Postpositivist and Methods Designs

The purpose of this chapter is to present concepts related to ‘quality assurance’ as an approach to the evaluation of language programs. We place ‘quality assurance’ (QA) along the continuum of design approaches in program evaluation. To situate such designs, our chapter begins by providing a brief overview of the design theory with reference to work in applied linguistics. We then explore the development of QA agencies in countries such as Britain, Australia, Canada, and the United States. Importantly, many language programs across the globe promote the need to attain QA criteria in response to seemingly ever-increasing demands for English Language Teaching (ELT) and learning. We illustrate our understanding of the design through the lens of a hybrid French program seeking to expand into new markets. Our chapter concludes with a summary and points for discussion.