View Content #20775

by Lindsay Marean, InterCom Editor

This month in InterCom we’re focusing on engaging learners. As Julie Sykes points out in our February 1 article, goal-orienting behavior that includes learner choice leads to learning experiences that motivate students. Stephanie Knight expands on learner choice and its interplay with ongoing assessment in last week’s article. This week we focus on helping students to set quality goals for themselves using the SMARTER goals framework.

George T. Doran first used the SMART acronym as a tool for writing meaningful objectives (Doran 1981). Specifically, a quality objective or goal satisfies five criteria:  it is Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic or Relevant, and Time-bound. Others have added Evaluation and Reflection to the process to makes goals “SMARTER” (Moeller, Theiler, and Wu 2011).

As Renée Marshall, CASLS Chinese Flagship Coordinator, writes,

The NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements, progress indicators for language learners ... are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. Consider for example one of the Novice-Low Interpersonal Communication Can-Do Statements, ‘I can introduce myself to someone.’ This is a very specific goal that is clearly stated. It is also measurable: either students can introduce themselves effectively to someone in the target language or they cannot. This is an attainable goal with appropriate input and practice. If students listen to people in the target language introducing themselves to others, they will pick up the phrases needed to complete the task. Practice along with guidance from a higher level speaker will help them learn to complete this language task successfully. The Can-Do goal is relevant because if students want to meet another person in the target culture they will need to know how to introduce themselves in the target language. This goal may be time-bound when either a teacher, student or outside force (such as an impending meeting or visit in the target language) indicates a timeline for attainment of the goal. With SMART goals such as the Can-Do Statements, students have a clear direction to focus their language learning efforts, setting them up to develop strategies that will help them meet these goals. Students can also use the Can-Do Statements to evaluate their current abilities and reflect on their progress and future goals.

You can get your students started setting SMARTER goals in conjunction with the Can-Do Statements using this webpage from CASLS’ LinguaFolio Online resources: http://lfonetwork.uoregon.edu/learner-goal-setting/.

For more background on goal setting and ongoing assessment and how they inform curriculum design, watch the first module in our LinguaFolio Online Best practices module:  http://lfonetwork.uoregon.edu/linguafolio-online-best-practices-tutorials/.

References:

Doran, G. T. (1981). There's a S.M.A.R.T. Way to Write Management's Goals and Objectives. Management Review 70(11), 35-36.

Moeller, Aleidine J., Theiler, Janine, M., & Wu, Chaorong. (2011) Goal Setting and Student Achievement: A Longitudinal Study. The Modern Language Journal, 96 (ii), 153-169.