Page:Adapting and Writing Language Lessons.pdf/62

Rh receive detailed illustration in the appendices, and particularly in Appendices A-F.

EVALUATION

More than courses in French, Spanish, German or English, a course in a seldom-taught language is likely to be the brain child of one author, conceived in desperation, brought forth in obscurity, and destined to be despised and rejected of all other men. Sometimes rejection is inevitable, but often it is the result of hasty, or unperceptive, or unappreciative examination of the existing book. The following guidelines for evaluation may be applied to the efforts of others, but also to one's own handiwork both before and after it is completed. The guidelines are stated in terms of three qualities, three dimensions, and four components.

EVALUATION: THREE QUALITIES

Every lesson, every part of every lesson, and even every line may be judged on three qualities, which we shall call 'strength,' 'lightness' and 'transparency.' As we shall use these terms, their opposites, weakness, heaviness and opacity are usually undesirable.There are however situations in which a certain amount of heaviness and opacity can be useful, and the same may even be true for weakness (see, for example, Appendix D). It would be a mistake, therefore, to assume that strength, lightness and transparency are absolute virtues, or that an increase in one of these values necessarily means an improvement in the lesson. Nevertheles, weakness, heaviness and opacity are in general warning signs, and their presence calls for special justification in terms of the lesson or the textbook as a whole.