Unit information: Evaluation and Management of Change in Language Programmes in 2016/17

Unit name	Evaluation and Management of Change in Language Programmes
Unit code	EDUCD0098
Credit points	20
Level of study	D/8
Teaching block(s)	Academic Year (weeks 1 - 52)
Unit director	Dr. Kiely
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	Understanding Educational Research
Co-requisites	Language and Communication, Researching Language Classrooms, Testing and Assessment in Language Learning
School/department	School of Education
Faculty	Faculty of Social Sciences and Law

Description including Unit Aims

This unit focuses on the evaluation of and management of change in language programmes. We draw on Applied Linguistics and educational management perspectives to examine the purposes and processes of evaluation and the ways in which these interface with the management of innovation and change. Students will have opportunities to relate these perspectives to programmes with which they are familiar, to policy frameworks such as standards and accreditation schemes, and to learning constructs, from both theory and practice, which shape programmes and their implementation. The research methodology elements of the unit draw on the paradigm and researcher position issues encountered in Understanding Educational Research. We examine a range of innovative evaluation procedures and techniques, data construction and management strategies, strategies for engagement with stakeholders and document review, and consider the ways in which evaluation and innovation processes are related in programme and organisational development in language education.

Aims:

• To understand the major concepts and approaches underpinning the evaluation of language programmes

• To understand innovation and change processes at professional and organisational levels

• To develop skills in analysing language programmes as learning constructs and as contexts of social practice

• To develop evaluation design skills with particular attention to decisions regarding instrumentation and evaluation use

• To development data management skills relevant to the use of evaluation for different purposes, such as curriculum improvement, teaching quality management, programme accreditation, and management of innovation.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Students will understand:

• the discourses and concepts of language programme evaluation developed and implemented over recent decades

• the processes of innovation and change which are relevant to the development of language programmes

• the complex of factors which shapes programmes as constructs of learning and of social practice

• the context factors which determine decisions regarding evaluation design and implementation.

Teaching Information

• Lectures

• Seminars

• Tutorials

• Blackboard

Assessment Information

Evaluation design and commentary equivalent to 4000 words

This will normally be a two part assignment:

i) an evaluation design for a particular programme;

ii) a commentary on the design, including a rationale, reference to the evaluation and management of change literature, and previous studies.

Reading and References

• Alderson, J.C. & A. Beretta (Eds) (1992) Evaluating Second Language Education. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

• Kiely, R. & P. Rea-Dickins (2005) Program Evaluation in Language Education. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan

• Lamie, J. (2005) Evaluating Change in English Language Teaching. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan

• Markee, N. (1996) Managing Curricular Innovation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

• Norris, N. (2008) Language Teaching Research Special Issue Evaluation (details forthcoming)

• Rea-Dickins, P. and Germaine, K. (Eds.) (1998) Managing Evaluation and Innovation in Language Teaching. Harlow: Addison-Wesley Longman.