Bloom’s Taxonomy
& Writing Learning Objectives
A practical guide for ELT teachers: pick the cognitive level you’re targeting, choose the right action verb, and write objectives that actually measure something. The framework that makes lesson planning honest.
No. 01 — Why bother
The difference between vague and useful.
Most lesson plans contain at least one objective like the one on the left. It feels reasonable. It’s also impossible to assess. The version on the right does the same job, but a colleague could observe your lesson and tell you whether it worked.
“Students will understand the Present Perfect.”
What does understand look like? Can they recognise it? Form it? Use it correctly in a story? Compare it with the Past Simple? You don’t know — and neither does the student.
“By the end of the lesson, students will be able to distinguish Present Perfect from Past Simple in three short narratives.”
Now there’s a clear behaviour (distinguish), an outcome (which tense fits which sentence), and a condition (three short narratives). You can mark it. They can self-check.
No. 02 — The pyramid
Six cognitive levels. Click to explore.
Bloom’s Taxonomy (revised in 2001 by Anderson & Krathwohl) sorts thinking into a hierarchy. The bottom three are lower-order skills (LOTS) — recall, understanding, application. The top three are higher-order (HOTS) — analysis, evaluation, creation. A good course visits every level; a good lesson is honest about which one it’s targeting today.
No. 03 — The formula
Anatomy of a well-written objective.
Mager’s three-part formula (1984): every learning objective should answer three questions. What will the learner do? (Behaviour). Under what circumstances? (Condition). How well, judged how? (Outcome).
No. 04 — Try it
Build an objective. Live.
Pick a Bloom level, a verb at that level, and an ELT context. The page composes a complete, well-formed objective for you. Use the Shuffle button if you want inspiration for tomorrow’s lesson plan.
Objective Builder
Pick three things. Get a sentence.
The result is a Behaviour + Condition + Outcome objective you can drop into a lesson plan as-is.
No. 05 — Verb bank
Every verb, filed by level.
From Rosof (1992) and Mager (1984), mapped onto Bloom’s revised taxonomy. Search any verb to see which level it belongs to — the matching chip will highlight. Useful when you’ve drafted an objective and aren’t sure if your verb fits the cognitive level you’re targeting.
No. 06 — Verbs to avoid
The vague six.
Mager and Rosof both warn against these. They sound educational but you can’t observe any of them. If your objective contains one of these, rewrite it using a verb from the bank above.
understand
You can’t see understanding. Replace with: explain, classify, distinguish.
know
Knowing is invisible. Replace with: list, recall, identify.
appreciate
Subjective and unmeasurable. Replace with: justify, defend, critique.
learn about
Vague and open-ended. Replace with a level-specific verb.
be familiar with
Familiar to what degree? Replace with: recognise, describe, compare.
believe / have faith in
Beliefs aren’t observable behaviours. Replace with: argue, support, evaluate.
No. 07 — Self-check
Six questions. One objective.
Mager’s checklist, made interactive. Take an objective from your latest lesson plan and tick each box that applies. The closer you get to six out of six, the more usable it is.
- Measurable? Could you score the result — pass / fail, or a percentage?
- Observable? Could a colleague watch the lesson and see the behaviour happening?
- Specific? Does it address one outcome, not three blended together?
- Learner-centred? Is it framed as something the student will do — not what the teacher will cover?
- Strong action verb? Does it use a specific verb from a Bloom level — not “understand”, “know”, “appreciate”?
- Conditions named? Is the situation clear — with what tools, in what genre, under what time pressure?
No. 08 — Worked examples
Four ELT objectives, fully dissected.
From a B1 grammar lesson up to a C1 writing project. Each one shows how Bloom level + verb + structure come together in practice.
Recall food vocabulary
Students will list at least 12 common food items from a 90-second cafe video, without subtitles.
Why it works: “list” is concrete and countable. “At least 12” gives a measurable threshold. The video and the no-subtitles condition pin it to a real listening task.
Use Past Simple in personal storytelling
Students will use past simple verb forms with at least 80% accuracy when telling a 60-second personal-weekend story to a partner.
Why it works: “Use” applies the form, not just recognise it. 80% gives a clear bar. The partner-story condition forces real, unsupported production.
Distinguish opinion from fact in a news article
Students will distinguish factual claims from opinions, marking each correctly in 8 of 10 sentences when reading an authentic 400-word op-ed.
Why it works: “Distinguish” is HOTS — it requires breaking the text apart. The 8/10 threshold and authentic text make it a meaningful B2 challenge.
Compose a counter-argument essay
Students will compose a 350-word counter-argument essay with a clear thesis, two body paragraphs and a refutation in response to an editorial they read in class.
Why it works: “Compose” is the highest cognitive level — original creation. The structural and length requirements make the outcome scoreable; the editorial provides a real-world condition.
No. 09 — Take-away
The three-step workflow.
Once the framework is in your head, writing an objective takes about ninety seconds.
Pick the level.
What kind of thinking does the lesson really demand? Be honest — most early lessons are LOTS, and that’s fine. A vocabulary recall lesson isn’t worse than a critical reading one; it’s just a different level.
Choose the verb.
Pull one from the verb bank at the level you’ve picked. If it sounds vague (understand, know, appreciate) reach for a specific synonym — explain, list, justify.
Wrap it in B + C + O.
What will the student do, in what situation, judged how? Three short clauses. Then run the six-question checklist before you commit it to your plan.
Bloom’s isn’t just for assessment writers and curriculum designers. It’s for any teacher who wants to be honest with their students — and themselves — about what a lesson is actually for. Five extra minutes when you plan saves an hour of post-mortem after.
Reference
The classic visualisation.
Anderson & Krathwohl’s revised taxonomy as a hierarchy — complexity rises as you climb. The pyramid above does the same job interactively, but the static diagram is useful when you want to share the framework at a glance.
Bloom’s Taxonomy — revised hierarchy
Sources: Anderson, L.W. & Krathwohl, D.R. (2001) · Mager, R.F. (1984) · Rosof, A.B. (1992).