About Lesson Planning

I. Expected Competence
After studying the chapter, teachers have insight about the importance of lesson
planning in the whole process of teaching and learning

II. Indicators
a. Explaining the significant role of a lesson plan in the process of teaching-
learning
b. Mentioning the main components of a lesson plan
c. Defining the coherence and variety aspects of a lesson plan
d. Explaining the singificance of planning, implementing, and evaluating the
lesson plan

III. Learning Material

A. Why should we plan a lesson

Language teachers may ask themselves why they should bother writing plans for
every lesson. Some teachers write down elaborate daily plans; others do the planning inside
their heads. Some teachers say they write daily lesson plans only because a supervisor,
cooperating teacher, or school administrator requires them to do so. Many other teachers give
up writing lesson plans. However, not many teachers enter a classroom without some kind of
plan. Lesson plans are systematic records of a teacher's thoughts about what will be covered
during a lesson. Lesson plans help the teacher think about the lesson in advance to solve
problems and difficulties, to provide a structure for a lesson, to provide a 'map' for the teacher
to follow, and to provide a record of what has been taught.
There are also internal and external reasons for planning lessons. Teachers plan for
internal reasons in order to feel more confident, to learn the subject matter better, to enable
lessons to run more smoothly, and to anticipate problems before they happen. Teachers plan
for external reasons in order to satisfy the expectations of the principal or supervisor and to
guide a substitute teacher in case the class needs one. Lesson planning is especially important
for preservice teachers because they may feel more of a need to be in control before the
lesson begins.
Daily lesson planning can benefit English teachers in the following ways:
1. A plan can help the teacher think about content, materials, sequencing, timing, and
activities.
2. A plan provides security (in the form of a map) in the sometimes unpredictable
atmosphere of a classroom.
3. A plan is a log of what has been taught.
4. A plan can help a substitute to smoothly take over a class when the teacher cannot teach
(Purgason, 1991 in Richards and Renandya, 2002).

Daily planning of lessons also benefits students because it takes into account the
different backgrounds, interests, learning styles, and abilities of the students in one class.

For students, evidence of a plan shows them that the teacher has devoted time to
thinking about the class. It strongly suggests a level of professionalism and a commitment to
the kind of preparation they might reasonably expect. Lack of a plan may suggest the
opposite of these teacher attributes.
For the teacher, a plan - however informal - gives the lesson a framework, an overall
shape. It is true that he or she may end up departing from it at stages of the lesson, but at the
very least it will be something to fall back on. Of course, good teachers are flexible and
respond creatively to what happens in the classroom, but they also need to have thought
ahead, have a destination they want their students to reach, and know how they are going to
get there.
Planning helps, then, because it allows teachers to think about where they're going
and gives them time to have ideas for tomorrow's and next week's lessons. In the classroom, a
plan helps to remind teachers what they intended to do - especially if they get distracted or
momentarily forget what they had intended.
Finally, planning helps because it gives students confidence: they know immediately
whether a teacher has thought about the lesson, and they respond positively to those that
have.

B. Two Basic Properties of a Lesson Plan

Harmer (2001) states that a good lesson needs to contain a judicious blend of
coherence and variety. A good plan needs to reflect these two important properties.
 Coherence means that students can see a logical pattern to the lesson. Even if there are
three separate activities, for example, there has to be some connection between them - or at
the very least a perceptible reason for changing direction. In this context, it would not make
sense to have students listen to a tape, ask a few comprehension questions and then change
the activity completely to something totally unrelated to the listening. And if the following
activity only lasted for five minutes before something completely different was then
attempted, we might well want to call the lesson incoherent.
Nevertheless, the effect of having a class do a 45-minute drill would be equally
damaging. The lack of variety coupled with the relentlessness of such a procedure would
militate against, the possibility of real student engagement. However present it might be at
the beginning of the session, it would be unlikely to be sustained. There has to be some
variety in a lesson period.
The ideal compromise is to plan a lesson that has an internal coherence but which
nevertheless allows students to do different things.

à Plan a lesson that has an internal coherence but which allows students to do different
things.

