1. English as a Medium of Instruction in an Iranian Educational System
KONVESYEN PERKHIDMATAN BIMBINGAN DAN KAUNSELING MALAYSIA 2018 By
Sedigheh Shakib Kotamjani Ph.D
English as a Medium of Instruction in an Iranian Educational System

2. English medium of Instruction (EMI) as Growing Global Phenomenon
• English is increasingly used as the language of instruction in many countries.
• Offering various degree programs in English to ‘attract more international students, ‘prepare domestic students for the global market’, and ‘raise the ranking of the institution’.
• Higher education around the world has been extensively internationalized and marketized as the result of globalization.

3. Different Terms related to Medium of Instruction
Teaching subjects through L2
Second Language Medium Instruction
Content- based instruction
Content and Language integrated learning
Foreign-Language medium instruction ‘

4. Different Mediums of Instruction
• CMI: Chinese Medium of Instruction (Hong Kong)
• FMI: French Medium of Instruction ( Canada, Morocco)
• GMI: German Medium of Instruction

5. English as a medium of Instruction in Expanding Circle
• Currently EMI is used in some university departments in Expanding Circle countries
• In many countries English is not the official language; however, it is used as the medium of instruction in higher education, such as Denmark, China, Japan
• The possibility of adopting EMI at the tertiary level of education, has recently attracted much attention.

6. ENGLISH AROUND THE WORLD

7. EMI Factors Why EMI? International employment
The acceleration of students’ and instructors’ mobility
Rapid advancement in scientific knowledge
Access to academic Literature

8. The status of ELT in Iran before Revolution (1979)
• as a result of extensive collaboration with USA and UK, English received much attention.
British Council and Iran-American Society (IAS) contributed to the development and expansion of English as follows:
■ Offering general English courses and international English proficiency exams
■ Conducting teacher training summer workshops
■ Providing consultation to Iran’s Ministry of Education
■ Promoting English for specific purposes (ESP) methodology and textbooks
at university levels
■ Recruiting native-speaker English language instructors

9. The status of ELT in Iran before Revolution (1979)
■ Providing grants for English language teachers and professors to study English
in American and British universities
■ Holding teacher training seminars and setting up branches in major cities
■ Moreover, private English language institutes came into existence.

10. The status of ELT in Iran after 1979
■ After the Islamic Revolution in 1979, English was described as a ‘foreign’ language and given the official status of 'alien' language.
■ Due to perceptions of parallelism between English language, the USA and UK, the language was faced with waves of hostility from some post-revolutionary officials.
■ Prominent centres, namely the British Council and the Iran-American Society (IAS) were closed in 1980.

11. The status of ELT in Iran after 1979
• Heated debate among ruling powers whether to include English in curricula or totally banned it.
• Supreme leader, stressed the importance of learning English.
“Earlier there was no need for foreign languages. Today, there is a need, foreign languages should be included in the syllabi of schools…. Today we can remain in Iran and promote ourselves in other parts of the world using another language”
• Integrating of English in curricula; however, they developed localized ELT books for schools and universities.
• The first educational plan influenced by the conservative actions and beliefs of the government regarding foreign language learning was formulated in 1982.

12. The status of English Language Teaching after 2001
• The beginning of the 21st century, Iranian society paid more attention to English as the language of globalization, communication, science, technology and the expansion of higher education.
• A lot of positive changes and innovations have been made in the private sectors of ELT.
• The content and aims of teaching English did not undergo any essential changes for 30 years.

13. The status of ELT in Iran after 2004
• The first national curriculum document dealing with ELT, Comprehensive policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran regarding globalization, approved French and English as global languages.
• Officials ‘must approach English as a necessary skill and not as an element against identity,’ (p. 18) They believe that English is a language threatening Iranian national and cultural identity.
• However, any efforts have been made to implement this legal requirement.

14. The status of ELT in Iran after 2009
• Another National Curriculum Document was finalized in 2009.
• Foreign language should be taught based on communicative approach and all four language skills are emphasized.
• Instead of using ‘English’, the phrase ‘foreign language’ is still used.
• The third document refers to English language is The fundamental
transformation of education which was approved by the Ministry of Education in 2010.
• The status of English is obscure yet.
• ‘Foreign language is studied as an optional (semi-prescriptive) course in the curriculum on condition that its teaching strengthens the Islamic and Iranian identity.’ (p. 20)

15. The status of ELT in Iran after 2013
• Reviewing the related literature reveals inconsistency between documents and curriculum implementation
• Show the state’s hesitation, conservatism and ambivalence towards English language.
• After three decades of an inflexible curriculum, resistance was partially broken.
• Private sectors of ELT in Iran have achieved qualified success in three decades.
• The need for changes in the national curriculum arose. The first and the second volumes of a six-series English textbook were published, in 2013 and 2014 respectively.

