Stating Curriculum

Outcomes

Curriculum Outcomes

Aims
Objectives
Competencies
Standard Movement

Aims
An aim refers to a statement of a general change that a program
seeks to bring about in learners.
Aim statement reflect the ideology of the curriculum will seek to
realize it.
The purposes of aim statements are:
To provide a clear definition of the purposes of a program.
To provide guidelines for teachers, learners, and materials
written.
To help provide a focus for instruction.
To describe important and realizable changes in learning.

 Aim statement generally derived from information gathered during a

needs analysis. In developing course aims and objectives from this
information, each area of difficulty will have to be examined and
researcher in order to understand what is involved in understanding
lectures, participating in seminars, and soon.

 For examples:
Students will learn about business letter writing in English (incorrect)
Students will learn how to write effective business letters for use in a hotel
and tourism industries. (Correct)
Students will study listening skill. (Incorrect)
Students will learn how to listen effectively in conversational interactions
and how to develop better listening strategies. (Correct)
Students will learn English for tourism (Incorrect)
Students will able to communicate in English at basic level for purposes
of tourism. (Correct)

 Objectives

An objective refers to a statement of specific changes a

program seeks to bring about and result from an analysis of
the aim into its different components.

The characteristic of Objectives

Describes what the aim seeks to achieve in terms of smaller units of learning.
Provide a basis for the organization of teaching activities.
Describe learning in terms of observable behavior or performance.

The advantages of objectives

They facilitate planning
They provide measurable outcomes and thus provide accountability.
They are perspective

Statements of objectives have the following characteristics:

Objectives describe a learning outcome.
The expressions of writing objectives:
Will study
Will learn about
Will prepare students for
Will have
Will learn how to
Will to be able to
Objective should be able consistent with the curriculum aim.
Only objectives that clearly serve to realize an aim should be included.

Objectives should be precise.

Ex: Students will know how to use useful conversation expressions.

Students will use conversation expressions for greeting people,

opening and closing conversation. (correct)
Objectives should be feasible.
Ex. Students will be able to follow conversations spoken by native
speakers.

Students will be able to get the gist of short conversations in simple

English on topics related to daily life and leisure. (correct)

 Criticisms of use objectives

The major of criticism of their use are:
1. Objectives turn teaching into a technology.
2. Objectives trivialize teaching and are product-oriented.
3. Objectives are unsuited to many aspects of language use.

 The Nature of Competencies

Competencies refer to observable behaviors that are necessary for the
successful completion of real world activities. These activities may be
related to any domain life, though they have typically been linked to
the field of work and to social survival in a new environment.
The process of developing competencies include:
1) Reviewing
2) Needs analysis
3) Identifying topics
4) Identifying competencies
5) Grouping competencies.

 Examples of competencies are: (Mrowicki 1986)

Topic: Housing
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Identify common household furniture.

Answer simple question about basic housing needs.
Ask for simple information about housing (rent, utilities, date available)
Report household problems and emergencies.
Arrange time for repairs.

 The Standards Movement

Standards are description of the targets students should be able to
reach in different domains of curriculum content. The most recent
realization of a competency perspective in the US is seen in the
"Standards" movement, which has dominated educational discussion
since 1990s. Throughout the 1990s there was a drive to specify
standard for subject matter across the curriculum. These standards
or benchmark are stated in the form of competencies.

 Ex: ESOL Standard for grades 4-8 (From Tesol 1997)

Descriptors
Sharing and requesting information
Expressing needs, feelings, and ideas
Conducting Transactions
Sample progress indicators
Ask peers for their opinion, preferences, and desire
Write personal essays
Shop in supermarket
Describe feelings and emotions after watching a movie