Chapter 11. Phenomenology

Abstract

This chapter aims to showcase Phenomenology as a research methodology by presenting EFL learners’ experience of proficiency maintenance in a context where English has no social function. The study started with a participant who was able to maintain her proficiency and then sampled other participants who shared the same experience through snowball sampling. Transcendental phenomenology was chosen to explore the participants’ subjective experience of the phenomenon under study in an objective manner. To achieve this objective, a reflexive account of the researcher’s preconceptions of proficiency maintenance was written and bracketed as irrelevant to the participants’ account of their experience. To present a clear synopsis of the study, the chapter will explain why the mode of inquiry was chosen, how it was implemented, and how the challenges were addressed.