16. From unformed policies to haphazard practices
The aims of this curriculum is:
• To encourage students’ active participation in the leaning process
• To use of the target language in communication
• To minimize mother tongue use
• To meet the curriculum’s requirements, English language teachers should have high level of English proficiency, content knowledge and pedagogical skills
• Success cannot be guaranteed in the absence of appropriate in-service training for the teachers ,

17. Challenges Of Implementing Communicative Approach
• Due to an insufficient supply of qualified teachers, and a lack of in-service training to maintain and increase teachers’ proficiency, the curriculum may not be able to fulfil its expectations.
• Language proficiency assessment is another challenge in the education system.
• Preparing and administrating end-of-year proficiency exams needs to be in tune with the communicative approach, yet the exams have remained much the same as before .

18. Cont.
• In the last decade, private sectors in ELT has witnessed a remarkable improvements.
• However, criticisms have been raised about the effectiveness of the formal education system’s performance
• The formal education system has hesitantly and conservatively begun to take some steps forward.
• Inconsistent policies and questionable practices indicates that success is not guaranteed

19. English Syllabus in Iran
• Iran has banned the teaching of English in primary schools
• English is compulsory subject in second year of Middle School to grade 12 in secondary schools for four and two hours respectively
• The course materials at Middle School primarily address alphabet recognition, pronunciation and limited vocabulary instruction.
• In secondary schools, the emphasis is reading comprehension, grammar, and vocabulary development
• Little emphasis on writing and speaking, listening is almost absent in the syllabus
• After six years of formal English instruction, students have minimal communication skills in English

20. English Syllabus in Iranian Universities
• Students have to take general English and ESP courses at BA, MA, and PhD levels
• Iranian PhD candidates cannot defend their thesis and graduate unless they show proof of satisfactory English proficiency
Having a good command of English is an important criterion for employment in both private and public sectors.
• Even low socio-economic status families send their children to private language schools

21. Lack of Research in area of EMI
• Little is known about the role of English and the possibility of EMI application in Iranian universities
• ELT in public educational system fails to increase learners’ intercultural understanding because they are forced to work on what is in agreement with local beliefs and ideologies

22. The possibility of EMI
Using EMI can have potential benefits especially at tertiary levels of education in Iran.
1- World’s knowledge can possibly be constructed and disseminated in English
2- Iranian academics are becoming more and more mobile in global higher education.
3- Iranian academic communities need access to cutting-edge research in technology and education
4. Public are in favor of EMI due to increase of language schools
5. The increasing rate of immigration among the educated people

23. International Universities in Iran
There are seven international universities in Iran:
1- Imam Khomeini International University (IKIU) in Qazvin,
2- Chabahar University
3- University of Tehran (Kish Branch)
4- Sharif University (Kish Branch)
5- Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran)
6- Imam Reza University in Mashhad
•They offer EMI for engineering and medicine
• The medium of instruction in some majors is Persian.
• International students can write their thesis in English

24. International students n Iran
• Currently 52,000 international students studying in Iranian universities where a large number of programs are taught in the English language.
• They come from different countries Afghanistan, Iraq, Turkey, Japan, China, Syria, Moldavia, Hungary, Ukraine, Poland, Singapore, the US, Australia, Pakistan, the Netherlands, Korea, Armenia, Italy, Canada, France, Bahrain, the UK, Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Russia, Denmark, Senegal, Lebanon, Mexico, India, Germany, Egypt, Taiwan, Romania, Slovakia, Pakistan, Croatia, Nigeria, Oman, Serbia, Slovenia, Vietnam, Georgia, and Sudan.
• Iran still lags behind in the Middle East when it comes to the number of foreign students

25. The Proportion of International Students in Different Majors

26. The challenges of including EMI in other public Universities
• Teachers’ and students’ inadequate language proficiency
• Inefficiency of instructional methods
• lack of resources
• Training proficient lecturers to use EMI is very costly
• EMI will make education extremely expensive in Iran
• The use of EMI could exert much pressure on the Iranian government and low-income families.

27. Conclusion
• The use of EMI in Iranian higher education is currently very limited.
• Only English departments where students study English Literature, English Language Teaching, and/or Translation Studies use EMI.
• The use of Persian is emphasized in spite of the fact that many may like to use English as a medium of instruction

28. Thank You U P M