Iranian EAP practitioners’ competences, practices, and professional development

Abstract

Given the importance of teaching methodology in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and professional development (PD) for EAP teachers, this survey examined and explored the differences of the self-adjudged perceptions of EAP practice competences and PD activities of two main groups of Iranian teachers: those with an English language teaching (ELT) background and subject content teachers who teach EAP. A sample of 105 EAP teachers (53 English language teachers and 52 content teachers) responded to two questionnaires: a granulated, 72-item questionnaire exploring competences in a wide variety of aspects of EAP practice and a smaller 19-item questionnaire relating to frequency of participation in PD activities. Additionally, the teacher data sets were triangulated by the use of a 58-item questionnaire completed by 502 Iranian undergraduate students taking EAP courses. The teacher questionnaire findings indicated higher self-adjudged competences by the ELTbackground teachers in the areas of receptive and productive skills, grammar and vocabulary, feedback and error correction, and assessment and evaluation. Similarly, the student questionnaires rated those teachers with an ELT background more highly in the same five areas. The implications of the findings for the future development of EAP in Iran in terms of teacher development and further research are then discussed.