In his 1996 book, "Language Program Evaluation: Theory and Practice," author Brian Lynch remains true to the subtitle by effectively balancing theory and practice in this introduction to program evaluation. The book is short enough (194 pp.) to digest in a few sittings and is written in language that is both focused enough for expert evaluators and accessible to first-time program assessors.
Lynch begins with an overview of evaluation and follows with a comprehensive review of early efforts in evaluating language programs. Early on, he describes the tension between the two competing research paradigms -- positivism (i.e, quantitative) and naturalistic (i.e., qualitative) inquiry -- while alerting the reader to biases, alternative paradigms, and the possibility (and complexity) of seeking a "middle ground" paradigm. In subsequent chapters, Lynch examines the issues of validity, research design, data gathering and analysis from the quantitative and qualitative perspectives; in each case, he presents numerous examples of particular use to language program administrators. He closes with a summary of his own procedure for program evaluation, the "context-adaptive model," which he describes as "a flexible, adaptable heuristic -- a starting point for inquiry into language education programs that will constantly reshape and redefine itself, depending on the context of the program and the evaluation" (p. 3).
Although the book is designed to provide administrators with a possible framework for self-evaluation (choosing from the competing paradigms described throughout the book), the text is not meant to be a recipe to undertake a self-study. The quantitative sections can be a bit heavy going for the numerically challenged, although Lynch shies away from overloading the book with statistical analyses. For the language program administrator that wants (or needs) to do a self-evaluation and doesn't know where or how to begin, Lynch's work will provide a theoretically sound, well-crafted overview of the field of evaluation and the alternatives available to the evaluator.
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- C. DeesReviewed in the United States on November 3, 2017
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