Language & Content Objectives

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?
Academic Needs of All Learners
Content
Literacy
Language
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).
Curriculum Development Process
for English Language Learners
State Content Standards
& ELD Standards
Instructional objectives &
learning outcomes
Specify language & content
objectives
Conduct task/text analysis &
design learning activities
Design assessments
Curriculum Standards
The Lesson Cycle
for ELD/SDAIE Instruction
Correction
(Reteach)
Presentation
Task
Analysis
Next
Objective
Plan
Lesson
Assess
Anticipatory
Set
Check for
Understanding
Guided
Practice
Monitor
and
Adjust
Independent
Practice
Closure
Assess
Mastery
Extension
Check
Mastery
Yes
No
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 Connection
Instructional Model
Use known language to teach an unknown concept.
Use known concepts to teach unknown language.
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
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
Content
•
•
•
•
• Factual knowledge &
information about a topic
• Simple or complex
concepts
• Concrete or abstract
concepts
• Processes, dynamics &
systems
• Critical thinking about
content
Key vocabulary
Language functions
Language skills
Grammar or language
structures
• Lesson tasks
• Language learning
strategies
• Academic language
Task Analysis
What conversational language vs. academic language
do students need to be able to discuss the Water Cycle?
Verbs for Instructional Objectives
Language Objectives
Content Objectives
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Listen for
Describe
Edit
Retell
Define
Find the main idea
Compare
Summarize
Paraphrase
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 Skills
Instructional 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 Skills
Instructional 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 Skills
Reading & 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 preteaching 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.

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