Investigating the Iranian EAP Stakeholders' Ideas Apropos of Applying the Internet in EAP Curriculum

Mahboobeh Khosravani,Hooshang Khoshsima

doi:10.3991/ijet.v12i11.6995

Abstract

English for Academic Purposes (EAP) has become one of the most important fields in English Language Teaching (ELT) in Iran. Thus, researchers, syllabus designers, and EAP instructors are always in search of new materials and tools to enhance learning. The Internet is regarded as one of the most useful and practical tools which can be used in EAP pedagogical settings. As a result, becoming aware of the EAP stakeholders’ attitudes toward using the Internet is so necessary. To this aim, university students (Chabahar Maritime University) and EAP lecturers were given questionnaires. The analyzed data revealed that most EAP instructors and students have a positive attitude toward using the Internet as one of the main sources of EAP courses. However, there were few cases that a relatively significant number of participants had a negative attitude toward internet resources. These cases are discussed in detail and some solutions are suggested.

Highlights

In today’s world, the Internet and computer have a key role in the process of teaching and learning a second and foreign language
Why do almost a quarter of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) instructors believe that internet applications cannot be used to make learning more interesting? One of the reasons might be the unfamiliarity of instructors with the best resources that are available on the Internet
They might disagree with the statement even if they see that other instructors have had successful experiences in using internet applications in EAP courses

Summary

Introduction

In today’s world, the Internet and computer have a key role in the process of teaching and learning a second and foreign language. Employment of technology and the Internet for educational goals has drawn a lot of attention; it is believed that using them can be helpful for learning and teaching [2]. A lot of efforts have been made to improve the quality of educational syllabi and to integrate Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) into pedagogical programs [3]. Khoshsima and Khosravani [4] proposed that “as computers became widespread everywhere, the researchers started to work on different aspects of using them in the process of teaching and learning foreign languages” (p.172). Numerous studies have been done to probe the stakeholders’ attitudes toward applying CALL in the process of learning and teaching EFL/ESL ([11]; [12]; [13]; [14])

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Discussion

Conclusion