9 - Conclusions

Summary

In the preceding chapters I have attempted to provide the theoretical background and practical information necessary to approach the task of evaluating a language education program. I have been assuming an audience that represents a range of the interests that are presently included in the field of applied linguistics. That field, for me, remains grounded in language education; however, I believe that program evaluation motivates research that can inform most areas of inquiry being pursued by applied linguists, including areas that consciously avoid a concern for the application of findings to the language classroom (cf. Schumann 1992). If this is true, then the discussion of research paradigms, validity, and evaluation methods presented in this book should be of value to a variety of teachers, researchers, and administrators.

Before elaborating on the role of program evaluation in applied linguistics research, I would like to summarize the critical issues of theory and practice that have been discussed in the preceding chapters. In order to provide a framework for this summary, I will return to the context-adaptive model (CAM) for program evaluation (Lynch 1990a) introduced in Chapter 1. For the person who is preparing to evaluate a language education program, this will serve as a checklist of concerns for the evaluation.

CAM step 1 (audience and goals): Determine the purpose of the evaluation

All program evaluation starts with a purpose, or purposes, and this is established, initially, by the audience(s) and their goals for the evaluation.