C. Models of Lesson Planning

There are a number of approaches to lesson planning. The dominant model of lesson
planning is Tyler's (Richards and Renandya, 2002) rational-linear framework. Tyler's model
has four steps that run sequentially: (1) specify objectives; (2) select learning activities; (3)
organize learning activities; and (4) specify methods of evaluation. Tyler's model is still used
widely in spite of evidence that suggests that teachers rarely follow the sequential, linear
process outlined in the steps.
Yinger (in Richards and Renandya, 2002) developed an alternative model in which
planning takes place in stages. The first stage consists of "problem conception" in which
planning starts with a discovery cycle of the integration of the teacher's goals, knowledge,
and experience. The second stage sees the problem formulated and a solution achieved. The
third stage involves implementing the plan along with its evaluation. Yinger sees this process
as becoming routine, whereby each planning event is influenced by what went on before and
what may happen in the future. He also sees a place for considering each teacher's
experiences as influencing this ongoing process of planning.
 Research on what English language teachers actually do when planning lessons has
shown that many teachers, when they do write lesson plans tend to deviate from the original
plan. Also, when English language teachers do write daily lesson plans, they do not state
them in terms of behavioral objectives, even though they are taught this method in preservice
teacher education courses. Instead, English language teachers, especially more experienced
teachers, are more likely to plan their lessons as sequences of activities, teaching routines, or
to focus on the need of particular students.
Bailey's study of six experienced English language teachers (Richards and Renandya, 2002)
came up with the following interesting reasons (stated as principles) why teachers deviate
from the original lesson plan:
(1) "Serve the common good." Here teachers are willing to deviate from the original lesson
plan because one student raised an issue that the teacher perceives to be relevant for the
other students.
(2) "Teach to the moment." Sometimes, teachers may completely abandon the lesson plan to
discuss some unplanned event because the teacher thinks it is timely for the class.
(3) "Further the lesson." Teachers make a procedural change during the lesson as a means of
promoting the progress of the lesson.
(4) "Accommodate students' learning styles." Teachers may sometimes depart from their
lesson plans in order to accommodate their students' learning styles if the original plan
has not accounted for them.
(5) "Promote students' involvement." Teachers sometimes eliminate some steps in their
lesson plans in order to have more student involvement, especially if the students are not
responding.
(6) "Distribute the wealth." This last principle has teachers changing lesson plans to
encourage quiet students to participate more and to keep the more active students from
dominating the class time. These findings show that teacher decision making is a
dynamic process involving teachers making'choices before, during, and after each
lesson.
The question that arises out of these studies is: What kinds of lesson plans should
English language teachers write? The next section discusses how to develop, implement, and
evaluate a lesson plan.

D. Developing the Plan

 An effective lesson plan starts with appropriate and clearly written objectives. An
objective is a description of a learning outcome. Objectives describe the destination (not the
journey) we want our students to reach. Clear, well-written objectives are the first step in
daily lesson planning. These objectives help state precisely what we want our students to
learn, help guide the selection of appropriate activities, and help provide overall lesson focus
and direction. They also give teachers a way to evaluate what their students have learned at
the end of the lesson. Clearly written objectives can also be used to focus the students (they
know what is expected from them).

For English language lessons, Shrum and Glisan (in Richards and Renandya, 2002) point
out that effective objectives "describe what students will be able to do in terms of observable
behavior and when using the foreign language". Hence, the language a teacher uses for
stating objectives is important. I suggest action verbs be used to identify desired student
behavior; these can include action verbs similar to those used in Bloom's Taxonomy of
Thinking Processes. Vague verbs such as understand, appreciate, enjoy (although these can
still be used for certain types of lessons, e.g., English poetry or reading novels), or learn
should be avoided because they are difficult to quantify. Action verbs such as identify,
present, describe, explain, demonstrate, list, contrast, and debate are clearer and easier for
teachers to design a lesson around. Use of these action verbs also makes it easier for the
students to understand what will be expected from them in each lesson.
After writing the lesson objectives, teachers must decide the activities and procedures
they will use to ensure the successful attainment of these objectives. Planning at this stage
means thinking through the purposes and structures of the activities. This step involves
planning the shape of the lesson.

A generic lesson plan has five phases:

I. Perspective or opening. The teacher asks the students (or himself or herself) the following
questions: What was the previous activity (what was previously learned)? What concepts
have they learned? The teacher then gives a preview of the new lesson.

II. Stimulation. The teacher (a) poses a question to get the students thinking about the
coming activity; (b) helps the students to relate the activity to their lives; (c) begins with
an attention grabber: an anecdote, a little scene acted out by peer teachers or lay
 assistants, a picture, or a song; and (d) uses it (the response to the attention grabber) as a
lead into the activity.

III.Instruction/participation. The teacher presents the activity, checks for student under-
standing, and encourages active student involvement. Teachers can get students to
interact by the use of pair work and/or group work.

IV. Closure. For this phase the teacher checks what the students have learned, by asking
questions such as "What did you learn?" and "How did you feel about these activities?"
The teacher then gives a preview about the possibilities for future lessons.

V. Follow-up. The last phase of the lesson has the teacher using other activities to reinforce
some concepts and even to introduce some new ones. The teacher gives the students
opportunities to do independent work and can set certain activities or tasks taken from the
lesson as homework.

Of course, teachers can have variations on this generic model. As time passes in language
lessons and as students gain competence, the students can gradually take on a larger role in
choosing the content and even in the structure of the lessons themselves. English language
teachers should also realize that language lessons may be different from other content lessons
because the same concepts may need to be reinforced time and again using different methods.

The following questions may be useful for language teachers to answer before planning
their lessons:

1. What do you want the students to learn and why?

2. Are all the tasks necessary - worth doing and at the right level?

3. What materials, aids, and so on, will you use and why?

4. What type of interaction will you encourage - pair work or group work - and why?

5. What instructions will you have to give and how will you give them (written, oral,
etc.)? What questions will you ask?

