english for academic purposes (eap) teachers’ roles and responsibilities:woodrow’s (2018) model revisited

English for academic purposes (eap) teachers play multiple roles in these situations to the extent that they are considered as eap practitioners, which highlights the fact that their roles and responsibilities go beyond classroom teaching alone. to date, scanty research has been conducted on eap teachers, vis-à-vis other areas of eap, in iran (as elsewhere). therefore, this study was an attempt to shed light on this under-researched area by focusing on eap teachers’ roles and responsibilities. to this end, 20 eap teachers from english language teaching (elt) and subject-matter backgrounds were selected via convenience and snowball sampling and were interviewed to elicit their views about their main roles and responsibilities. the interview data were transcribed and thematically analyzed to extract sub-themes and major themes. the findings indicated that the participants referred to all roles and responsibilities relating to needs analysis, course design, materials development, collaboration with subject-matter teachers, analysis of discipline-specific discourse, and course/program evaluation in woodrow’s (2018) model. in addition, they considered three other areas, namely, professional development, research, and motivation, as highly important and relevant to their roles and responsibilities. the findings indicated that eap teachers in this study were well aware of their key role in supporting the four main pillars of eap, namely, materials and methods, needs analysis, learning objectives, and evaluation. in addition, professional development and research, as two important areas suggested by participants in the present study, highlighted the importance of teacher development for socialization and gradual gaining of sufficient expertise to successfully transform identity and agency in academic settings. finally, important implications and suggestions for further studies were presented.

English for Academic Purposes (EAP) Teachers’ Roles and Responsibilities:Woodrow’s (2018) Model Revisited

English for Academic Purposes (EAP) teachers play multiple roles in these situations to the extent that they are considered as EAP practitioners, which highlights the fact that their roles and responsibilities go beyond classroom teaching alone. To date, scanty research has been conducted on EAP teachers, vis-à-vis other areas of EAP, in Iran (as elsewhere). Therefore, this study was an attempt to shed light on this under-researched area by focusing on EAP teachers’ roles and responsibilities. To this end, 20 EAP teachers from English Language Teaching (ELT) and subject-matter backgrounds were selected via convenience and snowball sampling and were interviewed to elicit their views about their main roles and responsibilities. The interview data were transcribed and thematically analyzed to extract sub-themes and major themes. The findings indicated that the participants referred to all roles and responsibilities relating to needs analysis, course design, materials development, collaboration with subject-matter teachers, analysis of discipline-specific discourse, and course/program evaluation in Woodrow’s (2018) model. In addition, they considered three other areas, namely, professional development, research, and motivation, as highly important and relevant to their roles and responsibilities. The findings indicated that EAP teachers in this study were well aware of their key role in supporting the four main pillars of EAP, namely, materials and methods, needs analysis, learning objectives, and evaluation. In addition, professional development and research, as two important areas suggested by participants in the present study, highlighted the importance of teacher development for socialization and gradual gaining of sufficient expertise to successfully transform identity and agency in academic settings. Finally, important implications and suggestions for further studies were presented.