Evaluative review in materials development

Abstract

English for Academic Purposes (EAP) professionals know that initial efforts to produce or adapt materials generally require evaluative review and revision. A review process that solicits feedback from teacher and student users is critical because materials writers often find it difficult to envision the problems others may have with their materials. Despite the importance of such feedback, the EAP literature provides few insights on how to engage in evaluative review to inform material revisions. To fill this gap, we describe the evaluative review process that we developed as part of an interdisciplinary textbook development project. The case study setting is described, to situate the discussion, and includes an explanation of the scope of the project, the nature of the instructional approach, and our rationale for materials assessment. We then describe instruments developed to gather feedback from three participants groups, explain feedback-collection and data-analysis procedures, and provide sample data to demonstrate the breadth, scope, and usefulness of our evaluative review. We conclude with implications for EAP practitioners, with an emphasis on implications that are pertinent to the overall materials evaluation process and to the design of feedback-collection instruments and procedures.