Objectives describe the destination (not the journey) we want our students to reach.

Clear, well-
written objectives are the first step in daily lesson planning. These objectives help state
precisely what we want our students to learn, help guide the selection of appropriate activities,
and help provide overall lesson focus and direction. They also give teachers a way to evaluate
what their students have learned at the end of the lesson. Clearly written objectives can also be
used to focus the students (they know what is expected from them). For English language
lessons, Shrum and Glisan (1994) point out that effective objectives “describe what students
will be able to do in terms of observable behavior and when using the foreign language” (p. 48).
Hence, the language a teacher uses for stating objectives is important.
II. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN LESSON AIMS, OBJECTIVES, AND OUTCOMES
Lesson aims are broad sentences reflecting general intentions and desired outcomes of a lesson.
These important statements stay clearly distinct from learning outcomes. Aims serve the
important function to indicate and promote the main values and general directions that guide the
process of teaching and learning. Aims reflect general intentions, and the overall desirable
results.
Learning objectives refer to teachers’ intentions for learners, such as what students will be
taught during the course or program. It is important to note that learning objectives reflect what
teachers do.
Learning outcomes are statements of what a student will be able to do or demonstrate at the
completion of a certain sequence of learning (lesson/course/program). Learning outcomes are
mainly concerned with the achievements of the learner and less with the intentions of the
teacher.
Learning outcomes inform students of what is expected of them in terms of performance, to
achieve desired grades and credits. In this course, learning objectives are used as descriptions of
learning outcomes and are more concerned with the achievements of desired competencies or
skills which the learners are able to do at the end of the lesson.
III. COMPONENTS OF A LEARNING OBJECTIVE
A learning objective often consists of three main components: (a) performance level, (b) target
content, and (c) conditions in which this performance level is reached. Below is an example of a
learning target:
By the end of the lesson, students will be able to
Performance level + Target content + Learning conditions
Performance level
The performance level is the ability the students will be able to undertake after completing the
lesson. This is often written as an action verb and should be measurable. Teachers can include
action verbs similar to those used in Bloom’s Taxonomy of Thinking Processes (old version).
Vague verbs such as understand, appreciate, enjoy (although these can still be used for certain
types of lessons, e.g., English poetry or reading novels), or learn should be avoided because
they are difficult to quantify. Action verbs such as identify, present, describe, explain,
demonstrate, list, contrast, and debate are clearer and easier for teachers to design a lesson
around. Use of these action verbs also makes it easier for the students to understand what will
be expected from them in each lesson. You can also refer to the revised version of Bloom’s
(2001) taxonomy for these verbs.
Target content
Target content is the focus of the lesson. The target content is specific enough as it does specify
the genre of the text (e.g., emails, advertisements or newspaper articles) as well as the subtle
skills (e.g., identifying the main message).
Learning conditions
The learning conditions provide more details about the context of the expected performance
(e.g., the text length, text difficulty, and duration of time the performance is executed as well as
the criteria that distinguish the performance from other similar ones at different levels (e.g., the
speaker speaks clearly and slowly in a recording).
IV. CRITERIA TO EVALUATE A LEARNING OBJECTIVE
A good lesson objective must be SMART (Specific, Measureable, Achieveable, Realistic, and
Time-bound). More details can be found as follows:
1. Specific
Learning objectives should specifically describe the outcome that is desired in a way that is,
detailed, focused and well defined. To be specific an objective should have a description of
precise or specific behaviour, achievement or outcome which is or can be related to a
percentage, frequency, rate or number. Specific action verbs include: analyse, apply, change,
create, determine, differentiate, identify, or perform. Teachers should avoid jargon, words and
phrases which are (or can be construed as) misleading or ambiguous such as:
• Know
• Understand
• Learn
• Be familiar with
• Be exposed to
• Be aware of
• Have an awareness of
• Have
2. Measurable
Again, the verbs above are not measurable. To be measurable, please use the Bloom’s
suggested
action verbs below.
3. Achievable
Objectives need to be achievable. They can be stretching but not unachievable. An objective is
achievable if the necessary resources are available. Setting objectives that are unachievable will
lessen motivation and lead to little or no energy or enthusiasm to fulfil the task. Setting
objectives at too low a level can be just as dispiriting.
4. Realistic
Whilst objectives should be realistic this does not mean that they need to be easy. Objectives
can be set which are demanding but not so much that the chance of success is small. Realistic6
objectives take into account the available resources such as students’ level, classroom resources
and teacher’s expertise..
5. Timely / (or time-bound)
The length of time when the objective will be accomplished or completed is necessary and must
be included so as to make the objective measurable. Teachers need to ask themselves if the
objective can be accomplished within the given time, bearing in mind other possible problems
that may occur during the lesson which may cause delay or failure to achieve the objective.
V. CONSTRUCTIVE ALIGNMENT IN WRITING LESSON OBJECTIVES
Please make sure that the learning objectives you write for your lesson have a constructive
alignment with other factors such as the national English curriculum standards for each grade
level , the objectives of the course/ semester, your institution’s philosophy and policies, current
theories and practices in language teaching and learning, your students’ English proficiency
level, the resources available, and so on.
In addition, the objectives teachers set for their lessons need to inform the learning activities or
opportunities they provide for students in the classroom. Also, teachers need to develop
formative assessment activities in the lesson to determine if the objectives have been achieved
by the students. The assessment results conducted during the lesson will be used by the teachers
to adjust their teaching during the lesson and to give feedback to students about whether the
students have achieved these objectives or not. Teachers can also use assessment results to
inform the planning of the following lesson. This cycle goes on.
In summary, below are some other practical criteria for evaluating a list of learning objectives.
They should be:
- appropriate for the level of the majority of learners.
- limited only the important outcomes for the course.
- consistent with national published learning standards.
- consistent with your local school’s philosophy and general targets.
- defended by currently accepted learning principles and practices.
- taught with teaching resources you have available.