Syllabi reforms and their intended impact on English teaching and learning

Abstract: This study investigates the development of the subject of English in Swedish upper secondary schools through an analysis of the syllabi in the curricula Lgy 70, Lpf 94 and Lgy 11, with a focus on English teaching and learning. In the last 50 years, the Swedish upper secondary school has undergone three major reforms. These three reforms have had an impact on the ways of teaching the English subject. By employing Fairclough’s (1992a) three-dimensional model, the study finds that these three major reforms had an impact on English teaching and learning in terms of communicative competence and individualization and teachers’ roles. The finding is important because it indicates that the current upper secondary English classroom needs to be changed when it comes to teaching and learning methods.