Small answers to the big question: Learning from language programme evaluation

This paper explores why the learning posited as an intrinsic dimension of evaluation practice and use has been difficult to achieve, and how it might be more effectively realized. In recent decades language programme evaluation has evolved from focused studies of teaching methods inspired by language learning theories to a curriculum management enterprise with a focus on quality assurance and enhancement. There has been a parallel development from evaluation as a research-type study, where the findings are disseminated through publications, to evaluation as a dialogue within programmes for ongoing improvement of learning opportunities. These changes raise issues about learning from evaluation. Who should learn from programme evaluation? What should they learn? And how? The argument in this paper is for a synthesis of these conceptions of programme evaluation, so that the research-type knowledge-building enterprise and the ongoing quality management processes are mutually informing, and programme evaluation becomes a socially-situated cycle of enquiry, dialogue, and action. To facilitate the integration of research and management perspectives, three aspects of programme development are explored: innovation, teachers at work, and the quality of the learning experience of students. These are aspects of programmes which have not always had attention in evaluation theory and practice, but are central to understanding how language programmes work and develop. The significance of these issues is explored in episodes from the evaluation of materials used in an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) programme.