Teacher Development:
The Benefits of Expressing Lesson Aims to Students
Do you express lesson aims to students?
As English teachers, we guide our students through their language learning journey, and it is our responsibility to define what we want them to achieve by the end of each lesson. When we determine clear lesson aims, we can create a structured path for students to follow during each class, ensuring that learning is purposeful and goal-oriented.
In this teacher development article, we explore why expressing lesson aims to students is just as important, and include prompt questions to reflect on your own teaching skills in the classroom. This also includes six teacher development tasks, in which teachers to stop and reflect on their understanding of expressing aims and on their own experience in the classroom.
By the end of the this guide, teachers should be better able to understand the benefits of clearly expressing lesson aims to students before starting an activity. We will also explore strategies for incorporating this into your teaching practice.
* In this article, the terms lesson aims and lesson objectives are used interchangeably to describe the specific and measurable goals of an individual lesson.
Task 1: What are the lesson aims in this class?
Imagine you are a student in a pre-intermediate English class (English level CEFR A2/B1), and your teacher does not explicitly express the lesson aims. The teacher starts talking about (and maybe even showing images of) a supermarket, their favourite restaurant, and then mentions a sports centre.
What is the teacher’s input prompting you to think about at the start of this lesson?
What do you think are the aims of this English teacher’s lesson?
» Pause & reflect (1 minute)
The teacher's lesson aims
This is what the teacher had actually aimed to achieve during their lesson.
Main aim: By the end of the lesson, students will be better able to ask for and give directions.
Subsidiary aim: Students will practise specific vocabulary related to giving directions (e.g., “turn left,” “go straight,” “cross the street,” “next to,” “opposite”).
Clearly, there was a lot of scope to interpret the teacher’s aims for this lesson, and you may or may not have reached the same conclusion about the goals.
This ambiguity demonstrates that learners would also struggle to understand the key focus of the lesson, and highlights the need to explore the importance of clearly communicating lesson aims to students.
Task 2: What are the benefits of expressing lesson aims to students?
Brainstorm the benefits of expressing lesson aims to students at the start of an activity.
What do you think the advantages would be for language teaching and for English learners?
» Pause & reflect (2 minutes)
The benefits of expressing lesson aims to students
Setting clear lesson aims at the beginning of a lesson helps both the teacher and the students to succeed in language teaching and language learning. Here are the main benefits of clearly communicating lesson aims to students.
1. Focus and motivation
When students understand the purpose of the activity, it increases motivation and engagement. If students know why they are doing something (unlike the confusion in Task 1), they are more likely to remain on task and put effort into achieving the intended learning outcomes.
2. Measurement of success
When lesson aims are presented upfront, students can measure their own progress by comparing what they’ve learned to the objectives outlined at the start. This fosters self-assessment and reflection, which are valuable components for successful language learning.
3. Alignment with learning goals
Communicating lesson aims links the day’s activities to broader, long-term learning objectives. This allows students to understand how the current lesson contributes to their overall progress in their language learning journey.
4. Demonstrates teacher expertise
Expressing lesson aims demonstrates that the teacher is knowledgeable and professional, showing that each lesson is intentionally planned with specific learning goals in mind. Students can always see what they are doing in individual exercises, but if you don’t tell them why, they may interpret that you are simply following a textbook or moving to the next page without a clear purpose.
Task 3: Did you brainstorm the same advantages?
Reflect on your answers in Task 2 regarding the advantages of explaining lesson aims to students.
Did you have similar reasons for telling students the lesson objectives?
If you were a student, would this assist your learning experience?
» Pause & reflect (2 minutes)
Task 4: Do you express lesson aims to students?
Reflect on your own teaching practice and consider how and when you express lesson aims to your students.
How often do you tell students the objectives of the lesson?
How do you express lesson aims to students?
» Pause & reflect (2 minutes)
How to effectively express lesson aims to students
Let’s take a look at strategies to incorporate expressing lesson aims into your teaching practice. These approaches will help to ensure that your students are aware of the lesson objectives, and better support their language learning journey.
1. Introduce aims early on
Early communication of lesson aims enables students to focus their attention and align their efforts with the learning goals throughout the lesson. This doesn’t have to be at the very start of the lesson, and can occur after a warm-up activity or introduction. The key is to communicate the objectives early enough to clarify the focus of the lesson, avoid confusion, and to guide students effectively as they work through the lesson.
2. Grade your language
When explaining the aims, grade your language to match the proficiency level of your students. Avoid complex sentences and unfamiliar vocabulary or colloquial expressions that may confuse language learners.
For example, it could be confusing to recite the teacher’s lesson aims given after Task 1. Instead, it would be more student-friendly to state:
“Today, the focus of this lesson is asking for and giving directions.”
3. Visual aids
Display the aims visually on the board or in handouts. This supports the teacher’s verbal description of the lesson objectives, and students have a clear reference point throughout the lesson.
For example, you could write the following text:
“Lesson focus: Asking for and giving directions”
In online classes, there are various ways to achieve this. You could type the aims in the chat, or share the aims in a document on your screen. You can even add images to reflect the content of your lesson.
4. Be consistent
By regularly sharing the aims at the start of each lesson, students come to expect and rely on this structure, which helps them focus and engage more effectively.
Consistency reinforces the importance of goal-setting, helping students connect individual lessons to their broader learning journey. Over time, this routine builds a sense of responsibility and clarity, ensuring that students stay aligned with the learning objectives throughout the course.
5. Revisit aims
It is advantageous to refer back to the aims during and after the lesson. They create a basis for feedback or discussion, and allow students to assess their own progress. Both the teacher and students can measure if the learning goals have been achieved.
Ultimately, if the students are better able to produce the target language as a direct result of the lesson, then the language teaching and language learning has been successful.
Task 5: Identify aims for upcoming lessons.
Think of at least two upcoming lessons, look at the course syllabus (if you have one!), and determine the lesson aims.
How will you write these lesson aims in an official lesson plan?
How and when will you express these lesson aims to the students?
» Pause & reflect (10 minutes)
Task 6: Reflect after teaching future classes.
Take the opportunity to revisit this concept after teaching future classes.
Have you noticed changes in student engagement when you explain lesson aims?
What strategies for expressing lesson aims would you recommend to other teachers?
» Pause & reflect (5 minutes)
The value of expressing lesson aims
In conclusion, clearly and consistently expressing lesson aims to students plays an important role in creating focused, engaging, and effective lessons.
It helps students understand the purpose of their learning, and empowers them to take responsibility for their own progress. Additionally, it reflects the professionalism and thoughtful planning of the teacher.
For both teachers and students, incorporating the concept of expressing lesson aims to students into lessons provides a valuable and rewarding opportunity to measure success in the language learning journey.
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