Objectives, competencies and standards in language course design.

1. Outcome Expressions in
Language Teaching

2. Before starting
Reflect about the following questions
• Are you familiar with the goals and objectives of
the program you are currently teaching?
• How about the textbook you are using? Does it
state explicitly the goals and objectives?
• When planning a lesson, do you usually refer to
the list of goals and objectives of the program?

3. In this presentation
• Definition of outcome expressions.
• Classes of outcome expressions.
• Differences between goals and objectives.
• Performance objectives.
• Criticism to objectives.
• Advantages of objectives.
• Alternatives to goals and objectives:
competencies and standards.
• Deriving outcome expressions from needs.

4. Outcome Expressions:
Definition

5. Outcome expressions: A definition
Statements describing the
learning outcomes that
instruction seeks to attain

6. Outcome expressions: Classes
• Goals
• Objectives
• Competencies
• Standards

7. Goals
…general statements concerning desirable and
attainable program purposes and aims based on
perceived language and situation needs.
Brown, 1995, p.71

8. Goals
…broad statements that provide general
signposts for course development.
Nunan & Lamb, 2001, p.39

9. Goals purpose and characteristics
Goals…
• are general statements of the program’s
purposes.
• focus on what the program hopes to accomplish
in the future […] what they students should be
able to do when they leave the program.
Brown, 1995, pp.71-72

10. Goals purpose and characteristics
Goals…
• serve as one basis for developing more precise
and observable objectives.
• should never be viewed as permanent.
Brown, 1995, pp.71-72

11. Instructional objectives
specific statements that describe the particular
knowledge, behaviors, and/or skills that the
learner will be expected to know or perform at
the end of a course or program.
Brown, 1995, p.73

12. Instructional objectives
Specifications of “what learners should be able
to do as a result of instruction.”
Nunan & Lamb, 2001, p.41

13. Difference between Goals and
Objectives
More general
More specific
Goals Objectives

14. Classifying objectives
Coverage
Involvement
Types of
objectives Critical-
thinking
Performance
(behavioral)
Graves, 2001

15. Coverage objectives
…articulate how much content will be covered.
…are linked to content in instructional material
Examples:
In this course, we will cover the first five units of the textbook.
In this class, students will work on pages 10 through 13 of the
textbook.
Graves, 2001

16. Involvement objectives
…articulate how to maximize students’ involvement
and interest.
…are motivational in nature
Examples:
Students will discuss which paragraph they like best.
Students will brainstorm lists of interesting topics to write about.
Graves, 2001

17. Critical-thinking objectives
…articulate which learning skills students are
expected to develop.
…are linked to cognitive processes.
Example:
Students will be able to determine characteristics of good
paragraphs and articulate why they think a paragraph is good..
Graves, 2001

18. Performance or behavioral
objectives
…articulate what students will be able to do as a result of
instruction
…specify observable class behaviors and the conditions under
which the behaviors will take place.
Example:
Students will be able to write a paragraph in English containing a
topic sentence and at least 3 supporting details.
Brown, 1995 and Graves, 2001

19. Performance objectives:
Components
• Performance
• Condition
• Criterion

20. Components of performance
objectives exemplified
Working in pairs, learners will provide enough
information for their partner to draw a three-
generation family tree.
Taken from Nunan & Lamb, 2001, p. 41

21. Components of performance
objectives exemplified
• Performance
• Condition
• Criterion

22. Components of performance
objectives exemplified
Working in pairs,
learners will provide enough information
for their partner to draw a three-generation family tree.

23. Brown’s elements for sound
objectives
• Subject (who?)
• Performance (what?)
• Condition (where? How much time? What resources?)
• Measure (How?)
• Criterion (How well?)

