ESP stakeholders

This study is an attempt to evaluate certain areas of the Iranian ESP program through the lens of its immediate stakeholders, i.e. policy implementers, authors, teachers and learners. Using questionnaires, interviews and classroom observations through a quantitative-qualitative mixed-method design, the collected data were analyzed. The results of the study indicate that the program is suffering from lack of systematic observation and evaluation policy, and its stakeholders especially in the users’ strand are not satisfied with the program’s current status, goal, methodology and textbooks. The origin of the problems and dissatisfaction in the program was found to have varying shares from different sources. Contextual factors, improper policies, unprincipled teaching methodology, and old fashioned spiritless textbooks were found and concluded to have their impeding roles in the Iranian ESP program achievement and satisfaction. The findings of the present research are hoped to provide the concerned communities in both strand of providers and users with clear insights around the common flaws and drawbacks in the program along with possible clues for the program improvement.

Investigating learners' motivational factors from Basic Psychological Needs (BPN) has been prevalent in a foreign/second language domain, but there is a dearth of well-documented research on ESP instruction. This study addressed the void by scrutinizing ESP learners' BPN of relatedness, competence, and autonomy using a validated and reliable BPN instrument to assess online ESP practices and challenges within unideal EFL situations. A total of 617 ESP students and 94 ESP lecturers from 14 universities across provincial areas of Indonesia participated in the study. A mixed-method design administering questionnaire and interview was applied to draw ESP students' BPN from the perspective of lecturers and students. The results revealed significant differences between lecturers' and learners' perceptions regarding several indicators of relatedness, competence, and autonomy categories. While the lecturers' questionnaire and interviews reported that the ESP students had an acceptable level of engagement with wider ESP communities, the students mentioned their low engagement with content lecturers, stakeholders/experts, and communities. These differences are then utilized as a stepping stone to design a more 'ideal' ESP program using a specific BPN framework to enhance ESP lecturers' and students' specific English and content knowledge under the online learning platforms. The study implies that to help ESP students learn English, online ESP programs should be collaboratively designed by involving English lecturers, content lecturers, ESP stakeholders from relevant fields, and technology-related materials that meet English and specific content knowledge needs.