ENS Constantine

Soulef Boulmerka

TEFL

1 st Year LMD

Lecture 1 Learning Objectives

I Definitions Aims- Goals- Objectives (A.G.O)

In everyday English we incline toward the use of the

terms aims, goals, or objectives interchangeably. Within

the educational lexicon, curriculum scholars, have aimed

to standardize terms so that they refer to very specific

curricular components. The following definitions are

broadly accepted.

I.1Aims

General statements that give direction or intent to

educational action. Aims are usually written in shapeless

terms using words like: learn, know, understand,

appreciate, and these are not straight measurable. Aims

may serve as organizing principles of educational

direction. Indeed these organizing principles may include

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the scale of educational direction for entire programs, or

subject areas.

Example:

Students will understand and become proficient at

identifying the different types of spoken English.

I.2 Goals

Statements of educational intention which are more

specific than aims. Goals too may encompass a whole

program, or subject area. They may be in either

amorphous language or in more specific behavioural

terms. 

Example:

Students will be able to identify and use American slang

terms and phrases. 

(This example is a subset of the aim above, but the

area becomes more specific. This goal moves from

generic spoken English to the more detailed area of

American slang.  ( slang is informal language) . One

verb used is still identify, although this goal does not

specify how students are to identify, and the verb use

has been added. The objectives related to this goal

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should specify how the students will identify and use

new knowledge.)

I.3 Objectives

 Objectives are usually specified statements of

educational intention which outline either general or

specific outcomes. 

Objectives can be written in a number of ways. At present

most objectives are written in behavioural terms.

Behavioural objectives usually employ observable words

and can be divided into specific domains - cognitive,

affective, and physical. 

Samples:

Cognitive: Students will identify and list 7 slang terms

they have heard from their classmates.

Affective: Student will choose 5 of the most offensive

slang terms from a list developed by the entire class. 

Physical: Students will make expressive gestures to go

with their best slang terms.

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2- The significance of Learning Objectives

Learning objectives help in:

1-Providing a mechanism in selecting content

2-Developing an instructional strategy.

3 – Developing and selecting instructional materials

4-Conducting assessments and evaluating learners.

4- Writing Learning Objectives

In writing learning objectives, emphasis is placed on:

1- Learner performance not teacher performance

2- Intended result, not the instructional process.

3- Terminal behaviour ,not subject matter

4- Each objective incorporates only one general

learning outcome.

A learning objective is a statement which typifies

competency or performance capability to be learned and

developed by the student.

Learning objectives are clearly stated if they :

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1- Describe the competency to be learned in performance

terms. The verb used in stating an objective identifies an

observable learner behaviour.

2-Make clear how well the learner must perform to be

considered adequate. This is usually done through a

statement indicating the degree of accuracy, a quantity,

or a proportion of correct answers , etc

3- Describe conditions under which the student will be

expected to perform in the evaluation situation. I t is

essential to make clear what tools or references will be

supplied or refused.

I t is sometimes necessary to specify in detail each

element of the objective, though, sometimes one or two

the characteristics stated above are implied in one

statement.

5 Checklists for Writing a Specific Instructional

Objective

1 – Each statement a specific learning outcome begins

with a verb that describes definite observable behaviour.

2-Each statement meets the criteria of good learning

objective stated above.

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( section 4 Writing learning objectives)

3- Each statement includes complex objectives( problem

solving- appreciation, etc)

6 – Guides to Writing Learning Objectives

Many psychologists ,interested in the learning theory,

produced considerable research on the different types of

learning in schools. Undoubtedly, Benjamin Bloom’s

Taxonomy is the most known description of educational

objectives. Bloom’s taxonomy gives a coherent means of

developing the most powerful tool in instruction and the

assessment of the learner learning outcomes. The

taxonomy differentiates between three important groups

of objectives called The Cognitive Domain, the

Psychomotor Domain, and the Affective Domain.

The following list of process –oriented behaviours related

to the six categories of the taxonomy serve as a useful

guide to preparing objectives.

Basic Knowledge To recall and memorise- Assess by

direct questions. The object is to test the students’ ability

to recall facts , and to identify and to repeat the

information provided.

Recall- identify- acquire- distinguish

Comprehension Ton translate from one form to

another. Assess by having learners 1- restate material in

their own words, 2-Reorder or extrapolate ideas, predict

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or estimate. Assessments must prove that learners have

some comprehension of what they are saying.

Translate- extrapolate-convert- transform –

interpret- abstract.

