A Survey of EAP Needs in Iran from the Viewpoints of Teachers and Students

Needs analysis can be regarded as the cornerstone of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) since designing courses based on the wants and wishes of different stakeholders addresses their needs and considers time and resources constraints. Moreover, paying close attention to EAP assessment in general, and EAP assessment needs in particular, sounds vital since they have not been considered sufficiently. The present study, thus, scrutinized Iranian university students’ and teachers’ needs in EAP classes. Additionally, it sought the learners’ satisfaction degree toward EAP teaching and assessment. Moreover, the study investigated the materials and teaching and assessment methods employed in Iranian EAP classes. To this end, 436 university students and 50 EAP teachers were selected according to convenience sampling. Needs analysis questionnaires and observations were used to collect the data. The collected data were subjected to frequency and Chi-square analyses, the results of which showed that there were significant differences between the students’ and the teachers’ needs mostly in listening and grammar and that they had fairly similar perceptions of needs in reading, speaking, and writing. Nearly half of the students were not satisfied with the teaching and assessment methods. Besides, 50% of the students used SAMT (Saazman-e-Motale'e va Tadvin-e-kotob oloum-e-ensani-e-daneshgah ha in Persian) books, while 35.7% of them used handouts. Furthermore, 93% of the EAP teachers employed the principles of the Grammar-Translation Method (GTM) in their instruction. The findings of the present study can bring the Iranian EAP students’ perceptions of needs into focus and help the teachers incorporate them into their syllabus. Moreover, taking students' and teachers' viewpoints of needs into account and considering the results obtained from the observations can help the EAP education improve.