Language & Content Objectives

Jill Kerper Mora

San Diego State University

Questions About Instructional Objectives

1. Why do we need to write instructional objectives? What are IO good for?

2. How do instructional objectives relate to the curriculum standards in my content area?

3. Why are the verbs we use in instructional objectives so important? Why does the verb need to be precise?

4. Why do we need to create both language and content objectives?

5. What is the difference between a language objective and a content objective?

Language

Literacy

Content

Academic Needs of All Learners

From Curriculum Standard to Instructional Objectives

8.6 Students analyze the divergent paths of the American people from 1800 to the mid-1800s and the challenges they faced, with emphasis on the Northeast.

1. Discuss the influence of industrialization and technological developments on the region, including human modification of the landscape and how physical geography shaped human actions (e.g., growth of cities, deforestation, farming, mineral extraction).

2. Outline the physical obstacles to and the economic and political factors involved in building a network of roads, canals, and railroads (e.g., Henry Clay's American System).

3. List the reasons for the wave of immigration from Northern Europe to the United States and describe the growth in the number, size, and spatial arrangements of cities (e.g., Irish

immigrants and the Great Irish Famine).

State Content Standards& ELD Standards

Instructional objectives & learning outcomes

Specify language & content objectives

Conduct task/text analysis & design learning activities

Design assessments

Curriculum Development Processfor English Language Learners

The Lesson Cycle for ELD/SDAIE Instruction

Curriculum

Standards

Curriculum

Standards

AnticipatorySet

AnticipatorySet

Presentation

Check forUnderstanding

Presentation

Check forUnderstanding

ClosureClosure

MonitorandAdjust

MonitorandAdjust

IndependentPractice

AssessMastery

IndependentPractice

AssessMastery

Correction(Reteach)

Correction(Reteach)

ExtensionExtension

TaskAnalysis

TaskAnalysis

PlanLesson

PlanLesson

YesYes NoNo

GuidedPractice

CheckMastery

GuidedPractice

CheckMastery

NextObjective

NextObjective AssessAssess

Language & Concept Development

Language provides labels and categories for familiar concepts.

Language provides a means of describing or expressing already learned concepts.

ELL need much more explicit language instruction & support.

The Language-Concept ConnectionInstructional Model

Domain Language Concept Learning

A Unknown Unknown Limited: Modify Instruction

B Known Unknown Concept Development

C Unknown Known Language Development

D Known Known Concept & Language Mastery

Use known language to teach an unknown concept.Use known concepts to teach unknown language.

Characteristics of Effective Instructional Objectives

• Student-oriented: telling what students will do rather than what the teacher will do.

• Descriptive of learning outcomes: It is the learning outcome, not the learning activity that are described in IO.

• Clear & understandable: IO are explicit, using a clearly stated action/process verb

• Observable: IO indicate what behavior(s) demonstrate that students have mastered the objective.

SWBAT Verbs are Essential

Vague & unobservable

To know

To understand

To learn

To appreciate

To study

To realize

To value

To review

Observable actions/products

To analyze

To predict

To locate

To explain

To summarize

To select

To list

To choose

To classify

Is it Language or is it Content?

Language• Key vocabulary• Language functions• Language skills• Grammar or language

structures• Lesson tasks• Language learning

strategies• Academic language

Content• Factual knowledge &

information about a topic• Simple or complex

concepts• Concrete or abstract

concepts• Processes, dynamics &

systems• Critical thinking about

content

Task AnalysisWhat conversational language vs. academic language

do students need to be able to discuss the Water Cycle?

Verbs for Instructional Objectives

Language Objectives• Listen for• Describe• Edit• Retell• Define• Find the main idea• Compare• Summarize• Paraphrase

Content Objectives• Generalize• Identify• Solve• Investigate• Distinguish• Hypothesize• Create• Select• Draw conclusions about

cause & effect

Key Vocabulary Objectives

• State what technical terms, concept words or labels, and other words or expressions students need to discuss, read, or write about the topic of the lesson.

• Are based on a determination of whether the vocabulary for the concept or the concept itself is unknown.

• Must include “ordinary language” about the topic for ELL with lower levels of language proficiency.

Common vs. Academic Words

Science

energy

mass

matter

force

kingdom

Math

table

round

root

power

product

Language Functions Objectives

• Define how students will use language in the lesson or demonstrate knowledge of the content.

• Must be made explicit for ELL since they may not have mastered the “meta-language” to talk about their thinking about the content.

• Often contain a critical thinking or analytical skill (categorize, compare & contrast, etc.)

• May refer to sentence frames, use of “signal words” or academic language students need to talk, read & write about a thought process or patterns among facts, concepts & information about the topic.

Language SkillsInstructional Objectives for Listening

• Determine listening objectives to increase discrimination & comprehension of sounds, words & sentences

• Use listening action words: Identify, names, match, select, list, define, sort, display, label...

Language SkillsInstructional Objectives for Speaking

• Determine speaking objectives to elicit authentic oral language use by purpose & function

• Use speaking action words: retell, describe, recite, summarize, explain, narrate, role play, report

Language SkillsReading & Writing Objectives

• Link objectives to the Reading/Language Arts Standards

• Include critical thinking skills as well as mechanical and decoding skills

• Use action words: summarize, compare & contrast, explain cause & effect, distinguish fact & opinion, paraphrase, outline

Grammar or Language Structures

• Describe spoken & written discourse patterns such as questioning patterns, verb tenses, paragraph writing, pronoun usage.

• May define specific word study processes and outcomes, such as prefixes & suffixes for descriptive words or for making comparisons.

• Require the use of language structures in context as well as explicit instruction in pre-teaching or analyzing authentic text. Avoid artificial or de-contextualized grammar & word study.

Lesson Task Objectives

• Require analysis of the linguistic demands of a task in relationship to ELL students’ level of English language proficiency. Ex: Do students know the format for writing a report or does this require explicit teaching?

• Require analysis of the text students’ will read. Ex: Does the text have features that support students’ reading comprehension such as definitions of key vocabulary, graphs & charts to display data, maps, etc.?

Language Learning Strategies

• Define self-monitoring & self-correcting strategies such as making & confirming predictions.

• Support students in using strategies to locate information within a text: Ex. Students will find “embedded definitions” within a text.

• Often involve translation or transformation of language or text into another form, such as outlining, paraphrasing, retelling in students’ own words, or representing information graphically.

• Address skills students need to help them when they don’t understand or “get stuck” with unfamiliar language or content.

References

• Cooper, J.M. (Ed.) (1994).Classroom Teaching Skills, 5th Edition. Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath & Co.

• Echevarría, J., Vogt, M. & Short, D.J. (2010). Making Content Comprehensible for Secondary English Learners: The SIOP Model. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.