Brendalyn Manzano - English Department, College of Arts and Social Sciences, Tarlac State University, Tarlac City, Philippines

ELT materials evaluation is an important professional activity for ELT professionals. However, there are questions on who should perform the evaluation. Although there is a recognized importance of collaboration between researcher and non-researcher-teachers, some scholars have raised their concerns on the possible divergence between these two groups of teachers. Hence, this exploratory study sought to examine whether researcher-teachers (i.e., actively engaged in research) and non-researcher-teachers (i.e., not actively engaged in research) diverge or converge when evaluating ELT materials. The participants in this study involved five non-researcher-teachers and five researcher-teachers who evaluated the sample materials using a two-part questionnaire. These evaluators used an in-depth method because it is more focused and allows them to evaluate materials with depth. The scores assigned during validation were analyzed using descriptive statistics and inter-rater correlations. The findings revealed that the evaluation of the two groups of teachers was consistent in almost all evaluation criteria. However, non-researcher-teachers showed higher agreement among themselves than the researcher-teachers. These findings have implications for materials evaluation and classroom practices.

ELT materials, language teaching, materials evaluation, materials development, textbooks