6. How will you monitor student understanding during the different stages of the lesson?

After writing the plan, the next step is to implement it by teaching the class.
E. The Format of a Lesson Plan
The formats will vary depending on the trainer and the course, but all plans have the
same ingredients. They say who is going to be taught, what they are going to learn or be
taught, how they are going to learn or be taught, and with what.
The first thing such a written plan needs to detail is who the students are: How many
are there in the class? What ages? What sexes? What are they like? Cooperative? Quiet?
Difficult to control? Experienced teachers have all this information in their heads when they
plan; teachers in training will be expected to write it down.
The next thing the plan has to contain is what the teachers/students want to do: study a
piece of grammar, write a narrative, listen to an interview, read a passage etc. Looking
through a plan, an objective observer should be able to discern a logical sequence of things to
be studied and/or activated.
The third aspect of a plan will say how the teacher/students is/are going to do it. Will
they work in pairs? Will the teacher just put on a tape or will the class start by discussing
dangerous sports for example? Once again, an objective reader of the plan should be able to
identify a logical sequence of classroom events. If four activities in a row are teacher-led
dictations, we might start to think that the sequence is highly repetitive and that, as a result,
the students are likely to get very demotivated by this incessant repetition. For each activity,
the teacher will usually indicate how. long she expects it to take and what classroom
materials or aids she is going to use. The plan will say what is going to be used for the
activities: A tape recorder? Photocopies? An overhead projector?
Lastly, the plan will talk about what might go wrong (and how it can be dealt with)
and how the lesson fits in with lessons before and after it.

In order to be able to say these things, however, we need to go a little bit deeper and
ask some searching questions about the activities we intend to use.

 Who are the students for this activity?

à description of the class
 What will it achieve? à aims
 How long will it take? à timing
 What might go wrong? à anticipated problems
 What will be needed? à teaching aids
  How does it work? à procedure

F. Implementing the Plan

Implementing the lesson plan is the most important (and difficult) phase of the daily
lesson planning cycle. In this phase, the lesson plan itself will retreat into the background as
the reality of the class takes over. As many experienced teachers know, it is easy to get
sidetracked by unplanned events: However, teachers should remember that the original plan
was designed with specific intentions in mind and the plan was based on the teacher's
diagnosis of the learning competence of the students. Nonetheless, teachers may need to
make certain adjustments to the lesson at the implementation phase. Farrel (Richards and
Renandya, 2002) suggests two broad reasons for teachers to deviate from their original lesson
plan: first, when the lesson is obviously going badly and the plan is not helping to produce
the desired outcome; second, when something happens during an early part of the lesson that
necessitates improvisation.
When the lesson is not succeeding, teachers should make immediate adjustments to the
original plan. This is difficult for beginning teachers because they may not have the necessary
experience to recognize that things are going badly. They may also lack sufficient knowledge
to develop contingency plans to substitute in such cases. No teacher's guide can anticipate
what problems might occur during a lesson (e.g., out-of-class problems such as interruptions
from a visitor); however, they must be dealt with quickly. Teachers can build up this
professional knowledge with experience.
When implementing their lesson plan, teachers might try to monitor two important issues,
namely, lesson variety and lesson pacing. Variety in lesson delivery and choice of activity
will keep the class lively and interested. To vary a lesson, teachers should frequently change
the tempo of activities from fast-moving to slow. They can also change the class organization
by giving individual tasks, pair work, group work, or full class interaction.

Activities should also vary in level of difficulty, some easy and others more demanding.
The activities should also be of interest to the students, not just to the teacher. Ur (in Richards
and Renandya, 2002), however, cautions that varied activities should not be "flung together
in random order." The result of this would be restlessness and disorder. Consequently, Ur
suggests that the harder activities and tasks be placed earlier in the lesson and the quieter
activities before lively ones. Teachers may want to try variations of this to see what works
best in their particular class.
 Pace is linked to the speed at which a lesson progresses, as well as to lesson timing. In
order for teachers to develop a sense of pace, Brown (1994) suggests the following
guidelines: (1) activities should not be too long or too short; (2) various techniques for
delivering the activities should "flow" together; (3) there should be clear transitions between
each activity. If teachers remember to work for the benefit of their students rather than their
own, then they can avoid falling into the trap of racing through different activities just
because they have been written on the lesson plan.

G. Evaluating the Plan

The final part of daily lesson planning happens after the lesson has ended, although
Brown (1994) reminds that evaluation can take place during the lesson too, when the teacher
must evaluate the success (or failure) of the lesson. Ur (1996) says it is important to think
after teaching a lesson and ask "whether it was a good one or not, and why". This form of
reflection, she says, is for self-development. Of course, both "success" and "failure" are
relative terms and their definitions will vary according to each individual teacher's and
student's perspective. Nevertheless, Brown (1994) says that without an evaluative component
in the lesson, the teacher has no way of assessing the success of the students or what
adjustments to make for the next lesson.
Brown (1994) defines evaluation in lesson planning as an assessment that is "formal
or informal, that you make after students have sufficient opportunities for learning". Ur
(1996) says that when evaluating a lesson, the first and most-important criterion is student
learning because that is why we have a lesson in the first place. Even though it may be
difficult to judge how much has been learned in a lesson, Ur says that we can still make a
good guess. This guess can be based "on our knowledge of the class, the type of activity they
were engaged in, and some informal test activities that give feedback on learning".
Ur offers the following criteria for evaluating lesson effectiveness and orders them as
follows:
(1) the class seemed to be learning the material well;
(2) the learners were engaging with the foreign language throughout;
(3) the learners were attentive all the time;
(4) the learners enjoyed the lesson and were motivated;
(5) the learners were active all the time;
(6) the lesson went according to plan;
 (7) the language was used communicatively throughout.

