A Comparative Study of Iranian and Swedish English Curriculum

This research reflects upon English education as a foreign language in two different contexts. The main aim is to investigate and compare the status quo of Iranian and Swedish English language curriculum. Based on data derived from international and comparative studies, The Swedish curriculum has been considered as a successful one in field of educating English in schools. For evaluation of two systems, the main curriculum elements (e.g. Rationale, Goals and Approach, Contents, Learning Materials, Time, and Assessment) have been compared. The results indicate that the Iranian curriculum, compared to Swedish one, has some problems and shortcomings such as: accepting old and ineffective goals and approach; focusing on sub-skills (mainly vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, and dictation) instead of fundamental skills like listening, speaking, writing and reading; teaching textbooks which are narrow-inclusive, un-varied, un-attractive, and out-of-date; allocating limited hours to English subject-matter in school timetable; and implementing national tests that do not cover communicative skills.