Behavioral objectives

Statements repeated often enough we may come to regard as axioms. Educational discourse has not been immune to this logical fallacy we may term truth by repetition. Yet, the validity of a statement is clearly not a function of the number of times we assert it. One dictum now axiomatic in education deserves analysis in light of this fallacy. Teachers, we frequently hear, should plan their instruction by stating objectives in terms of learner behavior or performance. In condensed form, the argument for behavioral objectives reads something like this: Schools exist not so that teachers can teach, but rather so that learners can achieve certain outcomes. Therefore, it remains critical for teachers to identify objectives sought in ways permitting observation of the extent to which they and learners have achieved these objectives. Schools can then render an accounting of how well they have done their jobs. This argument is powerful. School boards, administrators, and citizens, lectured on the complexity and uncertainty of the educational process, welcome opportunity to know what they can expect from their school systems. Why, they ask, should taxpayers be required to buy a product no one can define clearly? Behavioral objectives provide a basis for a contract between those furnishing a service and those paying for or using the service. Through behavioral objectives, we can know (and it's about time!) what we receive from our educational system. Through behavioral objectives, we can improve education by changing ineffectual procedures or personnel. To examine the benefits and limitations of behavioral objectives, we must recognize that advocates are not, necessarily, hard-headed persons seeking to dehumanize and mechanize education. Also, we must realize that opposition to this position is not based necessarily, on self-serving attempts to maintain mediocrity. Imputation of motives distracts us from rational consideration of the usefulness of this approach. In any proposed educational reform, we face the dangers of inordinately high optimism and precipitous rejection. The rhetoric accompanying a new educational

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• Behavioral Objectives, the Cult of Efficiency, and Foreign Language Learning

  Nancy Rennau Tumposky, Nancy Tumposky•TESOL Quarterly•1984

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