Readers might wish to reflect on these criteria and reorder them in their own list of
priority. The following questions may also be useful for teachers to reflect on after
conducting a lesson (answers can be used as a basis for future lesson planning):
1. What do you think the students actually learned?
2. What tasks were most successful? Least successful? Why?
3. Did you finish the lesson on time?
4. What changes (if any) will you make in your teaching and why (or why not)?

Additionally, for further clarification of the success of a lesson, teachers can ask their
students the following four questions at the end of each class; the answers can assist teachers
with future lesson planning as these types of questions are highly subjective):
1. What do you think today's lesson was about?
2. What part was easy?
3. What part was difficult?
4. What changes would you suggest the teacher make?

Summary
• The purpose of planning: it helps to focus our minds, it helps to have something to refer to
in the middle of the class, it shows students that we are professional and that we care.
• Whatever the format of a plan, it should tell us who is going to learn or be taught, what-they
are going to learn or be taught, how they are going, to do it and what with.
• Important questions which teachers need to consider before they start to plan an activity:
Why do you want to do it? What will it achieve? How long will it take? What might go
wrong? What will you need to do it? How will it fit in with what comes before and after it?
• The actual format of a lesson plan is very much a matter of personal preference, but that
trainers may want to guide trainees into certain formats.

Evaluation:
1. Discuss the reasons why we should write a lesson plan
2. What advantages can we get when we write a detailed plan for our lesson?
3. How can we write a lesson plan which fits both the coherence and variety
requirements?
 4. What general components are required in our lesson plan?
Learning Objectives and Indicators

I. Expected Competence
After studying the chapter, teachers have skills in formulating the learning objectives
and indicators
II. Indicators
a. Explaining the basic concepts of goal and objectives
b. Differentiating between goals and objectives
c. Formulating goals and objectives

III. Learning Material

There is a direct connection between the aspects or components of a lesson plan. In

the context of Indonesian newest curriculum, the interconnection exists between each
successive component:

The Standard of Competence àthe Basic Competency à the Learning Aim à the Indicators
of Achievement à the Teaching/Learning Material à the Tasks as a means of achieving the
aim à the Evaluation

The link can be used as a simple mechanism to check whether the lesson plan will
enable the students to achieve their learning aims or objectives.
In short, the interconnection can be described as follows.

SK KD Aim Indicators Material Task Evaluation

Copy Copy Usually one Ind 1 Material for Exercises related Evaluating
from from general aim achieving Ind 1 to Ind 1 achievement
the the reflecting of Ind 1
curr. curr. the end
 product of Ind 2 Material for Exercises related Evaluating
learning, achieving Ind 2 to Ind 2 achievement
which will of Ind 2
be achieved
through the Ind 3 Material for Exercises related Evaluating
activities achieving ind 3 to Ind 3 achievement
following of Ind 2
the
indicators Ind 4 Material for Exercises related Evaluating
Achieving Ind 4 to Ind 4 achievement
of Ind 4

When preparing the lesson plan, teachers can simply copy the SK and KD from the
national curriculum issued by the government. The first complication appears when they are
formulating the aim and indicators. Because these two components will determine the content
and the process of teaching, a detailed discussion on the two aspects is presented in this
chapter.

A. Goals and Objectives

The distinction between the terms 'goals' and 'objectives' is here taken to be a
distinction between the general and the specific (Graves, 2000; Brown, 1995). For example,
one broader goal for a course might be perceived, from the teacher's perspective, as being:

1. to develop the students' reading ability more comprehensively and effectively;

more specific objectives within that goal could be outcomes for the students:
(a) to develop effective strategies for dealing with unknown words
(b) to be able to distinguish fact from opinion
(c) to build confidence in dealing with a wide range of texts (e.g. news reports,
charts, magazine articles, short stories).

Similarly, another broad goal could be:

2. to help learners become more independent in their approach to learning;

more specific objectives for students could be:
(a) to learn ways of monitoring and assessing their own progress
(b) to develop effective strategies for using monolingual dictionaries
 (c) to find ways of exploiting out-of-class resources for learning English.

