EVALUATION AND ADAPTATION OF MATERIALS

            A. Materials for Evaluation

            B. Selection of Materials 

Contrary to what John Maxwell says that every choice we make makes us, I believe that the choices we
make can either make us or unmake us, let alone the young minds who are under our charge. This is why
I ought to be doubly careful, for the quantity and the quality of learning of my pupils depend on the
superiority of learning materials I select for them and on the principles that I employ in evaluating
those materials even before I make my choices. These are just two of the many details of the reports
provided by the discussants. The reports were relatively comprehensive and substantial. Generally, I
easily grasped the content of the reports because the discussants were able to put across the focal points
of their topics. The presentations were also eye-catching and colorful; hence, they appeared motivating
and appealing to the listeners.

I just noticed that while there is most probably a valid link between principles in materials evaluation and
theory of learning and teaching, I was puzzled why the latter was incorporated in the report while the
details of the actual principles in materials evaluation, that is, Effectiveness Principle and Efficiency
Principle, were not discussed nor included in the presentations. I was relieved though, knowing that the
actual guidelines presented on selection of materials were mostly similar to what I have been practicing at
work. It is a discovery that, like me, many teachers do not use a formally defined rubric for selecting
materials. Lastly, I thought it would be more useful if a specific set of criteria for evaluation was also
presented. There were four considerations for materials evaluation discussed, yet they seemed to be less
general than the principles but more general than the criteria.

For years that I have been evaluating textbooks and selecting instructional materials for my students, I
thought that I knew enough. I now realize that mere peeking at the table of contents and some of the book
activities, checking on the timeliness of contents and dates of publication, and scrutinizing some parts for
grammar errors and problematic language mechanics are not sufficient to know whether or not all
standards and criteria have been met. I should ensure that the choice I will make for my students will
subscribe to the principles of effectiveness and efficiency. Will it enhance the knowledge that my students
already have? Is it a better choice than the material that I am replacing with it? There must also be a
checklist of criteria and I should literally check on its criterion to see if a least majority of the benchmarks
is ensured.

Now that I have learned the principles in materials evaluation and the formally defined criteria in selecting
instructional materials, I will certainly apply these guidelines in the succeeding school year when we get to
choose textbooks and other supplementary materials for our next set of students. Likewise, I will echo
what I just learned from the discussants to my fellow English teachers in one of our professional sharing
in the English area. 

In conclusion, I find the topics discussed to be both interesting and beneficial in the practice of my
profession; thus, I was prompted to read related materials from other sources: 1) Pre-use, while-use and
post-use reasons for materials evaluation. 2) The approaches to materials evaluation, namely, ad hoc
impressionistic evaluation vs. systematic evaluation, etc  (McDonough & Shaw, 1993). 3)Frameworks for
materials evaluation such as Breen and Candlin’s (1987) framework, and others.