The paper describes the considerations that were taken into account in the development of a tentative English language textbook evaluation checklist. A brief review of the related literature precedes the crucial issues that should be considered in developing checklists. In the light of the previous evaluation checklists the developers created a list of the evaluative criteria on which the construct of the checklist could be established. The developers considered matters of validity, reliability and practicality in the process of its design; however, further research is in process to refine the checklist. Such an instrument could be used by curriculum designers, material developers and evaluators, as well as English language teachers.