Using English for Academic Purposes. A Guide for Students in Higher Education

Abstract

Reviewed by Mónica-Stella Cárdenas-Clarós University of Melbourne, Australia 1. INTRODUCTION Existing criteria for the evaluation of CALL materials have been mostly designed by language teachers and CALL scholars. Not surprisingly, the components of such criteria mostly examine aspects to do with the potential that materials offer for language learning, teacher fit and learner fit (Levy & Stockwell, 2006). The components of such criteria rarely evaluate features of multimedia instructional design and visual design despite the influence that these play in shaping potential learning outcomes (Mayers, 2009). Given these limitations, the guiding criteria to evaluate the website Using English for Academic Purposes (UEFAP) is nurtured by studies in CALL, visual design and multimedia instructional design. Table 1 summarizes each of the components. Following Chapelle (2001) the evaluation of the UEFAP website is judgmental in nature and results from the interaction with all the sections of the website in several occasions. Given the space limitations I will touch on the relevant aspects of each criteria component.