Developing a Pluralistic Curriculum Model for ESP in Iran

Subject Areas : All areas of language and translation

Sakineh Behboudi ¹ (Department of English Language, Sarab Branch, Islamic Azad University, Sarab, Iran)
Karim Nazari Bagha ² (Department of English Language, Astara Branch, Islamic Azad University, Astara, Iran)
Mohammad Amini Farsani ³ (Department of Foreign Languages, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran)

Received: 2022-03-01 Accepted : 2022-04-28 Published : 2023-04-01

Keywords: ESP, Curriculum, Pluralism, Pluralistic Curriculum,

Abstract :

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.

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