sakineh behboudi

In spite of the fact that pluralistic education has formally found its own way into the World educational systems, seemingly, ESP teaching system of Iran is almost devoid of pluralistic principles. This study aimed at exploring Iranian psychology teachers’ perceptions of pluralistic English for Specific Purposes (ESP) teaching in Iran.

In so doing, it benefited from a grounded theory approach. The participants of the present study consisted of 20 Iranian male and female psychology teachers who were selected through purposive sampling from those teachers who were teaching ESP in different branches of the field of psychology at different universities in Iran including Allameh Tabataba’i University, University of Tehran, Tarbiat Modares University, Shahid Rajaee University, Shahid Chamran University, Hormozgan University, Isfahan University, and Shiraz University. To collect the data, a semi-structured interview was used.

According to the results of thematic analysis, several themes were extracted as Iranian psychology teachers’ perceptions of pluralistic English for Specific Purposes (ESP) teaching in Iran which were mainly related to ESP teaching methods, assessment procedures, and content. Some of the extracted themes included Using Diverse Methods of ESP Teaching, Developing ESP Courses based on the Students’ Needs, and Teaching ESP Students to be Creative.

The findings have some implications for ESP teachers and students in the field of psychology, ESP materials developers, and researchers.

This study aimed at validating the already-proposed pluralistic curriculum model for ESP in Iran. In line with the objectives of the present study, a correlational-survey design was used by utilizing Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) (i.e., exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis). The participants recruited for this study were in the two groups. The first group consisted of 120 male and female ESP students studying at different fields at the B.A. level in different universities of Iran. The second group consisted of 100 Iranian male and female ESP teachers teaching ESP courses at the B.A. level in different universities of Iran. The two groups were selected through purposeful sampling. The present study used a researcher-made questionnaire for the purpose of data collection, that was developed based on the already-proposed model. Data analysis was conducted through SEM (i.e., exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis) and Cronbach’s Alpha test. According to the results, the already-proposed model pluralistic curriculum model for ESP in Iran consists of three main components including pluralistic ESP teaching, pluralistic ESP content and materials, and pluralistic ESP assessments. Moreover, the results of SEM and Cronbach’s Alpha test confirmed the validity and reliability of the already-proposed pluralistic curriculum model for ESP in Iran. The results have some implications for ESP curriculum developers, teachers, and students.

No pluralistic curricula have ever been developed for ESP education in the context of Iran. Therefore, the present study was conducted to design a pluralistic curriculum (PC) model for ESP in the Iranian setting. In so doing, the study benefited from presenting an analysis scheme in a qualitative method. The participants of the study consisted of 20 Iranian male and female ELT experts who were chosen through purposive sampling from various universities of Iran, including Tehran University, Isfahan University, University of Shahid Chamran, University of Shiraz, Shahid Rajaei University, University of Allameh Tabatabaei, and the University of Tarbiat Modares, from among the teachers whose educational and research interests were curriculum planning and teaching materials, who had a history of teaching and research in TEFL for over 10 years. Semi-structured interviews were used to gather the needed data. The results showed that the PC components for ESP include three main components: pluralistic ESP teaching, pluralistic ESP materials, and pluralistic ESP content. Each of these components included several subcomponents. The findings indicated that if educational systems become pluralistic, students can achieve academic success with full potential in ESP courses by joining different groups such as racial, ethnic, and cultural groups.

No pluralistic curricula have ever been developed for ESP education in the context of Iran. Therefore, the present study was conducted to design a pluralistic curriculum (PC) model for ESP in the Iranian setting. In so doing, the study benefited from presenting an analysis scheme in a qualitative method. The participants of the study consisted of 20 Iranian male and female ELT experts who were chosen through purposive sampling from various universities of Iran, including Tehran University, Isfahan University, University of Shahid Chamran, University of Shiraz, Shahid Rajaei University, University of Allameh Tabatabaei, and the University of Tarbiat Modares, from among the teachers whose educational and research interests were curriculum planning and teaching materials, who had a history of teaching and research in TEFL for over 10 years. Semi-structured interviews were used to gather the needed data. The results showed that the PC components for ESP include three main components: pluralistic ESP teaching, pluralistic ESP materials, and pluralistic ESP content. Each of these components included several subcomponents. The findings indicated that if educational systems become pluralistic, students can achieve academic success with full potential in ESP courses by joining different groups such as racial, ethnic, and cultural groups.