Improving the relevance of an English syllabus within a top-down teaching context

Resumen

This educational intervention aims to investigate the design of a language syllabus based on school needs within the context of a Mexican Higher Education Institution (MHEI) where the syllabus design process is top-down. Because the investigation requires the researcher to comprehend the subjects of study, data collection techniques which allow participants to express their beliefs and opinions are entirely appropriate. Therefore, in this study, interviews were carried out, as they are widely used in empirical studies, being a suitable way of gaining insight into the participants’ individual and collective process of reflective enquiry. A questionnaire to elicit beliefs and a language test were also administered. The results suggest that the Needs Analysis (NA) procedures implemented turned out to be very useful for gathering the kinds of data needed to enable to meet the learning needs of the teaching context more effectively. In addition, the research reveals that participant teachers were able to accept full responsibility for themselves and their actions as a result of the research, and were able to improve the syllabus as planned. The paper presents an analysis of both a General English Syllabus (GES) and of the School Based Syllabus (SBS) and reveals a clear contrast between them. The findings also suggest that the SBS design process may present challenges.