Iranian vs. Non-Iranian Scholars’ Beliefs over Collaborative EAP Practices: Legitimizing English Language Instructors in EAP Courses (original) (raw)
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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.
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.
2018
Critical English for Academic Purposes (CEAP) is a site where English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and Critical pedagogy are combined. Through CEAP, participants in academia can question the status quo for better education. Few studies have addressed the critical issues in the context of Iranian universities, which take account of both authorities and practitioners. The present study investigated the perceptions of students, professors (practitioners) and policy makers (authorities) in terms of the three prominent modules in critical pedagogy in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) in terms of textbooks and instruction in the Iranian universities, namely power, English hegemony and ideology. Data was collected from three Iranian universities. A questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. Chi-squares and ANOVA procedures were employed to analyze the quantitative data. The interviews were analyzed through thematic content analysis. We investigated whether the...
The systematic study of EAP teachers " pedagogic content knowledge and their actual teaching practices in class is a fresh avenue in applied linguistics, especially in contexts like Iran, where, EAP courses are taught by two groups of teachers with different specializations; i.e., language teachers and content teachers. This study explored the similarities and differences between language teachers " and content teachers " PCK, and teaching practices, and students " beliefs about their EAP teachers " methodology at Medical Sciences Universities across Iran. In order to answer the research questions, a wide range of instruments including questionnaires, observations, semi-structured interviews, and field notes were utilized. Sources included language teachers, content teachers, students taught by language teachers, and students taught by content teachers. Representative samples of 318 EAP teachers and 1573 students participated in the study. The results indicated substantial inconsistencies across the two groups of teachers with respect to their PCK and teaching practices. The findings also showed that students favored language teachers " methodologies and teaching practices. The findings promise implications for EAP instruction in Iran and highlight the pressing need for more systematic teacher training programs.
2018
Given the fact that few studies have investigated the English language needs of EAP students in Iran, the present study was an attempt to analyze the needs of Iranian EAP learners of Humanities and Social Sciences. To this end, 114 EAP learners at different educational levels (BA, MA, and Ph.D.) and with different English proficiency levels (elementary, intermediate, and advanced) were asked to provide their responses to a questionnaire. Moreover, ten EAP learners and eight EAP instructors were asked to write narratives about their experiences in EAP courses. Their narratives were then analyzed based on Strauss and Corbin's (1998) systematic approach. The results revealed that the EAP courses did not pay the deserved attention to writing, speaking, and listening skills, while the coverage of the sub-skills (grammar and vocabulary) was successful. Moreover, it was revealed that the EAP textbooks were insufficient in terms of the inclusion of language skills, community-specific cultural issues and conventions, and the topical knowledge. The analysis of the EAP learners' needs also showed that not all interaction types happened in the EAP courses. Furthermore, the analysis of the narratives of EAP learners and EAP instructors indicated that the EAP curriculum, EAP textbooks and also EAP assessment should include the four language skills, provide a communicative venue for EAP learners to practice their disciplinary issues, and design communicative materials. It can be concluded that the current EAP curriculum needs revision to fulfill the EAP learners' present and target situation needs.
Exploring the cognitions and practices of Iranian EAP teachers in teaching the four language skills
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.
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.
2015
Research has revealed that a majority of English for General Purposes (EGP) teachers lack the basic requirements of teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP). Such teachers decide to stay in their comfort zone resisting change and restricting themselves to teaching general English (Alsolami, 2014). Hence, this study is an attempt to discover the EGP teacher challenges for becoming an ESP Teacher in Iran. To this end, a total of 20 EGP teachers, who were picked through convenience sampling, from different English institutes participated in the study. The study employed a questionnaire, originally developed by Alsolami (2014) entailing open-ended and close-ended questions, with the aim of exploring the obstacles preventing Iranian EGP teachers from becoming ESP practitioners such as lack of specialist knowledge, lack of training, lack of materials. The results of frequency count and descriptive statistics revealed that 90% of the EGP teachers (18 teachers) had never had any experie...
English for academics concept: Course principles in teaching EAP to researchers
2017
This article aims at sharing the results of the British Council project English for Academics implemented in Russia in 2012-2015. The need for this project was identified in the Baseline Study having indicated the necessity to design a course for university staff in order to develop their foreign language communicative competence and to stimulate their participation in international projects. The concept of the course is based on the needs analysis conducted by the British Council; the methodological principles of the book are conducive for meeting the needs of the target group. The participants of this project describe the project stages, the concept of the book they have developed, and illustrate the principles with sample activities from the course. We demonstrate how the understanding of learners' needs and characteristics helps select appropriate pedagogical principles to meet these needs and to exploit the characteristics. Based on the results of a piloting stage we conclude that the course is an effective means of developing academics' language proficiency and, consequently, enables university instructors and researchers to participate in international projects.
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.