Exploring Iranian EAP Teachers' Pedagogic Content Knowledge and Teaching Practices, and Students' Beliefs about EAP Teachers' Methodology (original) (raw)
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Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 2018
Exploring English for Academic Purposes (EAP) teachers' cognitions and their actual pedagogical practices in EFL contexts is a fresh and under-researched area, especially in Middle Eastern countries such as Iran. Likewise, there is a pressing need to address the aforementioned issues in educational contexts where EAP courses are taught independently by two groups of teachers with different specializations; i.e., language instructors and content teachers. Accordingly, this study explored the similarities and differences between language instructors' and content teachers' cognitions, and practices in teaching reading, speaking, writing, and listening at Iranian medical sciences universities. A wide range of instruments including a questionnaire, observations, semi-structured interviews, and field notes were utilized. Sources included a representative sample of 128 language instructors and 190 content teachers. The results indicated inconsistencies between the two groups of teachers. The findings suggest that close cooperation between language instructors and content teachers is highly necessary in order to enhance the teachers' choice of methodological options in EAP instruction. The findings also accentuate the urgent need for developing more systematic EAP teacher education programs.
Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research, 2019
Many studies have addressed the issue of collaborative teaching in EAP courses; however, there is a gap in the literature concerning EAP teachers' cognitions and actual practices regarding collaborative EAP teaching, especially in contexts like Iran where EAP courses are taught by either language teachers or content teachers-subject specialist teachers-with little or no cooperation between them. Therefore, the current nationwide study explored the cognitions and practices of language teachers and content teachers at medical sciences universities in Iran regarding collaborative EAP teaching. The participants were 128 representative language teachers and 190 representative content teachers, teaching at all five types of universities across the country. The instruments included questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The results revealed that the differences between the two groups of EAP teachers overshadow the similarities between them. The findings also disclosed inconsistencies between the two groups of EAP teachers in terms of their cognitions and actual practices. The conclusions outline implications for the EAP community throughout the world and specifically accentuate the urgent need for teacher education programs in Iran and micro-and macro-policy reforms in the Iranian EAP educational system.
Language Teaching Research Quarterly, 2021
Standing at the cornerstone of discipline-based EAP courses, vocabulary teaching warrants attention from the EAP scholars and research mainstream. However, such a shift of attention, in theory, has lagged behind the practice in particular contexts such as EAP and EAP teachers are yet afflicted by pedagogical chaos in the Iranian academic context due largely to the inconsistencies between language teachers’ (LT) and content teachers’ (CT) cognitions and practices. Thus, this study was conducted in the EAP context to explore Iranian EAP teachers’ perceptions and practices of their vocabulary teaching. To this end, six EAP teachers (three LTs and three CTs) from three different disciplines (Electrical Engineering, Medicine, and Psychology) participated in this study, and their classes were observed for a semester. To thoroughly probe the teachers’ perceptions, semi-structured interviews were conducted with teachers. The findings pointed to differences between the two groups of teachers...
Students’ Needs or Teachers’ Wishes? A Triangulated Survey of Medical EAP in Iranian Context
2020
Mixed in method, the present study investigated whether there was any significant difference between students’and teachers’perceptions of Iranian medical English for Academic Purposes (EAP) students’ language needs. In so doing, 220 EAP students of medicine, 30 subject-matter teachers of EAP, and 20 teachers of English for General Purposes (EGP) teaching medical EAP completed a Likert-scale questionnaire. Fifty of the students and 20 of the teachers also attended a semi-structured interview. The results of both descriptive statistics and inferential statistics indicated that, overall, there was a significant mismatch between the students’and the teachers’perceptions of medical EAP students’ needs. However, both teachers and students perceived reading comprehension as the most important language skill. Moreover, the students, in general, were found not to be satisfied with the EAP program presented to them. The results might prove fruitful for curriculum designers, materials develope...
Although research studies on methodological issues of English for General Purposes are abundant in the literature, they are still one of the less explored areas of research in English for Academic Purposes, especially with respect to teachers' cognitions and practices. Also, lack of collaboration between ELT instructors and content teachers in teaching discipline-based EAP courses has resulted in noticeable inconsistencies in the two groups' instructions. The present study was an extension of Atai and Fatahi-Majd (2014) and explored the cognitions and practices within and across six Iranian ELT instructors and six content teachers regarding their translation-based, form focused, feedback and vocabulary teaching activities. Each participant was observed for six sessions. Field note taking and semi-structured interviews were also done with the two groups of teachers so as to delve into the cognitions underlying their actual practices. The general findings supported Atai and Fatahi (2014) in all the areas under investigation where there were within group inconsistences and across-group discrepancies within and between the two groups of teachers respectively with content teachers being much more inconsistent than ELT instructors in terms of their practices and cognitions. The findings of the study have implications for renewing the current practices of ELT instructors and content teachers teaching discipline-based EAP courses worldwide.
