Abstract
Increasingly indispensible inquiry for international academic communication has appointed English for Academic Purposes (EAP) as one of the prime focuses of university curriculum designers. The structure of EAP textbooks and numerous need analysis studies have approved reading comprehension as the students' predominant English need in Iranian universities; however, little collective critical research has appraised the implementation of reading pedagogy in EAP textbooks. As a response, the present study investigated the materialization of reading instruction via reading activities in 30 EAP textbooks published in Iran premised on Johns and Davies' (1983) transition of Text As a Linguistic Object (TALO) to Text As a Vehicle of Information (TAVI) in EAP reading in tandem with Jeremy Harmer's (2007) Reading Principles as its valorized analytical points of departure. Furthermore, this study advocated weak antitextbook approach that supports the functionality of textbooks provided that they pedagogically and methodologically appropriate for a target context. As a caution, the results revealed 3 fundamental Principles were not invoked at all and the other 3 were partially considered in design of the activities with grave inefficiencies, which culminated in a dissatisfactory realization of TAVI and incapability in realizing pragmatic objectives of EAP university courses. This revelation demonstrates a cardinal demand for revising EAP textbooks in Iran incorporating a critical stance for enlightening the path of curriculum designers and practitioners.
Highlights
As English language has been enhancing its domains of application in various areas of science, technology and human communication, English for Academic Purposes (EAP) has been increasingly required to fulfill the applicants' specific academic needs
Transformation of Text As a Linguistic Object (TALO) to Text As a Vehicle of Information (TAVI) in EAP and its organized manifestation in Jeremy Harmer's Reading Principles were explored, and the elaborated underlying similarities and representativeness made the analytical approach of our research to examine the effectiveness of reading activities of EAP textbooks in Iran
The critical components are summed up as extensive reading, reader engagement, affective engagement, prediction, topictask correspondence and text full utilization, which will be the subject of exhaustive elaboration by TAVI's constituents, namely, text selection, preparatory activities, text activities, teacher-learner interaction and follow-up activities explained in detail in Methodology
Summary
As English language has been enhancing its domains of application in various areas of science, technology and human communication, English for Academic Purposes (EAP) has been increasingly required to fulfill the applicants' specific academic needs. Enough, the advent of each educational branch originates from the academic and social movements of a specific epoch; three main trends significant in the emergence and development of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in the late 1960s include unprecedented development of science and technology in the post-war era after the Second World War demanding an international common language, new approaches in linguistics shifting from language usage to language use in context, and learner-centered education considering learners' needs, attitudes, and interest, according to Hutchinson and Waters (1987). Elaborating on ESP attributes as cited in Dudley-Evans and St John (1998), Stevens (1988) makes a distinction between absolute and variable characteristics, defining ESP as a kind of language teaching incorporating the following features, The absolute characteristics are that ESP consists of English language teaching which is
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