Bridging the Gap: A Comparative Analysis of Iranian EFL and ESP Teachers’ Beliefs and Characteristics

Soodmand Afshar, Hassan; Kasraee Nejad, Farzaneh; JaliliKia, Maryam

doi:10.22077/ali.2025.8756.1067

Bridging the Gap: A Comparative Analysis of Iranian EFL and ESP Teachers’ Beliefs and Characteristics

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Hassan Soodmand Afshar ¹

Farzaneh Kasraee Nejad ²

Maryam JaliliKia ³

¹ Professor of Applied Linguistics, Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Persian Literature and Foreign Languages, Allameh Tabataba’i University, Tehran, Iran

² M.A. in Applied Linguistics, Department of English Language, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran

³ Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics, Department of English Language and Literature, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

10.22077/ali.2025.8756.1067

Abstract

The present study attempted to comparatively investigate English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) teachers’ beliefs about language learning and teaching and their distinctive characteristics. To this end, 150 EFL and ESP teachers, selected randomly from various universities in Iran, were asked to fill out two pilot-tested validated five-point Likert-scale questionnaires, one on beliefs (including 45 items) and the other on characteristics (comprising 16 items). To do multiple-level analysis and triangulate the data for validation purposes, 25 teachers, selected randomly from among the study participants, were also interviewed. The results of (Quantitative data analysis such as Independent Samples t-tests, Chi-Square and Pearson product-moment correlation analyses, as well as qualitative content analysis of interviews) found no significant mismatch between ESP teachers and EFL teachers’ beliefs overall; however, significant differences were found between characteristics of ESP teachers and EFL teachers overall as well as between the specific beliefs and also between specific characteristics of the two groups of the teachers. The results are discussed in detail in the paper, and the implications, which are significant for the field of language education and ESP, and the pertinent implications are presented.

Keywords

teacher beliefs

teacher characteristics

ESP teachers

EFL teachers

language teaching

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