AN ACR MLG FO DSNDS OUT OF HIS ASSIGNED ALT WHEN TOLD TO 'EXPECT A VISUAL APCH' TO RWY 8L AT PHX; AZ.

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DURING APCH INTO PHX I WAS LEVEL 7000 FT. APCH HAD TOLD US THAT RWY 8L WAS OUR RWY. WE TOLD ATC WE HAD THE ARPT IN SIGHT. I HEARD CLRED VISUAL RWY 8L. DURING DSCNT THROUGH 6000 FT ATC SAID DSND TO 5000 FT. I AM CONCERNED NOW THAT WE MIGHT NOT HAVE ACTUALLY BEEN CLRED FOR VISUAL APCH. BUT; MAYBE ATC SAID EXPECT VISUAL RWY 8L! THIS RAISED SOME CONCERN TO THE CAPT AND HE THEN ASKED ATC WHAT WAS OUR PREVIOUS ALT WE WERE CLRED TO. ATC SAID THAT WE WERE CLRED TO 5000 FT (CONFIRMING OUR ALT CLRNC). I RECALL NOW; JUST PRIOR TO LEAVING OUR LAST ASSIGNED ALT OF 7000 FT. I WANTED TO CONFIRM WITH THE CAPT THAT WE WERE CLRED VISUAL APCH. HE SAID YES. I THEN (AGAINST PROC) REPROGRAMMED THE ALT SELECTOR TO 4000 FT WHICH IS INITIAL APCH ALT FOR RWY 8R OUR INITIAL RWY ASSIGNED BY ATC. COMPANY POLICY IS FOR THE PNF TO SET THE ALT SELECTOR. WHEN ATC TOLD US CLRED TO 5000 FT THE CAPT REACHED UP TO THE SELECTOR AND NOTICED 4000 FT IN THE WINDOW RAISING THE QUESTION OF OUR CLRNC. THE POINT OF THIS RPT IS TO FIRST OF ALL FOLLOW COMPANY PROC AND WHEN IN DOUBT CONFIRM; CONFIRM; CONFIRM WITH ATC. I WAS GIVEN APCH CLRNC AFTER LEVELING AT 5000 FT AGAIN BY ATC. ATC NEVER TOLD US ABOUT A DEV; BUT IT IS QUESTIONABLE THE WAY THE EVENT UNFOLDED.