Students’ Needs or Teachers’ Wishes? A Triangulated Survey of Medical EAP in Iranian Context

Mixed in method, the present study investigated whether there was any significant difference between students’and teachers’perceptions of Iranian medical English for Academic Purposes (EAP) students’ language needs. In so doing, ۲۲۰ EAP students of medicine, ۳۰ subject-matter teachers of EAP, and ۲۰ teachers of English for General Purposes (EGP) teaching medical EAP completed a Likert-scale questionnaire. Fifty of the students and ۲۰ of the teachers also attended a semi-structured interview. The results of both descriptive statistics and inferential statistics indicated that, overall, there was a significant mismatch between the students’and the teachers’perceptions of medical EAP students’ needs. However, both teachers and students perceived reading comprehension as the most important language skill. Moreover, the students, in general, were found not to be satisfied with the EAP program presented to them. The results might prove fruitful for curriculum designers, materials developers, and teachers in (medical) EAP contexts to hear students’voices and to incorporate them in their programs, syllabi, and teaching.

Keywords:

Needs , students’ perception , teachers’ perception , medical EAP , subject-matter teachers , EGP teachers