In principle, goals and objectives are a good thing. The question How can you design a
course if you don't know where you want your students to come out? seems to be a good
argument for setting goals.
In practice, goals and objectives are one of the hardest aspects of course design for the
teachers. Why is this so? The reason lies in the nature of teaching and of teachers' lives.
Studies on teachers' planning processes in the 1970s and early 80s showed that teachers are
primarily focused on the "concretes" of the classroom: what they will teach, how they will
teach it, the students in the classroom. Aspects of planning which were not immediately tied
to the here and now of the classroom, such as goals and objectives or how the class fit into
the curriculum as a whole, were not in the foreground of their thinking. This doesn't mean
that teachers don't have goals and objectives but rather that these are implicit in what they do
rather than explicitly stated, or that they are a later part in the planning process.
If you haven't had experience with formulating goals and objectives, you will probably
go through a few drafts or need to put the first draft aside and come back to it once you have
worked on other aspects of your course. The goals themselves or the wording may change.
You will write them differently if you plan to give them to your students or if they provide a
working document for you. You will be clearest about them after you have finished teaching
the course! However, once you have learned the "discipline" of writing goals and objectives
you will find that they will help you make decisions so that you can shape a coherent and
satisfying course.

1. Goals
Goals are a way of putting into words the main purposes and intended outcomes of
your course. If we use the analogy of a journey, the destination is the goal; the journey is
the course. The objectives are the different points you pass through on the journey to the
destination. In most cases, the destination is composed of multiple goals which the course
helps to weave together. Sometimes, teacher and students reach unexpected places. When
you do veer "off course," it may be because you need to adjust your course for a more
suitable destination for your students and so you must redefine and refine your goals. On
the other hand, goals can help you stay on course, both as you design the course and as you
teach it.
 Stating your goals helps to bring into focus your visions and priorities for the course.
They are general statements, but they are not vague. For example, the goal "Students will
improve their writing" is vague. In contrast, "By the end of the course students will have
become more aware of their writing in general and be able to identify the specific areas in
which improvement is needed" while general, is not vague. It also suggests that there will be
other goals which give more information about the ways in which students will improve their
writing.
A goal states an aim that the course will explicitly address in some way. If, for
example, one of the goals of a course is to help students develop learning strategies or
interpersonal skills, then class time will be explicitly devoted to that goal. Because class time
is limited, and the number of goals is not, choice is important. While you may be able to
think of many laudable goals, they should address what can be realistically achieved within
the constraints and resources of your course, i.e., who the students are, their level, the amount
of time available, the materials available. They should be achievable within the time frame of
the course with that group of students.
At the same time, goals are future oriented. In his book on curriculum design, J. D. Brown
proposes that goals are "what the students should be able to do when they leave the
program." (1995, p. 71).

2. Formulating Goals
The first step is to list all the possible goals you could have for your particular
course, based on your conceptualization of content, your beliefs, and/or your assessment of
students' needs (see Chapter 6). The list may be ragged, it may not be clear what is truly a
goal or how to state it, and there may be repetition and overlap. Next steps are to look for
redundancies, and to identify priorities based on your beliefs and your context. What is
most important to you? What are the expectations of the institution, the students? Because
all of these factors come into play, your goals will go through several drafts as you consider
different aspects of the course and as you try to make the way you express them clearer.
Make an initial list of goals for your course. Keep in mind the image of a destination
with multiple aspects or the formula "The course will be successful if. . ."
The following is an example of a goal from a writing course using
computers which illustrates this point:
"By the end of the course students will have developed the ability to use the computer for a
variety of purposes."
 Finally, goals are the benchmarks of success for a course. The course can be deemed
successful and effective if the goals have been reached. I suggest applying this "formula" to
your goals: If we accomplish X goals, will the course be successful? This last question fore-
shadows the relationship between goals and assessment, which I will discuss later in the
chapter.
Example:

Goals for a "Writing Using Computers" Course (in terms of awareness,, teacher’s side, attitude,
and knowledge)

Awareness

Goal 1. By the end of the course, students will have become more aware of their writing
in general and be able to identify the specific areas in which improvement is
needed.

Teacher

Goal 2. Throughout this course, the teacher win clearly communicate to students what his
standards are for successful completion of tasks.
Goal 3. By the end of the course, the teacher will have developed a greater understanding of
student needs and will-make adjustments to ensure these needs can be met the next
time he teaches the course.

Attitude

Goal 4. By the end of the course, students will have developed a positive attitude toward
writing.

Goal 5. By the end of the course, students will have developed the ability to use the
computer for a variety of purposes.

Goal 6. By the end of the course, students will improve their writing to the next level of the
ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines Writing scale.

Knowledge
Goal 7. By the end of the course students will be able to understand the elements of and
what constitutes "good writing"

Goal 8. By the end of the course, students will be able to understand the appropriateness of
using computers for different writing and research purposes.
 Another example:
Goal 1: Students will be able to utilize the skills of listening and speaking for the purposes
of: socializing, providing and obtaining information, expressing personal feelings
and opinions, persuading others to adopt a course of action, in the targeted topic*
areas, by: (her objectives for this goal follow).
Goal 2: Students will be able to utilize the skills of reading and writing for the purposes of
socializing, providing and obtaining information, expressing personal feelings and
opinions, persuading others to adopt a course of action, in the targeted topic* areas,
by: (her objectives for this goal follow).
Goal 3: Students will develop cross-cultural skills and understandings of perceptions,
gestures, folklore, and family, and community dynamics by: (her objectives for this
goal follow).
Goal 4: Students will develop skills that-enable them to work together cooperatively by: (her
objectives for this goal follow)

