Abstract
Numerous studies have been conducted so far to investigate potential affordances in the EAP classes; however, given the context-bound nature of these classes, an ecological framework is needed to explore the factors contributing to the actualization of potential affordances of these classes as well as their ecological roots. With this caveat in mind, in this study, we aimed to explore the ecological factors underlying the actualization of the classroom affordances in four EAP university courses via a nested ecosystem model as an analytical framework. To do this, using a modern social science hermeneutics approach, as a methodological framework, we interviewed four EAP university teachers and two students in these classes for two rounds of interview sessions, collected the personal documents of the teachers, and observed the classes for four sessions. The findings suggested that in terms of affordance levels, the potential affordances of the EAP classes were mainly actualized at the perception level and no space for the utilization of the perceived affordances was observed. On the other hand, the teachers in these classes were not agent in terms of creating shaped affordances in these classes. Furthermore, the policy-makers have not provided the teachers with any formal EAP training courses so that they can become familiar with the EAP research findings and they have also not paved the way for the cooperation of these teachers with ELT teachers. The underlying roots of these issues were discussed in terms in the interplay of micro-, meso-, exo-, and macrosystems.
![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs42087-020-00130-w/MediaObjects/42087_2020_130_Fig1_HTML.png)
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adams, J. D., & Gupta, P. (2017). Informal science institutions and learning to teach: an examination of identity, agency, and affordances. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 54(1), 121–138.
Afshar, H. S., & Movassagh, H. (2016). EAP education in Iran: where does the problem lie? Where are we heading? Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 22, 132–151.
Ahmadi, M. (2014). Students’ needs or teachers’ wishes? A triangulated survey of medical EAP in Iranian context. Unpublished master’s thesis. Hamedan: Bu-AliSina University.
Ajjawi, R., & Higgs, J. (2007). Using hermeneutic phenomenology to investigate how experienced practitioners learn to communicate clinical reasoning. The Qualitative Report, 12, 612–638.
Alexander, O. (2007). Groping in the dark or turning on the light: Routes into teaching English for academic purposes. In T. Lynch & J. Northcott (Eds.), Educating legal English specialists and teacher education in EAP: Proceedings of IALS teacher education symposia, 2004 and 2006. Institute for Applied Language Studies, University of Edinburgh.
Anthony, L. (2011). Products, processes and practitioners: a critical look at the importance of specificity in ESP. Taiwan International ESP Journal, 3(2), 19–50.
Atai, M. R., & Nazari, O. (2011). Exploring reading comprehension needs of Iranian EAP students of health information management (HIM): a triangulated approach. System, 39, 30–43.
Atai, M. R., & Tahririan, M. H. (2003). Assessment of the status of ESP in the current Iranian higher educational system. In Proceedings of LSP: communication, culture and knowledge conference. Guilford: University of Surrey.
Atai, M. R., Babaii, E., & Gaskaree, B. L. (2017). EAP teacher cognition: a qualitative study of Iranian in-service EAP teachers’ cognitions. Language Horizons, 1(2), 31–56.
Atai, M. R., Babaii, E., & LotfiGaskaree, B. (2018). A narrative study of in-service EAP teachers’ cognition on language teacher role identities. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research, 6(2), 97–115.
Basturkmen, H. (2010). Designing courses in English for specific purposes. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Basturkmen, H. (2019). ESP teacher education needs. Language Teaching, 52(3), 318–330.
Belcher, D. D. (2006). English for specific purposes: teaching to perceived needs and imagined futures in worlds of work, practice and everyday life. TESOL Quarterly, 40, 133–156.
Bloor, M., & Bloor, T. (1986). Language for specific purposes: practice and theory. In CLCS occasional papers. Dublin: Centre for Language & Communication Studies, Trinity College.
Bogdan, R. C., & Biklen, S. K. (2007). Qualitative research for education: an introduction to theories and methods. Boston: Pearson.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1977). Toward an experimental ecology of human development. American Psychologist, 32(7), 513.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1993). The ecology of cognitive development: research models and fugitive findings. In R. H. Wozniak‚ & K. W. Fischer‚ (Eds.), Development in context: acting and thinking in specific environments (pp. 3–44). Hillsdale: Erlbaum.
Bruce, I. (2011). Theory and concepts of English for academic purposes. London: Palgrave.
D’Andrea, L. M., Waters, C., & Rudd, R. (2011). Using computer assisted qualitative software (CAQDAS) to evaluate a novel teaching method for introductory statistics. International Journal of Technology in Teaching and Learning, 7(1), 48–60.
Ding, A., & Campion, G. (2016). EAP teacher development. The Routledge handbook of English for academic purposes, 547–559.
Dörnyei, Z. (2007). Research methods in applied linguistics: Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methodologies (pp. 95–123). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Elahi Shirvan, E., Rahmani, S., & Sorayyaee, L. (2016). On the exploration of the ecology of English language teachers’ personal styles in Iran. Asian-Pacific Journal of Second and Foreign Language Education, 1(1), 12–28.
