A Learning-Centered Analysis of the ESP Needs of Engineering Students

Journal of Language and Translation

دوره 11، شماره 3، مهر 2021، صفحه 151-178   

نوع مقاله: Research Articles

شناسه دیجیتال (DOI): 10.30495/ttlt.2021.683484

نویسندگان

Sartoon Mostafavi¹؛ Ahmad Mohseni^{* 2}؛ Gh Abbasian³

¹PhD Candidate of TEFL at South Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

²Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics, English Department, South Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

³Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics, Imam Ali University, Tehran, Iran

چکیده

The current study investigated Iranian engineering students’ target situation and learning needs about a tertiary level course of English for specific purposes (ESP). To this end, a convenience sample including 27 ESP instructors and 222 students majoring in different fields of engineering from 10 randomly selected Iranian universities participated in an exploratory sequential mixed-method study. As the preliminary stage of the analysis, the instructor participants were interviewed about various domains representing the ESP needs of engineering students. The qualitative teacher-elicited data were used to develop a needs analysis questionnaire specific to the student participants of the study. The descriptive analysis of the responses provided by the engineering students to the needs analysis questionnaire shed light on the significant learner needs relevant to ESP learning and those related to the target situation of use. Providing a context-relevant scheme to design, evaluate, and modify ESP courses for Iranian students of engineering, the study’s findings could positively influence the current ESP pedagogy in Iran.

کلیدواژه‌ها

ESP؛ Learning-centered approach؛ Needs analysis؛ Technical English

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