A Critical Appraisal of University EAP programs in Iran: Revisiting the Status of EAP Textbooks and Instruction

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 there was a significant discrepancy in perspective among students, professors and policy makers regarding decision-making power, English hegemony and ideology in the context of Iranian EAP instruction. Results of the quantitative and the qualitative analyses for the module of power showed that based on the participants’ perspectives, neither the students nor the professors enjoy power to be active in the policy making. Regarding English hegemony, the participants believed that it does not exist in the EAP textbooks. With reference to ideology, they believed in the absence of a certain ideology in the Iranian EAP textbooks and instruction.