Language Objectives
Ronniee-Marie Ruggiero
Title III Access to Core Coach
Stevenson Middle School
Presenters : Xavier Contreras, Bertha Melendez, Frank Rodriguez
Today’s Learning Goals
 By the end of the Professional Development,
participants will…
Review why we need Language Objectives
Understand what a Language Objective is
Practice writing Language Objectives
Why write a Language Objective?
 So English Learners understand how reading, listening,
speaking, and writing will be used to learn and express
content.
 To identify specific language that will be used by all
students to express the content (such as sentence
starters or words to express functions, i.e. cause and
effect or compare and contrast).
 To introduce or reinforce academic vocabulary and
address key content vocabulary.
Stevenson’s English Learners Population
This 75% of our student population is why
we need to write and inform our students
about the Language Objective for the day.
“Planning with a Focus on Language Objectives”
 Silently read the article “Planning with a Focus on Language Objectives”
 Strategy 1 : Marking the Text (modified)
As you read, mark one sentence that stood out to you using an asterisk (*) and
mark one sentence that you were unclear about using a question mark (?)
 Strategy 2 : Think Pair Share
Turn to your elbow partner and share the two sentences and together choose one
sentence that you will share whole group using one of the following sentence
frames:
“One sentence that stood out to us was ___________ because ___________.”
“One sentence that we were unclear about was _________ because ________.”
 Strategy 3 : Whip Around
Starting from the left, we are going to have one person from each group share
aloud their sentence
What is a Language Objective?
 A Language Objective expresses what students will be doing
within the lesson in terms of reading, writing, listening,
speaking, and thinking. It is the “how” of the lesson.
 A Language Objective stems from the Content Objective.
 The three main components of a Language Objective are:
Function
Form
Target Content Vocabulary
Language Objectives : Function
 Function refers to what you want the students to do.
They are measurable active verbs. For example,
Costa’s Level 1
Costa’s Level 2
Costa’s Level 3
(Know) (Comprehend) (Apply)
(Analyze) (Synthesize) (Evaluate)
Define
Find
Label
Recall
Write
Classify
Diagram
Examine
Outline
Relate
Cite
Describe
Explain
Interpret
Summarize
Chart
Demonstrate
Establish
Select
Solve
Construct
Formulate
Modify
Propose
Rewrite
Argue
Critique
Judge
Prove
Support
Language Objectives : Form
 Form refers to the grammar, syntax, patterns, and
structures you expect students to use. For example,
• Cause and Effect Transitions
As a result of _______, ________ occurred.
• Conditional Tense
If __________, then _____________.
• Progressive Tense (verb + ing)
The ___________ is/are going to ___________.
Language Objectives : Vocabulary
 Vocabulary refers to the 5-7 target words that your
students need in order to accomplish the objective.
Keep in mind that this vocabulary should be:
* Needed to express ideas about a specific topic
* Content-specific
* Words that students are expected to produce in
discussions, in answering comprehension questions, in
any task that requires language production
* Encountered in future readings
* Frontloaded and practiced in context
Content Objective
Language Objective
Content Objective :
The “what” of the lesson
Language Objective :
The “how” of the lesson
•Identifies what students should know and
be able to do in a particular subject area
•Identifies what language students should
know and be able to use while using English
to accomplish a task
•Guides teaching and learning
•Supports student language development
•Supports content area standards and
specific learning outcomes
•Is aligned to a Content Objective
•Should be stated simply, orally and in
writing
•Should be stated simply, orally and in
writing
Which is it?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Students will explain the basic uses and procedures of word
processing software using transition words that show time,
chronology, sequence.
Students will justify the character’s decisions using the past perfect
tense.
SWBAT explain how the United States developing into different
regions, economically and culturally, caused the Civil War.
The student will be able to summarize the complete set of rules
for the order of operations, including brackets and fractions.
Students will use the future tense and conditional mode to predict
the impact of a natural environmental change on the organisms in
an ecosystem.
SWBAT explain multiple ways to monitor heart rate intensity.
Explain the
results of a plant
experiment.
Conditional Phrases
Soil, nutrients, deprive, essential,
dehydrate, superlatives (large,
larger, largest)
Time to practice!
 Working in grade level groups, complete the T-chart
“Content and Language Objectives” for the remainder
of the time (there will be a share out at the end).
 Use the pie chart and the resources you were asked to
bring with you as references.
 A sample sentence frame for Language Objectives is…
Students will ______________ using _________
including words such as ____________________.
Sharing of Language Objectives
 Strategy 4 : Give One, Get One
*Each group member is to write one
Language Objective that they came up
with on an index card
*For the next 5 minutes, you will go to at
least two other department members (not
from your grade level) and orally share your
Language Objective
Thank you for participating!
 Please complete the feedback & reflection form
before you leave.
 If you would like more information or assistance
with Language Objectives, please contact our Title
III Access to Core Coach, Ronniee-Marie
Ruggiero in room 51 or by email at
rmr6002@lausd.net