Reconceptualizing language teaching: an in-service teacher education course in uzbekistan

SECTION 5.2
Goals and Objectives
“...The work of the educator is to align students’ experi-
ence with what is to be learnt as a developmental journey 
…” (Leung & Scarino, 2016, p. 89).
“...If we use the analogy of a journey, the destination is 
the goal; the journey is the course [lesson], the objectives are 
the different points you pass through on the journey to the 
destination” (Graves, 2000, p. 75).
GOALS
This section addresses the concepts of goals and objectives and how 
to formulate them.
By the end of this section, you will be able to…
A) differentiate between goals and objectives;
B) reflect on challenges you face in the development of lesson goals 
and objectives; and
C) apply principles of writing goals/objectives to the development of 
your lesson plan.
INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW
This section illustrates differences between goals and objectives. It 
starts with a short vignette about challenges Uzbek EFL teachers have had 
in the formulation of goals/objectives. Then, the key concepts section will 
explain their operationalizations, in which they are conceptualized from 
two perspectives: lesson and course. Finally, you will be invited to develop 
goals and objectives for your own microteaching lesson.
Think about the following:
1) What is a goal of a lesson?
2) How do you understand objectives of a lesson? 
3) How many goals and objectives are appropriate for one 80-minute 
lesson?
4) In your opinion, what are the benefits, if any, in developing goals and 
objectives?

---

177
CHAPTER FIVE: FROM SYLLABUS DESIGN TO LESSON PLANNING
UZBEK VIGNETTE
An EFL university teacher in Tashkent explained that, “As a part of one 
project I was required to observe lessons of EFL teachers in different univer-
sities in Tashkent. After the observations, I asked the same question to each 
teacher: “What was the goal – or goals – of your lesson?” Teachers respond 
to the inquiry with a list of activities that they conducted during the lesson.
REFLECTION
What problem is illustrated in the case above?
KEY CONCEPTS
The end goal of language teaching used to be based on a native speak-
er model (i.e., speaking like a native speaker); however, research in second 
language acquisition (SLA) studies have shown that this conceptualization 
is not feasible (or not necessary) for most language learners. Cook (2013) 
explained that “until the 1990s, it was taken for granted that the purpose of 
teaching was to get students as near as possible to native speakers since 
the only valid model of language was the knowledge and behaviour of 
native speakers” (p. 49). However, with the introduction of the CEFR (as ex-
plained in Chapter 1), language teaching professionals have moved away 
from a focus of supporting students to achieve native-like levels to achiev-
ing communicative competence (i.e., being able to communicate). There 
are two major key concept areas we would like to address in this section: (1) 
writing goals and objectives; and (2) backwards design. We explain them 
in detail below.