communicative teacher talk in esp versus egp classrooms: a case study of iranian university instructors

Teacher talk makes a crucial contribution to the objectives of teaching and learning. in recent years, there has been a growing interest in exploring various features of teacher talk in efl/esl research community. despite a wealth of knowledge on features of teacher talk in efl/esl settings, few (if any) studies exist on analyzing the communicative features of teacher talk in esp (english for specific purposes) in comparison to egp (english for general purposes) contexts. this study aims to explore the communicative features of teacher talk in two settings of eap vs. egp classes in iranian language classes based on the sett (self-evaluation teacher talk) framework and ttfs (teacher talk functional scale) checklist. in so doing, three eap and three egp classes running by three language instructors and three content instructors were observed and interviewed. the data was content analyzed based on overarching themes. the result indicated content instructors were not aware of the communicative features and translating the texts into persian was the main approach of their classes except for a content-language instructor who was aware of the communicativeness of language classes. on the other hand, the general language instructors were highly aware of their talk to encourage communication in their classes. the study could share more light on the importance of raising awareness regarding the teacher talk features in teacher training courses for esp, egap, and esap. this research has also implications for curriculum designers as well as teacher educators in using more communicative talk in educational settings other than efl/esl classes.of l2 and l3ers across different linguistic structures.