Application To apply or use information in a new

situation- Assess by presenting the learners with a unique

situation (different to the one used during the

instruction) and have them apply their knowledge to

solve the problem or use the same procedure .

Apply- operate- sequence –generalise- carry out –

plan- solve –repair-prepare- explain

Analysis To examine a concept and to break it down

into its parts. Assess by presenting a unique situation of

the same type but not identical to the one used during

the instruction, and have them analyse the situation and

describe the appropriate procedure or solution to the

problem.

Analyse- classify-distinguish- recognise-estimate-

discover- catalog- determine- compare-

discriminate-investigate-outside-observe-identify-

breakdown-detect-explore-order.

Synthesis To put information together in a unique or

new way to solve a problem. Assess by presenting

learners with a unique situation not of the same type

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used during instruction and have them solve a problem

by selecting and using appropriate information.

Write- specify- build-plan-produce –systematise-

integrate-organise- formulate-theorise-propose-

design.

Evaluation To make quantitative and qualitative

judgments using standards of appraisal. Assess the

learners by presenting a situation which includes a

problem and a solution to the problem and have them

justify or critique the solution. Evaluate- rank- verify-

measure-assess- appraise-test-select-judge- check.

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Lecture 2: Content Selection and Organisation

1- Definition

Historically, the word content has changed its meaning

in language teaching. Content used to refer to the

methods of grammar-translation, audio-lingual

methodology, and vocabulary or sound patterns in dialog

form. Recently, content is interpreted as the use of

subject matter as a vehicle for second or foreign

language teaching/learning.

Three major features make up content:

-Linguistic competence: phonetic knowledge,

phonological knowledge, morphological knowledge,

syntactic knowledge, semantic knowledge and pragmatic

knowlege

- Cultural knowledge about the foreign language

culture

- The objectives to be attained by the learner at the

end of the course.

2- Finding Content

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The following tips help teachers decide about the time

–consuming task of finding the content to be taught.

- Check in your department for past syllabi if you

are offering a pre-existing course. Be sure to check

your institution’s course calendar and read the course

description to ensure that your course meets that

stated description.

- Locate similar courses at other institutions if

your course is new ( or would like some new ideas).

Talk to your colleagues in your discipline area

- Review textbooks in your discipline area . This

can be a very easy way to locate not only possible

content to cover but also ready-made organisational

structures. Keep your students in mind when choosing

texts-not only their abilities and past experience with

the topic areas but also their time limitations.

- If texts are not available or not appropriate, you

may need to create a reading package or course

notes. It will take more time to compile this type of

resource, so set aside a few months for this activity .

3- Selecting Content

Course design literature suggest the following criteria to

help select appropriate content for your course. Course

content should :

-Fit with your course learning goals.

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-Have importance in the discipline

-Be based on or related to research

- Appeal to students interests

-Not overlap excessively with student past experience or

knowledge

-Be multi –functional( help teach more than one concept,

skill, or problem)

- Stimulate search for meaning

-Encourage further investigation

- Show interrelationships between concepts

4-Organising Content

Many variations on concept mapping techniques exist to

help decide on the organisational structure of the

content. The key idea is to name, in a word or two, the

major topics or concepts of the course, then try to

visually place them on the page. You can use a

hierarchical approach or put the concept in the centre of

the page and workout from there. Put the words into

boxes or bubbles and connect them with lines or arrows

to show how the material connects. You may also want to

put the verbs on the connectors to clarify the

relationships between ideas. For more linear thinkers,

creating lists of headings and subheadings is equally

effective.

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The following suggestions help the teacher to order the

topics or concepts:

Topic by topic There are no set relationships among the

topics, so the ordering is not critical. This works well for

courses that revolve around current issues, for example.

Chronological Moving from past to present is a very

common and easy to implement organisational pattern.

Causal The course presents a number of events or issues

that culminates in some final effect or solution.

Cumulative Each concept builds on the previous one (s)

Problem- centred problems, questions, or cases

represent the principal organising features of the course.

Spiral Key topics or concepts are revisited through the

course, with new information or insight developing each

time.

Within each class, consider how to organise you material

so that learners can both learn and retain it. Different

philosophies of learning are represented. Some ideas to

consider are:

- Start with what students already know and then

move to the abstract model or theory.

- Start with concrete examples, such as cases, new

items, or other real- world situations, then generate

the abstract concepts.

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- Start with a solution, conclusion, or model and

work backwards to the question.

- Give learners time to reflect, individually or

through discussion, on what and they are learning.

- Build in practice time, with feedback, either in class

or assignments so that students learn to work with the

concepts and can receive assistance with problem

areas.

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