COMPONENT OF CURRRICULUM: AIMS, GOALS AND OBJECTIVES.

Needs analysis refer to the activities involved in gathering information that will serve as the basis for the
developing a curriculum that will meet the learning needs of particular group of students. The process of
needs analysis can generate a tremendous amount of information that must be sorted and utilized in
some way within the curriculum. One way to use this information is to apply what has been learned in
the need analysis for the formulating of program goals and objectives.

A. Aims

Aims are general statement that provides direction or intent to educational actions. Aims are usually
written in amorphous terms using words like: learn, know, understand, appreciate and these are not
directly measurable. Aims may serve as organizing principles of educational direction for more than one
grade. Indeed these organizing principles may encompass the continuum of educational direction for
entire programs, subject areas of the district.

B. Goals

There are definitions of the goals, namely:

1. Goals are general statements of the program’s purposes.

2. Goals should usually focus on what the program hopes to accomplish in the future, and particularly on
what the students should be able to do when they leave the program.

3. Goals can serve as one basis for developing more precise and observable objectives.

4. Goals should never be viewed as permanent, that is, they should never become set in cement.

The primary reason for this last point is that the needs being addressed are only perceived needs and
such perceptions may change. In fact, actual changes may occur in both language needs and situation
needs if new and different types of students enter the program. Goals may take many shapes. They may
be language and situation-centered as in the three goals includes in the statement: “In our program, the
students will learn how to fill out forms in Indonesia, read a menu, and order a meal.”Goals are broad
statements of what the students will be able to do when they have completed the course. A curriculum
will often be organized around the goals of the program. Thus the goals and syllabuses of a program
may be related. The program fosters acceptance of cultural differences between countries. The process
of defining goals makes the curriculum developers and participants consider, or reconsider, the
program’s purposes with specific reference to what the students should be able to do when they leave
the program.

C. Objectives
If curriculum goals are defined as statements of the desirable and attainable curriculum purposes and
based on the perceived language and situation needs of the participants in a program. Instructional
objectives will be defined here as specific statements that describe the particular knowledge, behaviors,
and / or skill that the learner will be expected to know perform at the end of a course or
program.Instructional objectives are specific, measurable, short-term, observable student behaviors to
ensure your students to reach your goals.Consider the following “objectives” that were stated for an
upper-level ESL for academic purposes class at a well-known American University: By the end of the
course, a student will be able to:

1. Prepare a term paper (including footnotes, bibliography, title pages, and so forth).

2. Take notes on a lecture.

3. Answer questions following such a talk.

A statement like “a student will be able to prepare a term paper” is far too general to fit the definition of
an objective as I have given it here. The three “objectives” do match the definition I have given for
curriculum goals. For instance, whether the following seem more like curriculum goals or instructional
objectives:By the end of the course, the student will be able to:

1. Understanding conversational English.

2. Correctly underline sentences that function as examples within 600 word passages of 11th grade
reading level on general science topics three out of four times.3. Develop oral language skills that will
prepare them to participate in class discussions, make oral presentations before an audience, and
respond to questions, as well as continue to improve through self-evaluation of speech.

4. Find and write down the library call numbers for 10 books found in the card catalog when supplied
with only the author and title with 90 % accuracy.

According to Bixler, there are three types of objectives. They are Cognitive,

Affective and Psychomotor.

 Cognitive

This includes knowledge or information recall, comprehension or conceptual understanding, the ability
to apply knowledge, the ability to analyze a situation, the ability to synthesize information from a given
situation, and the ability to evaluate a given situation. E.g., "Given a description of a planet, the student
will be able to identify that planet, as demonstrated verbally or in writing." or "The student will be able
to evaluate the different theories of the origin of the solar system as demonstratedby his/her ability to
compare and discuss verbally or in writing the strengths and weaknesses of each theory."

 Affective
Affective refers to attitudes, appreciations and relationships among others.E.g., "Given the opportunity
to work in a team with several people of different races, the student will demonstrate an positive
increase in attitude towards non-discrimination of race, as measured by a checklist utilized/completed
by non-team members.”

 Psychomotor

Psychomotor dealt with physical skills.E.g., "The student will be able to ride a two-wheel bicycle without
assistance and without pause as demonstrated in gym class."24Objectives should specify four main
things:

1. Audience -

2. Behavior -

3. Condition -

4. Degree -

D. The Importance of Goals and Objectives

Goals and objectives are very important because they do the following:

1. Help direct the choice of curricular contents and the assignment of relative priorities to various
components of curriculum.

2. Suggest what learning methods will be most effective.

3. Enable evaluation of learners and the curriculum. Thus, permitting demonstration of the effectiveness
of curriculum.

4. Suggest what evaluation methods are appropriate.

5. Clearly communicate to other such as learners, faculty, program directors, department chairs, and
individual from other institution.Goals and objectives create the foundation for lesson plans. If they are
written well, an instructor will have an effective and meaningful structure for discussion, activities, and
assessment. Goals and objectives serve as a reminder that teaching is not an end in itself, but the means
to an end. Goals explain the reasoning behind what you will teach in a session. They articulate what you
wish to accomplish and help to map your direction. They address the question: What do I want my
students to take with them after the session is completed? Once you've organized your goals, you can
decide what content and teaching method will best achieve them.Objectives should always focus on the
students, not the instructor.Objectives should address outcomes, not learning processes. Each objective
should focus on only one idea. Objectives should measure specific behaviors. Try to avoid using vague
verbs such as 'understands' and 'knows.'Not having clearly defined objectives may result in:

1. Misunderstandings and bad feelings from collaborating organizations whose outcomes were left out
of the survey
2. Poor direction to those who are commissioned to do a survey, potentially producing survey results
which do not answer the questions which the sponsoring organization needs answered.

3. A poor questionnaire which does not gather the data required to measure one or more important
indicators or outcomes

4. Lack of appropriate supplies and equipment

5. Undirected and unfocused data analysis and wasted time