Bloom´s Taxonomy

Benjamin Bloom was an American educational psychologist who made lots of contributions in education. One of them was his taxonomy which is a framework with six main categories which lead from knowledge to production. This blog entry will cover the six categories and will relate it with EFL teaching- learning process.

The firs category is about knowledge; this is the most basic categories in which students recall facts and simple units of language. The second one is comprehension in which learners explain ideas and concepts bases on what they recognize from the first category.  That leads to the application stage and this can be related to different contexts, since learners use the information explained in new situations, so that a stronger relation is created. After that analysis comes in which you analyze every component of the situation to create a deeper comprehension. By using that analysis, synthesis appear, in here we use old ideas to create new ones by reaching conclusions. After all this process it time to evaluate in here we justify our synthesis which can be portrayed in a creation, a final personalized production of what was initially recalled.

Taking into consideration how Bloom´s taxonomy work, it can be applied in the EFL classroom by setting up objectives which lead students not just to recall things but to put them into practice by creating own work based on a process and analysis. In that way we will encourage students to be active and communicative competent.

For additional reading please check:
Krathwohl, D. (2002)  A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy: An Overview .. Theory into practive. Retrieeved from http://www.unco.edu/cetl/sir/stating_outcome/documents/Krathwohl.pdf
http://www.bloomstaxonomy.org/Blooms%20Taxonomy%20questions.pdf