Framing Lesson Objectives

Three Guidelines:
1) Lesson plan objectives should all relate to the main topic of the lesson.
2) Objectives should be measurable.
3) Objectives should be student-centered.
- understand a text
WRONG
- read a story and extract specific information

RIGHT

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Writing Lesson Objectives
Lesson Objectives are specific statements that describe how the learner can indicate or provide
evidence of their knowledge and understanding. Therefore, if the desired result is for students to
know or understand a key concept, then the students need to demonstrate their understanding by
lesson objectives.
What behaviors or applications would enable you to infer students understanding of what they
have learned? What evidence or products, if done well, would provide valid ways of distinguishing
between understanding and mere recall?
When writing lesson objectives, begin with an action verb that is observable and measurable and
then state the specific content and standards. While understand and know are good verbs to use
for general course goals, they are not acceptable to use in stating lesson objectives. Ask yourself:
What can a student do to demonstrate his/her understanding?
Examples
That students be able to:
o
o
o
o
o
o
o

summarise the results of a survey

listen to a conversation and infer attitude and opinion
write an informal letter
identify informal expressions by underlying them in an e-mail
revise basic grammatical forms through recognition of common errors
exchange information about past habits
use an English-English dictionary for meaning, grammar, and pronunciation of
unknown words

The following are useful verbs for specifying objectives:

PRODUCE - FIND OUT- EXTRACT SPECIFIC INFO/MAIN POINTS - ASK - TELL - GIVE
ADVICE - RECORD - DISCUSS - AGREE - PLAY - ACT OUT
A final comment on my part.
I developed the criteria for writing objectives based on a survey on how objectives are written in
Teachers Books.
Objectives could be framed according to:
o The functions of language: giving advice, talking about routines

Avoid: answering questions

Instead: answering questions about personal routines
o

The skills required to fulfill the task: taking turns in a conversation, inferring meaning
from context, listening for gist (1)

The activities themselves (be specific): completing an application form; writing an essay
comparing two cities; carrying out a survey about healthy habits, completing a report on
the working conditions of immigrants in Argentina

The strategies being aimed at: working cooperatively, using dictionaries, summarizing

(1) In some cases there is an overlapping. E.g. the last 2 are also strategies
References
McTighe, J. and Wiggins, G. (2004). Understanding by Design: Professional Development
Workbook. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.