3. Objectives
Objectives are statements about how the goals will be achieved. Through objectives, a goal is
broken down into learnable and teachable units. By achieving the objectives, the goal will be
reached. For this reason, the objective must relate to the goal. For example, in a first pass at
formulating goals for his course, one teacher stated one goal as, "Students will be able to interact
comfortably with each other in English." One of the objectives he listed under that goal was for
students to learn to tell stories. There is nothing wrong .with students learning to tell stories, but
telling stories generally does not require interaction, and so for this teacher's goal, learning to tell
stories was not the most appropriate objective. The teacher asked himself, "Will achieving this
objective help to reach the goal?" When he determined that the answer was no, he eliminated that
objective and sought other, more appropriate objectives.
Another aspect of the relationship between goals and objectives is that of cause and effect. If
students achieve A, B, C objectives, then they will reach Y goal. In principle, this is a good idea. In
practice, students may not achieve the goal or may achieve other goals the teacher hadn't intended.
On the other hand, if the goal remains important and is not achieved through the means or objectives
described above, then the objectives may need to be examined and changed or refined so that the
goal can be reached.
 Formulating goals and objectives helps to build a clear vision of what you will teach. Because
a goal is something toward which you will explicitly teach, stating goals helps to define priorities
and to make choices. Clear goals help to make teaching purposeful because what you do in class is
related to your overall purpose. Goals and objectives provide a basis for making choices about what
to teach and how. Objectives serve as a bridge between needs and goals. Stating goals and objectives
is a way of holding yourself accountable throughout the course. Goals are not a "wish list." For
example, if one of your goals is for students to be able to identify areas of improvement in their
writing, then you will need to design ways for students to evaluate their writing as well as ways to
assess their effectiveness in identifying those areas they need to improve. Finally, a clear set of goals
and objectives can provide the basis for your assessment plan.
When you write your own goals, you should keep in mind the audience for the goals. If it is
your students, you will need to consider whether the language you use is accessible to them. Even if
you alone are the audience for the goals and objectives, you should try to make them transparent
enough for someone else to understand. Unpack the language to simplify and clarify it and also to
find out if what you thought was one goal or objective is actually more than one.

4. Formulating Objectives
A classic work on formulating objectives is Robert Mager's 1962 book on performance
objectives, written when behaviorism and stimulus-response theories of learning were still in vogue.
Mager suggests that for an objective to be useful, it should contain three components: performance,
condition, and criterion. Performance describes what the learners will be able to do, condition
describes the circumstances in which the learners are able to something, and criterion, the degree to
which they are able to do something. To these three components, Brown (1995) adds subject, who
will be able to do something, and measure, "how the performance will be observed or tested." For
example, look at this objective from Brown and the five components below it.

“Students at the Guangzhou English Language Center will be able to write missing
elements on the appropriate lines in a graph, chart, or diagram from information
provided in a 600-word 11th grade reading level general science passage.”

Subject : students at the GELC

Performance: write missing elements ... in a graph, chart, or diagram from information
provided in a ... passage."
Conditions: on the appropriate lines .. . 600 word 11th grade reading level general science
passage
Measure : to write the correct words (observable part of the objective)
Criterion : the criterion is 100%, all the missing elements

The above example clearly shows how Brown's Components of Performance

Objectives have been used in the objective. An objective, therefore, consists of the following
aspects:
Subject: who will achieve the objective
Performance: what the subject will be able to do
Conditions: the way in which the subject will be able to perform
Measure: the way the performance will be observed or measured '
Criterion: how well the subject will be able to perform

The above approach to objectives is both useful and, problematic. It is useful for a
number of reasons. First, it proposes that objectives should communicate clearly what you
want your students to achieve and it outlines how to make them clear. Second, the subject is
stated in terms of those who will achieve the objective, in the case of a course, the students.
Teachers often fall into the trap of writing objectives from the point of view of what they will
do, not what their student will learn. Another value, as Brown points out, is that the more
specific one can be, the more useful and comprehensible the objectives will be to others.
Third, the performance is stated in terms of something the students will be able to do. This is
useful because it looks at learning as active, participatory, and outcome based. It heads off
vagueness and lack of clarity. Mager contrasts vague verbs like "know," "appreciate,"
"understand," with precise verbs like "construct," "identify," "contrast."
The element of performance is problematic because not all learning is observable, and
much of what happens in learning is unpredictable. As Ron White points out in his excellent
analysis of behavioral objectives, "If education is viewed as a voyage of discovery, the pre-
specification of outcomes inherent in behavioral objectives may be seen as conflicting with
the essential speculative nature of the education process."

