The Iranian Foreign Language Practitioners‟ Perspectives about Iran‟s Foreign Language Education Policy

• Main Authors: Naser Rashidi, Seyyed Ali Hosseini
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lasting Impressions Press 2018-03-01
• Series: International Journal of English Language and Translation Studies
• Subjects: Iran’s FLEP Document; Systemic Functional Linguistics; Processes; Participants
• Online Access: http://www.eltsjournal.org/archive/value6%20issue1/1-6-1-18.pdf

The present study was conducted to identify the perceptions of the Iranian foreign language practitioners about Iran‟s foreign language education policy within a systemic functional linguistics approach. To this end, 8 Iranian male and female foreign language practitioners were interviewed and asked to talk about what they thought about Iran‟s foreign language policy. The findings obtained from analysing the process types and participants employed by the Iranian foreign language practitioners within a systemic functional linguistics approach point out that the FLEP document is heavily influenced by and draws on well entrenched ideological, historical, religious, economic, and political discourses. Further investigations within a systemic functional linguistics approach indicate that the Iranian teachers believed that while English is a tool for understanding cultural exchanges and transferring technological advances, achieving these goals through the teaching of English is sometimes problematic within an absolute Islamic framework. The findings obtained from a transitivity analysis for the Iranian foreign language practitioners by subjecting their responses to the questions on the interviews to a systemic functional linguistics approach are also indicative of the Iranian foreign language teachers‟ loyalty to the “the younger, the better” belief. Likewise, course content was a topic for controversy. Some of the practitioners believed that course content should be developed around a variety of topics. Whereas others asserted that the inclusion of different topics in the foreign language education policy document may increase the workload on the part of the teachers. Other issues such as culture, the Islamic ideology, and imperialism were identified as causes of different understandings among the Iranian foreign language practitioners as well.