24. Keypoints in objectives writing
• Variability in specificity
• Flexibility (they are not permanent)
• Consensus-based in nature
• Program specificity
• Teacher-friendliness

25. Performance objectives:
Criticism and Advantages

26. Criticism
• Association with behavioral psychology
• Issues with quantifyability
• Trivialization of instruction
• Limitations in teachers’ freedom
• Inadequacy for expression of language learning
Brown, 1995

27. Advantages
Objectives help teachers to…
• convert the perceived needs into teaching points.
• clarify and organize those teaching points.
• think through skills and sub-skills underlying
instructional points.
• decide what they want students to be able to do.
• decide the level of specificity for teaching activities.
Brown, 1995

28. More advantages
Objectives help teachers to…
• construct valid and reliable assessment tools.
• adopt, adapt and develop teaching materials.
• develop professionally
• evaluate students’ progress and program
effectiveness.
• be part of the collective process of curriculum
development.
Brown, 1995

29. Alternatives to objectives

30. Competencies
a performance outline of language tasks that
lead to a demonstrated mastery of language
associated with specific skills that are necessary
for individuals to function proficiently in the
society in which they live
Grognet & Candall, 1982, p. 3

31. Competencies
…written descriptions of what a student is able
to do with the language, usually in terms of
target language performance.
Richards & Schmidt, 2002, p. 94

32. Competencies
Competencies refer to observable bahaviors (just
like objectives), but differ in
• a focus on successful functioning in society
• a focus on life skills
• task or performance centered orientations
• modularization of instruction (behaviors are
broken down into sub-behaviors to be mastered).
Auerback, 1986, p. 411

33. Standards
…comprehensive description of what language
learners know in the target language at various
levels of proficiency, at various grade levels, or
both.
Richards & Schmidt, 2002, p. 511

34. Standards
Descriptions (rather than prescriptions) of what
people can actually do with the target language
at different levels (stages) of competence which
provide a framework to measure outcomes and
set expectations in progress.
Paraphrased from Omaggio, 1986

35. Standards
Statements that define what students should
know and be able to do, accompanied by
performance descriptors and progress
indicators.
Paraphrased from Nunan, 2001

36. Standards: Elements
Nunan, 2001.

37. Standards: An example
Council of Europe, 2002.

38. From Needs to Goals and
Objectives

39. Developing goals and
objectives from needs
Narrow the scope of the goal statements
Obj. 1,1
Goal 1
Obj. 1,2
Obj. 1,3
Needs Obj. 2,1
Goal 2
analysis Obj. 2,2
Obj. 2,3
Goal 3 Obj. 3,1
Obj. 3,2
Obj. 3,3
Identify what
learners need State the needs of the students in
English for. terms of realizable goals for the State context-suitable
program. and precise objectives

40. References
• Auerback, E.R. (1986). Competency-based ESL: One step
forward or two steps back? TESOL Quarterly, 20,3: 411-429
• Brown, J.D. (1995). The elements of Language Curriculum: A
Systematic Approach to Program Development. Heinle &
Heinle Publishers.
• Grognet, A. G. y Crandall, J. (1982). Competency-based
curricula in adult ESL. ERIC/CLL News Bulletin, 6, 3-4.
• Graves, K. (2001). A framework of course development
processes. In Hall, D. & Hewings, A. (Eds.) Innovation in English
Language Teaching. A Reader (pp. 178-196) Oxford: Oxford
University Press. London: Routledge.

41. References
• Nunan, D. (2001). Syllabus design. En M. Celce-Murcia (Ed.),
Teaching English as a second or foreign language (3º ed., pp. 55-
65). Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle.
• Nunan, D & Lamb, C. (2001). Managing the learning process. In
Hall, D. & Hewings, A. (Eds.) Innovation in English Language
Teaching. A Reader (pp. 25-45) Oxford: Oxford University Press.
London: Routledge.
• Omaggio, A.C. (1986). Teaching language in context. Proficiency
oriented instyruction. Boston: Heinle & Heinle Publishers, Inc.
• Richards, J.C. & Schmidt, R. (2002). Longman Dictionary of
language teaching and applied linguistics. Pearson Education
Limited.