The implausibility of predicting detailed performances (when there can be unexpected

outcomes) and the inherent freedom of the learner in an educative process are not reasons for
supposing that we cannot or must not try to specify performance objectives. We can agree
that students' performances (a) cannot or should not be pre-specified in detail and (b) are a
part but not the whole of what we mean by education, but why should either of these
considerations be inconsistent with stating objectives as the directions in which we are trying
to guide student learnings?
Toward this end, Mager's list of verbs is helpful in focusing our thinking about areas
of learning that are not measurable. For example, instead of saying "Students will appreciate
the difference between their culture and the target culture," one can say "Students will be able
to identify two differences between their culture and the target culture and explain how they
feel about them."
In describing "criterion," one states the "quality or level of performance that will be
considered acceptable" (Brown 1995, p. 23). This is useful because it helps to set standards
and to hold oneself and one's students accountable. I find the criterion component the most
problematic, however, for a number of reasons. It may be impractical for a teacher planning a
course to take the time to figure out the degree of specificity for each objective, it may "box
him in" prior to having met the students, and it may be unrealistic. One teacher who was
designing a course for hotel employees formulated an objective in this way:
"Students will be able to greet guests to the hotel with the correct use of time
of day (good morning/afternoon/evening) and correctly respond to standard
greetings ("How are you?" "Nice day" etc.) three times out of four."
The teacher was trying to include a criterion by stating three times out of four; however, for
the students this would be problematic because, even though they may reach the standard,
they may fail at their jobs. What the students need is not to be able to get it right three times
out of four, but to know what to do the fourth time when they don't get it right. An additional
objective might be:
"Students will be able to use a variety of strategies for repairing breakdowns in
communication."

Measure and criterion are probably more important when designing an assessment
plan, once you have met the students and spent time teaching them. In other words, you
might be much more specific about measure and criterion in designing a test or setting up an
assessment task like a role play or written task, because you can tailor it to your students.
Because -. objectives may be based on what you perceive to be the needs of the students, they
are subject to change once you have actually met them. Additionally, you may want (and be
able) to negotiate objectives with your students, in which case, having objectives too clearly
specified in advance may make it difficult for you to give them up. Nevertheless, a clear set
of objectives can be immensely helpful in designing an assessment plan since they provide a
chart of what is to be learned and therefore a basis for what can be assessed.

The components are adopted in the Indonesian system, which are usually called the
ABCD model. A further discussion on this ABCD type will be presented in Chapter 4.
Below is an example of how the Goal and Objectives have been formulated (adapted
from the two New York State standards for Languages other than English/LOTE):

NYS LOTE Standard 1: Students will be able to use a language other than English for
communication.
NYS LOTE Standard 2: Students will develop cross-cultural skills and understandings.

Goal

1. Students will be able to utilize the skills of listening and speaking for the purposes
of: socializing, providing and obtaining information, expressing personal feelings
and opinions, and persuading others to adopt a course of action in the targeted
topic areas

Objectives
Students will be able to:
1.1. comprehend messages arid short conversations when listening to peers, familiar
adults, and providers of public services in face-to-face interactions
1.2 grasp the main idea and some discrete information in television and radio or live
presentations
1.3 initiate and sustain conversations, face-to-face, with native speakers or fluent
individuals
1.4 select vocabulary appropriate to a range of topics, employing simple and complex
sentences in present, past, or future time frames, and expressing details and
nuances by using appropriate modifiers
 1.5 exhibit spontaneity in their interactions, particularly when the topic is familiar, but
often relying on familiar utterances.

Below is a summary of guidelines to consider when formulating goals and objectives:

1. Goals should be general, but not vague.

2. Goals should be transparent. Don't use jargon.

3. A course is successful and effective if the goals have been reached. Try this "formula" for
your goals: if we accomplish [goal], will the course be successful?
4. Goals should be realistic. They shouldn't be what you want to achieve, but what you can
achieve. They should be achievable within the time frame of the course with that group of
students.
5. Goals should be relatively simple. Unpack them and make them into more than one goal, if
necessary.
6. Goals should be about something the course will explicitly address in some way. In other
words, you will spend class time to achieve that goal.
7. Objectives should be more specific than goals. They are in a hierarchical relationship to
goals.

8. Objectives should directly relate to the goals. Ask yourself: , "Will achieving 'x' objective
help to reach 'y' goal?"

9. Objectives and goals should be in a cause-effect relationship: "if objective, then goal."
10. Objectives should focus on what students will learn (e.g., students will be able to write a
term paper) and/or processes associated with it (e.g., be able to make an outline), not
simply on the activity (e.g., students will write a term paper).

11. Objectives are relatively short term. Goals are relatively long term.

12. There should be more objectives than goals. However, one objective may be related to
more than one goal.
13. Don't try to pack too much into one objective. Limit each objective to a specific skill or
language area.
14. The goals and objectives give a sense of the syllabus of the course. Objectives are like the
building blocks of the syllabus.

15. A clear set of goals and objectives provide the basis for evaluation of the course (goals)
and assessment of student learning (objectives).
16. Both goals and objectives should be stated in terms of the learner. You may, however,
have specific, separate goals for yourself as a teacher.

17. Your course may have two or three layers of goals and objectives, each more specific,
depending on the length and nature of your course. The point is for you to have a clear and
purposeful vision of your course.

