High-stakes tests are often used as agents for change, but attempts to introduce change in the classroom are not as effective as their designers wished they would be (Wall, 1997). The English for specific purpose (ESP) tests in Iran are such a case. The primary function of ESP tests in Iran is to select candidates for institutions of higher education (master and doctoral degrees). They are also designed specifically to promote changes in teaching ESP/ English for academic purposes at Iranian universities. This study was set out to examine washback effects of these tests on teaching ESP at Iranian universities. In doing so, data were collected through a questionnaire and classroom observations. The questionnaire was administered to 45 subject specialists teaching at Iranian universities. 10 other ESP teachers were also observed. The data were analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics. Surprisingly enough, the results indicate that the ESP tests have fallen short of the goal. That is, these tests do not lead to innovation in teaching ESP, not do they influence teachers' teaching activities and ESP contents.

The present study investigated the effects of using flipped classroom techniques on Iranian ESP students’ critical thinking and engagement. The flipped classroom model flips the traditional relationship between class time and homework. Students learn at home via online coursework and lectures, and teachers use class time for teacherguided practice or projects. Participants were 60 ESP students studying in Payam-e Noor University, who were divided into 2 equal groups with 30 students each. Participants’ language proficiency was checked through a language proficiency test. The participants of experimental group received vocabulary instruction through flipped classroom techniques. A specialist group of EFL/ESP professors who were the researcher's colleagues produced 10 videos, and each video lecture was accompanied by a lecturer's avatar, which used his or her true voice and audiovisual materials representations. The control group received conventional vocabulary instruction. Results of the statistical analyses showed that there was a positive influence of flipped classroom over the participants’ task engagement. Also, it was found that t h e flip p e d classroom had a significant effect on the Iranian students' critical thinking in ESP courses. Flipped classrooms enable ESP students to become more independent, which necessitates more critical thinkers. As a result, flipped classrooms can provide a platform for L2 students' potential critical thinking abilities to blossom and develop.

Exploring the disciplinary interface between English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and World Englishes (WEs)—two fields with overlapping concerns in global English use, pedagogical relevance, and sociolinguistic legitimacy—this study investigates how their theoretical and practical synergies can inform TEFL and ESP research, with teachers’ attitudes serving as the focal point; specifically, it examines Iranian EFL and ESP instructors’ perspectives on integrating WEs into ESP instruction and evaluates the alignment of current ESP curricula with learners’ authentic communicative needs, particularly in spoken performance; employing a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design, the research engaged 64 participants: 32 TEFL, 17 EFL, and 15 ESP teachers (balanced by gender, 16 male and 16 female, aged 30–67), who first completed a validated quantitative questionnaire assessing attitudes toward WEs, syllabus design, instructional methods, cultural representation, and perceived student outcomes, followed by targeted open-ended items for qualitative elaboration; descriptive and inferential analyses revealed overwhelmingly positive dispositions toward WEs across all groups, with strong consensus that ESP instruction should be learner-centered and goal-driven—prioritizing students’ academic or professional objectives over rigid native-speaker norms; notably, more than two-thirds of rESPondents (68.7%) expressed dissatisfaction with the current ESP syllabuses, citing irrelevance, rigidity, and lack of contextualization; however, discontent with teaching methodologies, cultural content, and textbook materials was significantly more pronounced—and statistically distinct—among ESP teachers (χ² = 9.32, p = .002), suggesting heightened awareness of pedagogical misalignment due to their specialized instructional role; critically, all participant groups reported near-universal dissatisfaction (95.3%) with their ESP students’ speaking proficiency, describing learners as hesitant, lexically limited, and unable to engage in discipline-specific oral interactions—dESPite often achieving competence in reading and writing; this disparity points to a systemic overemphasis on receptive and written skills at the expense of oral communication, undermining students’ preparedness for real-world academic or workplace demands where speaking is integral (e.g., conferences, consultations, presentations); consequently, the study infers that prevailing ESP courses in Iran inadequately address learners’ holistic language needs, particularly speaking, and calls for curriculum reform grounded in WEs-informed principles—such as plurilingual competence, functional appropriateness, and local voice—that validate diverse Englishes while equipping learners with pragmatic, context-sensitive communicative agency; such reform would require re-conceptualizing ESP not as a transmission of “standard” English for static purposes, but as dynamic, identity-affirming preparation for participation in global professional communities.

Background: There are two main methods employed for the evaluation of the reading comprehension ability of students of ESP; one using specialized English texts, and the other with general English texts. Purpose: To determine whether or not there is a correlation between the two methods. Methods: In the regular 1998 examinations for admission to PhD courses for 18 different medical disciplines, in which 30 subject-specific English test items were given to the applicants of each discipline, all of them were also evaluated using a set of 30 general English test items (n=2010). Results: There was a positive correlation of 71% between the scores of the examinees in the two tests, the highest and the lowest correlation being rESPectively in the scores of the applicants of Epidemiology (84%; n=118), and environmental health (56%; n=70). Conclusion: Our finding seems to warrant the use of EGP test as an adequate measure of English language competency for academic purposes.

The purpose of the present study was to assess the movement towards LSP testing and the usability of IELTS academic reading tests at the university level in Iran. The research question addressed was: Do learner variables such as levels of proficiency, background knowledge, and sex affect the performance of the participants on ESP reading comprehension tests? 245 university students, both male and female majoring in English literature, economics, medicine, electronics and chemical engineering from the universities ofIsfahan and Medical Sciences were selected to participate in the project. In three consecutive administrations, they were exposed to three different elicitation procedures: (a) locally constructed teacher-made EST reading tests, (b) a version ofIEL TS academic reading test, and (c) a version of the TOEFL test. The obtained data were, then, subjected to different statistical analyses (analysis of variance, two- and three-way ANOVA, and the post-hoc Scheffe tests). Filling these statistical procedures, three rather different results emerged: First, except for some minor cases, the gender of the participants was not related to the test performance. Second, levels of proficiency (high and low) affected the test performance of the participants on EST and IEL TS reading tests. Third, background, or (content area) knowledge did relate to the participants test performance on EST and IELTS reading tests, that is, the hypothesized interaction between students major fields of study and test content was confirmed. What can thus be implied from the results of the present research and their related interpretations is that language testers should take into account background knowledge when defining the construct of EAP reading comprehension tests. And to successfully perform on LSP tests, the subject area knowledge is surely regarded as a necessary factor ifnot a sufficient one. Finally, in this study IEL TS academic reading module, that was regarded as a distinguished example of the specific purpose proficiency testing, proved to be applicable at the university level in Iran.

This study aimed at validating the already-proposed pluralistic curriculum model for ESP in Iran. In line with the objective of the present study, a correlational-survey design was used by utilizing Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) (i. e., exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis). The participants recruited for this study were in the two groups. The first group consisted of 120 male and female ESP students studying at different fields at the B. A. level in different universities of Iran. The second group consisted of 100 Iranian male and female ESP teachers teaching ESP courses at the B. A. level in different universities of Iran. The two groups were selected through purposeful sampling. The present study used a researcher-made questionnaire for the purpose of data collection, that was developed based on the already-proposed model. Data analysis was conducted through SEM (i. e., exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis) and Cronbach’, s Alpha test. According to the results, the already-proposed model pluralistic curriculum model for ESP in Iran consists of three main components including pluralistic ESP teaching, pluralistic ESP content and materials, and pluralistic ESP assessments. Moreover, the results of SEM and Cronbach’, s Alpha test confirmed the validity and reliability of the already-proposed pluralistic curriculum model for ESP in Iran. The results have some implications for ESP curriculum developers, teachers, and students.