whose judgement you trust and who has already used the materials before
you decide to spend time working out whether it is what you are really
looking for yourself.
3 Investigate the intended learning outcomes of the materials. Most good
materials express these clearly at the beginning. The outcomes should be
stated in language that learners themselves will relate to, rather than looking
like a formal syllabus or course validation document. Check how closely the
stated learning outcomes match the assessment criteria that you use on your
programme. Then, as you explore the materials further, look carefully at
whether the materials are really leading learners towards achieving the stated
outcomes.
4 Check that the materials are at the right level for your learners. You
may want to use them for central parts of your learners’ work, or you could
simply require them to use with learners who need some remedial
development or practice. The intended learning outcomes should give some
measure of the level of the materials, but it is worth looking at the actual
level of the things that learners will do as they work through the package.
5 Consider whether you might want to reformulate the learning outcomes.
For example, materials might be an effective learning tool, but may not have
clearly articulated learning outcomes. Sometimes, materials come with
learning outcomes that are written in teachers’ terminology, and it can be
useful to translate these into language that your learners will understand
easily.
6 Look at how well the materials make use of learning-by-doing. Just
reading through materials is of limited value, and is unlikely to bring about
very deep learning. Materials should be leading learners into practice, and
engaging their language resources via tasks, so that they can develop on
their own their grasp of the various aspects of language that they are
intended to work on.
7 Look carefully at how learners receive feedback from the materials. It is
of little value getting learners to do exercises, if they are then unable to find
out quickly how well (or how badly) they have done them. Well-designed,
independent study materials are strong at giving learners feedback on their
efforts. This is usually achieved by setting structured questions and tasks in
the first place, for example, multiple-choice questions, so that separate
feedback can be given as appropriate to learners who choose correct options
from the feedback needed by learners whose choices are based on
anticipated mistakes or misunderstandings.
8 Look at the overall appearance of the materials. This is less important
than whether or not the package is educationally sound, but first impressions
count with learners. If the materials look good (and are good), learners will
trust them more, and value them more. If they look rough and ready, even if
the content is good, learners may not feel they are as important and sound as
if they looked more professional and polished.
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