Because the objectives will be transformed into teachable units, it is important to keep
in mind that the verbs used in the objectives are action verbs or operational verbs which can
be easily observed. The use of operational verbs will enable us to easily check whether the
students have mastered the particular skill or aspect being taught. Examples of operational
verbs can be seen from the extract proposed by Bloom (in Richards and Renandya, 2002).

BLOOM'S TAXONOMY OF THINKING PROCESSES (ADAPTATION)

Level of Definition Student Roles Action Verbs
Knowledge
Taxonomy Recall of specific responds tell; list; define;
information absorbs name; identify;
remembers state; remember;
recognizes repeat
Comprehensio Understanding of explains transform; change;
(understanding communicated translates restate; describe;
information demonstrates explain; review;
interprets paraphrase; relate;
generalize; infer
Application Use of rules, solves problems apply; practice;
(using) concepts, principles, demonstrates employ; use;
and theories in new "uses knowledge demonstrate;
situations constructs illustrate;
show; report
Analysis Breaking down discusses analyze; dissect;
(taking part) information into uncovers distinguish; examine;
parts lists compare; contrast;
dissects survey; investigate;
separate; categorize;
classify; organize
Synthesis Putting together of discusses create; invent
(creating new) ideas into a new or generalizes compose; construct;
unique plan relates design; modify;
contrasts imagine; produce;
propose; what if...
Evaluation Judging the value of judges judge; decide; select;
(judging) materials or ideas disputes justify; evaluate; critique;
on the basis of set forms opinions debate; verify;
standards or criteria debates recommend; assess
Models of Lesson Planning

There have been many different models of lesson plans proposed by many language
teaching experts. In Indonesia, the most widely used model of lesson plan is the one which
follows the form officially issued by the government. Almost all teachers use this model.
However, the model is open to variation in several components, such as the formulation of
the aim (Tujuan) and indicators (Indikator). This leads us the discussion about two types of
Tujuan. Model 1 is when a teacher writes one global aim/goal with several subgoal/objectives
which are named indikator, and Model 2 is when a teacher writes the same number of items
for both aims/goals and objectives.

Model 1 (one global aim/goal with several subgoal/objectives which are named
indikator)
This model refers to the description about goals and objectives proposed in the
previous section in which an analogy of a journey is used as an example. There is only one
global aim or goal for one lesson plan. This goal usually refers to the end product of the
teaching and learning process, focusing on the competence that will be achieved by the
students after studying the topic. The statement usually starts with “By the end of the class,
students are able to ...”.
This global and general aim is then broken down into several teachable units called
objectives. The objectives have to be stated in operational verbs. With some minor
adjustment, these objectives are then written under the indicator section. An example of this
type is found when the lessons in a driving school is broken down into several sub units.
The Journey Analogy:
A journey from home (Yogya) to uncle’s house (Jakarta)
Goal: To get to uncle’s house in Jakarta on time, safely.
Route: 1. Home à 2. Getting an ojek to Bandara Adisucipto à 3. Plane to
Cengkareng à 4. Taking a Damri bus to Jakarta Bus Station à 5. Getting a Bajaj to
Uncle’s house.

The Journey = the Teaching

The Goal = the Tujuan
The Route/steps = the Indicators
 Learning how to drive a car
Tujuan (the end product of the activity): By the end of the course, the course taker is able to
drive a car in a comfortable, save way.

Indikator (all necessary sub-skill that might be needed to make somebody able to drive):
1. Be able to start the engine
2. Be able to operate the throttle, clutch, and brake pedals
3. Be able to make turns
4. Be able to retreat
5. Be able to park

The lesson planner can then copy the goal into the Tujuan, and the objectives are put in
the Indikator section. This model applies the If-then relationship between the goal and the
objectives: By achieving the objectives, the goal will be reached.

Model 2 (the same number of items for both aims/goals and objectives)
This model is used by explicitely state Brown’s components of a learning objective
(Subject, performance, condition, mesure, and criterion).
Subject: who will achieve the objective
Performance: what the subject will be able to do
Conditions: the way in which the subject will be able to perform
Measure: the way the performance will be observed or measured
Criterion: how well the subject will be able to perform

These components are adapted in Indonesian model which is known as the ABCD
model. ABCD stands for Audience, Behavior, Condition, and Degree.
Audience à who should do the activity
Behavior à can do what activity
Condition à if given what task
Degree à how well he/she can do it

The final, general goal or aim is not explicitly stated in the lesson plan. Instead, this goal is
broken down into several units (called objectives in the previous model), and these units are
then written under the Tujuan heading. For the Indikator, a lesson plan writer can simply
copy the complete Tujuan and add the ABCD components to each of them.
The same example as above will be used here in the second model:

Learning how to drive a car

Tujuan:
1. Be able to start the engine
2. Be able to operate the throttle, clutch, and brake pedals
3. Be able to make turns
4. Be able to retreat
5. Be able to park
Indikator:
1. Given a key and a car parked in a yard (i.e. Condition), a driving course taker (i.e.
Audience) can start the engine (i.e. Behavior) without any difficulties (i.e. Degree).
2. Etc.
3. Etc.