Objectives are not goals, per se. In educational jargon, objectives are different from goals in that they are specific statements that describe unambiguously what the student should be able to do at the end of a lesson segment and how they should be able to do it. Once language program goals have been established, usually through a needs analysis or, as a volunteer, perhaps by having someone tell you what the goals are, it is important to clearly identify the objectives for each of the lessons that you teach, tutor, or observe. This process alone will dramatically improve your teaching. When defining your objectives, a good rule of thumb is to start your sentence with "students will…".

A good example of an objective is:
Students will be able to use socially acceptable phrases to ask for clarification when taking down telephone messages in role-play situations. For example, "Could you please repeat that?" or "Would you mind spelling that for me?" etc…

A bad example of an objective is:
Teach students how to ask for clarification.
Having clear and unambiguous objectives are vital for skillful and competent teaching, because if you are unclear about what you are trying to teach, you will waste your and your students' time.

Complete the exercise of your choice and email it to Dr. Strong-Krause at diane_strong-krause@byu.edu.

REFLECTION

• What do you think the role of objectives is? What were the objectives for the last two lessons you taught? If you were to ask your students the same question, could they tell you? Were you able to meet your objectives? Why or why not?
• After observing a lesson, describe as unambiguously as possible what you thought the objectives of the lesson were. After you have completed this, ask the teacher what the objectives actually were. Describe the similarities and differences between what you wrote and what the teacher told you.

DISCOVERY

• Write about a teaching experience and describe whether or not and how your experience was shaped by your objectives or lack thereof. What happened? How do you think your students experienced the same situation? If you could do it over, what would you change about this situation?
• Think of a formal learning situation that was impacted by the teacher's objectives or lack thereof (either your own experience or one you observed where you were not the teacher). Describe it. How did you experience it? Why? What would have made your experience better? How will this impact your teaching in the future?

VISION

• How do you think having clear objectives impacts the processes of deciding on and implementing the other curriculum topics described on this Website?
• What are your personal objectives for participating in this TESOL service? What do you hope to be able to do during or at the end of your internship that you couldn't do without it? What are you doing to meet those personal objectives? What do you need to do differently?
  

diane_strong-krause@byu.edu