the ABCD model

It was quite interesting reading about the ABCD model and learning objectives. I believe that learning objectives (linguistic, pragmatic etc) exist at the back of the mind of every teacher whether he/she realizes it or not. It reminded me of a quotation by Rogers (1986: 41) who defines education as “a planned learning activity which one party provides for another in relation to an agreed objective. There are four elements involved: the teacher agent, the student participant, the intended goals and objectives and the methods and content that enable the student participant to learn”. And it’s   obvious that it is our job to combine all the above for the benefit of our students.

Moreover, Johns (1991: 67) maintains that “All language teaching must be designed for the specific learning and language use purposes of identified groups of students.”

What I believe that is of primary importance before setting out the objectives is to carry out a Needs Analysis of the class we’re going to teach. We can use Kipling’s “honest serving men” as quoted in (Hutchinson and Waters 1987: 22) to outline the basic questions:

                                           I keep six honest men.

                                          (They taught me all I knew.)

             Their names are What and Why and When

                                        And How and Where and Who.

Consequently, an effective researcher should ask “who” is going to be involved in the process, “where” and “when” the learning is to take place, “what” the student needs to learn and “how” learning will be achieved, before starting to design a syllabus. As Hutchinson and Waters (ibid: 22) point out, the questions above are interdependent in course design and can be listed under three main headings: language descriptors (what?), theories of learning (how?) and NA (who? why? where? when?).

 About Needs Analysis, in order to be effective it should incorporate a PP (Personal Profile), a PSA (Present Situation Analysis) and a TSA (Target Situation Analysis).

Similarly the ABCD model can help teachers determine the Audience (who?), Behaviour (what? how?), Condition (why?) and Degree of Mastery (when? where? how fast?) of our objectives.

Practical application of the ABCD model in my teaching situation

I’m teaching at the department of Accountants of  a Technical Vocational School. The particular students have been taught how to write application letters and I’ll use the ABCD model to get a feedback whether my objectives have been fulfilled:

Audience: 12 Students in the field of Accountancy. Level of English language: lower intermediate to intermediate. All of them are computer literate.

Behaviour: The Ss are expected to read and understand an ad (Secretary Wanted)

WANTED URGENTLY

A secretary for a travel agency.

 Must speak English fluently

and either French or German,

 be prepared to work long hours

 with extra money for overtime

work. Single, young persons preferred.

Apply to  Mr Patric Jones

39 Venizelou st

Athens

Condition: Ss have to write an application letter using all the info included in the ad and making up the appropriate qualifications to get the job. Previous knowledge (content and formal schemata) has to be activated.

Degree of Mastery: Writing in a formal way addressing a manager. No grammar/spelling mistakes include all the info provided.

Through this task, which can also be used as a test I can find out whether the particular Ss have understood how a formal, application letter should be written, applying the ABCD model.