EFL Teachers vs. Specific Content Instructors Controversy Pertaining to ESP: A Comparative Study

English for Specific Purposes has become one of the main domains of English language teaching. ESP used to be seen as a separate field within English language teaching, yet it proved to be interwoven and inseparable by any means. This study tried to evaluate EFL instructors and subject matter instructors based on student‟s opinion, achievements, and frequency of classroom activity carried out in the ESP context. For this purpose, a total of 92 undergraduate students as well as 10 EFL instructors and 10 subject matter instructors took part in the study which was designed on a qualitative and quantitative basis using a pre-test, post-test procedure, questionnaire and interviews.The research tried to investigate To what extend pedagogical perceptions of Iranian subject matter instructors differ from EFL instructors about ESP . The result revealed that EFL instructors seem to be more qualified to teach ESP courses compared to subject matter instructors. Regarding the students‟ satisfaction of and their gain from the course, based on the students‟ opinion and achievements, the context of EFL discipline gained higher score than subject matter instructors and students revealed to be more satisfied with EFL instructors.

Keywords:

EFL instructors , ESP , evaluator , subject matter instructors