Process and Product in ESL Program Evaluation

Abstract

This paper seeks to make a case for 'process' evaluation of ESL programs. It does not advocate process evaluation alone, however, but rather, as an essential supplement to the usual product evaluation of those programs' most important outcome, ESL development. The process/product distinction is compared with that between formative and summative evaluation (Scriven, 1967), but is not intended to replace it. The two reflect different, not competing, perspectives. The final section outlines the role in process evaluation of classroom-centered research.