Ellis, N. C., & Larsen-Freeman, D. (2006). Language emergence: implications for applied linguistics—introduction to the special issue. Applied Linguistics, 27(4), 558–589.
Hamp-Lyons, L. (2011). What is EAP? Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning, 2, 89.
Hayati, M. (2008). Teaching English for special purposes in Iran: problems and suggestions. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, 7(2), 149–164.
Heigman, J., & Croker, R. (Eds.). (2009). Qualitative research in applied linguistics: a practical introduction. Amsterdam: Springer.
Holme, R., & Chalauisaeng, B. (2006). The learner as needs analyst: the use of participatory appraisal in the EAP reading classroom. English for Specific Purposes, 25, 403–419.
Hutchinson, T., & Waters, A. (1987). English for specific purposes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hyland, K. (2006). English for academic purposes: an advanced resource book. London: Routledge.
Hyland, K. (2015). Teaching and researching writing. London: Routledge.
Hyland, K., & Shaw, P. (Eds.). (2016). The Routledge handbook of English for academic purposes. London: Routledge.
Khany, R., & Tarlani-Aliabadi, H. (2016). Studying power relations in an academic setting: teachers’ and students’ perceptions of EAP classes in Iran. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 21, 72–85.
Kordt, B. (2018). Affordance theory and multiple language learning and teaching. International Journal of Multilingualism, 15(2), 135–148.
Kyttä, M. (2002). Affordances of children’s environments in the context of cities, small towns, suburbs and rural villages in Finland and Belarus. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 22, 109–123. https://doi.org/10.1006/jevp.2001.0249.
Labov, W. (1972). Sociolinguistic patterns. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Larsen-Freeman, D. (2016). Classroom-oriented research from a complex systems perspective. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 6(3), 377–393.
Lewins, A., & Silver, C. (2008). Using software in qualitative research. Los Angeles: Sage.
Lueger, M., & Vettori, O. (2014). Finding meaning in higher education: a social hermeneutics approach to higher education research. In J. Huisman & M. Tight (Eds.), Theory and method in higher education research II (Vol. 10, pp. 23–42). United Kingdom et al.: Emerald.
Mason, J. (2002). Qualitative researching. London: Sage.
Mazdayasna, G., & Tahririan, M. H. (2008). Developing a profile of the ESP needs of Iranian students: the case of students of nursing and midwifery. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 7, 277–289.
McDonough, S., & McDonough, S. (1997). Research methods as part of English language teacher education. English Language Teacher Education and Development, 3(1), 84–96.
Nazari, O., Atai, M. R., & Birjandi, P. (2018). Investigating burnout among Iranian EAP teachers: a comparison of content instructors and ELT instructors. Applied Research on English Language., 6(4), 455–472.
Neisser, U. (1989). From direct perception to conceptual structure. In U. Neisser (Ed.), Concepts and conceptual development: ecological and intellectual factors in categorization (pp. 11–24). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Perry Jr., F. L. (2011). Research in applied linguistics: becoming a discerning consumer. Abingdon: Routledge.
Polkinghorne, D. E. (2005). Language and meaning: data collection in qualitative research. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52(2), 137–145.
Richards, K., Ross, S., & Seedhouse, P. (2012). Research methods for applied language studies: an advanced resource book for students. Abingdon: Routledge.
Robinson, P. C. (1991). ESP today: a practitioner’s guide. Hemel Hempstead: Prentice Hall.
Saghafi, K., Reza Adel, S. M. R., & Zareian, G. (2017). An ecological study of foreign language writing anxiety in English as a foreign language classroom. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 46(5), 424–440.
Salas, S., Mercado, L. A., Ouedraogo, L. H., & Musseti, B. (2013). English for specific purposes: negotiating needs, possibilities, and promises. English Teaching Forum, 51(4), 12–19.
Sharpling, G. (2002). Learning to teach English for academic purposes: some current training and development issues. English Language Teacher Education and Development, 6(1), 82–94.
Silverman, D. (2000). Doing qualitative research. London: Sage Publications.
Strevens, P. (1988). ESP after twenty years: a re-appraisal. In M. Tickoo (Ed.), ESP: state of the art (pp. 1–13). Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre.
Tavakoli, M., & Tavakoli, M. (2018). Problematizing EAP education in Iran: a critical ethnographic study of educational, political, and sociocultural roots. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 31, 28–43.
Van Lier, L. (2004). The semiotics and ecology of language learning. Utbildning & Demokrati, 13(3), 79–103.
Van Lier, L. (2010). The ecology of language learning: practice to theory, theory to practice. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 3, 2–6.
Verspoor, M. H., de Bot, K., & Lowie, W. (Eds.). (2011). A dynamic approach to second language development: methods and techniques. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Vettori, O. (2012). A clash of quality cultures: conflicting and coalescing interpretive patterns in Austrian higher education (Dissertation), Universität Wien.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fotuhabadi, Z., Elahi Shirvan, M. & Khajavy, G.H. Affordances in Iranian English for Academic Purposes Education: an Ecological Approach. Hu Arenas 5, 143–160 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42087-020-00130-w
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42087-020-00130-w