Chapter 9

Oh Chapter 9...

This chapter told me all about how to evaluate a curriculum to see if it is effecive or not. It told me about the different purposes and types of evaluation and when I would use that type of evaluation. It also focused on choosing an audience for the evaluation so that a more holistic evaluation can be completed. The chapter also told me all about how gather information to use in a curriculum evaluation and how to analyze that data.

One thing that stood out for me in this chapter was that when Richards was telling me all about the various audiences for the evaluation the students were the first people listed. I think that the students ideas and viewpoints are extremely important to keep in mind when evaluating the effectiveness of the course. We can crunch all the data we want but the most valuable information is going to come from the students themselves. Their ideas and opinions are the most important source of information we have in the classroom.

I also feel that according to Richards, course evaluation is very in depth and requires a lot of documentation and then examination of that documentation. In my school and my district I have never participated in such an indepth examination of the courses. From conversations I have had with other teaches I know that there are definitely many opinions and feelings about the way the courses are going. However, I also feel that we don't have many opportunities to give consistent feedback about those courses and that the curriculum stays the same for a few years until it is time to review it again.

Richards, J. (2001). Approaches to evaluation. In Curriculum development in language teaching. (286-309). New York: Cambridge University Press.