The phenomenal ideology : Phenomenological investigations of EFL teacher methodologies, experiences, and the 2011 syllabus.

Abstract: This study aims to outline, describe, and analyse, using interviews, phenomenology and Marxism, the manner in which EFL teachers in Sweden have experienced the methodological impacts and the ideological implications of the 2011 syllabus reforms. By means of phenomenological reduction, this study aims to accurately represent the life-world of the Swedish EFL professional. Doing so yields insight into the connections between ideology, syllabi, teaching methodologies, and the manner in which these are experienced. The study is based on a text analysis of the 2011 syllabus grounded in Marxist philosophy and four interviews with teachers active in southern Sweden. The design of the interviews was drawn from the phenomenological approach, meaning that the teachers were asked to describe and conceptualise freely. In this manner the phenomena will occur as they are, enabling the researcher to describe without intruding, and extrapolate without interrupting. The interviews revealed the syllabus to be a document with which EFL professionals have little quarrel. Its communicative approach was well-received by the teachers, but by no means overwhelmingly revolutionary. Its openness and interpretative aspects were positive and negative, as it created both freedoms and risks in terms of content and assessment. In ideological terms, the syllabus represented a skill-value relation, where skills and knowledge are subject to criteria of usefulness and marketability within the learners’ future work life.