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CHAPTER 3 Because the sentences in anyone Cummings device are often grammatically similar to one another, the device has advantages in structural, as well as lexical, exploration.

A FINAL WORD ON EVALUATION

Instructional materials do not consist of qualities, dimensions and components. Nor do the descriptions of the qualities, dimensions and components provide a blueprint for writing or adapting. Rather, the three terms stand for ways of looking at materials, and these ways are not merely restatements of one another. We have said that strength is often derived from appropriate sociotopical resources in a lesson, but a socio-topically relevant lesson that is poorly organized may still be weak, and some teachers know how to make lessons amply rewarding and strong with almost no relation to external reality. Similarly, occasions for use contribute to but do not guarantee strength.

ADAPTATION

Throughout recorded history, and probably longer than that, language teachers have been reminding one another of the necessity for 'bridging the gap' between manipulation and communication, or between the classroom and life. One of the ways in which they quite properly attempt to do so is through adapting old textbooks to fit new needs. Most, however, tend to place the center of gravity of their bridges on one side of the gap or another. To put the same thing in another way, they focus their attention either on the original textbook or on the rewards and relevancies of the project at hand, and slight the other. In the original sense of the word 'focus,' the first kind of adapter seems to be working his way out from the warmth and comfort of a hearth (the