional Media, Kogan Page,
London.

Romiszowski, A.J. 1993, 'Developing interactive multimedia courseware and networks:

Some current issues', in Interactive Multimedia: Practice and Promise, eds C. Latchem,
J. Williamson & L. Henderson-Lancett, Kogan Page, London.