2023
Introduction: English language is now an indispensable part of higher education, and a good command of English, like in many parts around the globe, is of special importance for Iranian university students who want to continue their education toward a higher degree. Yet, the English language instruction they receive after entering university throughout their studies is in need of constant investigation and improvement. Materials and Methods: The present survey study tried to examine the current status of the English language courses and their instructors in the Iranian universities of medical sciences in different cities of the country nationwide using questionnaires. Results: Regarding course instructors, of a total of 485 English language instructors at 31 universities of medical sciences, only 61 (12.57%) were English language faculty members. The remaining 424 (87.43%) instructors were either medical specialists who taught English language courses (191; 39.3%) or non-faculty part-time (guest) lecturers (233; 48%). As for the courses, a significant number of ESAP (499 credits; 39.5%) and general English (61 credits; 5.15%) course credits were taught by medically-oriented faculty members (content specialists). Conclusion: The results highlight the need to assess the quality of EAP instruction in Iran through drawing on multiple sources of data and taking into account the perspectives of all the stakeholders, especially those of the students.
2019
The current research was run through a non-observational research scheme tapping two groups of experts- Iranian versus non-Iranian expert university instructors who were indulged in EAP courses. The focus groups including seven Iranian and eighteen non-Iranian instructors/researchers (from both ELT and non-ELT domains) at tertiary levels were recruited and their views were collected through researcher-made questionnaires and an online sequential conference talk passing through the Research Gate social networking platform. Various online interviews with the target participants were managed to 1) peek into what had been lacking in previous EAP teaching models thus far regarding collaborative models of EAP both in Iran and outside the country, 2) gain English professors’ innovations as highlighted in their practices for upgrading collaborative EAP teaching, and 3) survey the co-presence of language and content teachers along with language learners in EAP classes. Findings after content...
EAP Teacher Cognition: A Qualitative Study of Iranian In-Service EAP Teachers' Cognitions
Teaching English for Academic Purposes (EAP) requires specific qualifications on the part of teachers for which reconstruction of cognitions on EAP is a prerequisite. Previous studies have largely taken the quality of teachers' EAP cognitions for granted and few studies, if any, have sought to examine in-service teachers' tacitly-held cognitions on EAP. This study aimed to examine in-service teachers' cognitions on key EAP issues including EAP goals, distinction between EAP and English for General Purposes (EGP), and EAP teacher qualifications as well as roles. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and life-history narratives from nine EAP practitioners at a state university in Iran. Results showed that the teachers' cognitions were mainly incongruent with the EAP principles. A close relationship was also found among individual teachers' cognitions on different key issues. It is concluded that despite their past practical experience, in-service EAP teachers' cognitions might be limited
Responding to the limited research on English for Academic Purposes (EAP) teachers, and especially in the context of 'expanding circle' countries, this study aimed to explore Iranian EAP teachers' teaching competencies and professional development (PD) activities as well as their perceptions about the roles, responsibilities, and challenges in teaching EAP. Data were collected from 105 university EAP teachers through questionnaires and semistructured interviews. The questionnaire findings in relation to teacher competencies identified self-reported strengths in the areas of reading and speaking skills development and aspects of pedagogy. Potential areas for further development were related to listening skills, certain areas of writing, providing feedback, and performing needs analyses. Content analysis of the interviews indicated nine major categories of roles and responsibilities involved in the delivery of EAP courses (teaching, PD, collaboration, testing, motivation, materials, needs analysis, research, and text analysis) and seven major challenges (students, materials, EAP teachers, administrative issues, curriculum and syllabus, testing, and content knowledge). Additionally, the teachers provided information about their pathway to EAP teaching and their viewpoints about the role of content knowledge, essential qualifications for EAP teaching, and content of EAP teacher education programs. Finally, implications for practice and suggestions for further research are presented.
Exploring Iranian EAP Teachers' Pedagogical Content Knowledge and Their Professional Identity
This study was conducted in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) context to explore Iranian teachers' perceptions of their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and their sense of professional identity (PI) as well as to scrutinize how their cognitions were practiced in EAP classes. To this end, two ELT teachers and two content instructors (i.e. subject experts who teach EAP courses in addition to their specialized field of study) from a university in Tehran participated in the study and their classes were observed for a full academic semester. To thoroughly probe the teachers' cognitions, semi-structured interviews were also conducted. The results of content analysis indicated some commonalities but major discrepancies in the cognitions and practices of the two pairs of teachers with regard to their PCK. Teachers of both camps claimed to have interactive EAP classes where group work is highly appreciated and students' questions are welcomed. Attending to their discrepancies, the content instructors seemed to adhere to 'transformative' education by reflecting on their teaching, hearing learners' voice, being responsive to their learning needs, and encouraging teacher-learner collaboration. On the other hand, the ELT teachers reflected a more 'traditional' approach, leaving behind issues of flexibility and innovation in their teaching methods. As far as the EAP teachers' PI is concerned, the study came up with eight factors as the underlying constituents of their PI. It was also found that pedagogical content knowledge and professional identity are interrelated attributes of EAP teachers. The findings provide implications for syllabus designers as well as EAP teacher education.