Iranian University Instructors’ Perception on English-Majoring Students’ Speaking Needs: A Case of Shiraz University English Department

The present study investigated the English-speaking needs of Iranian English-majoring undergraduate and graduate students from their instructors’ perspectives. To this end, four Iranian English instructors from Shiraz University participated in the study by taking part in an unstructured interview on their students’ speaking problems, the magnitude of the problem, and the probable causes and solutions to the problems. The results revealed that the participants believed that there is a problem with their students’ English-speaking ability at all levels of BA, MA and Ph.D. Despite the instructors’ conflicting ideas, the findings indicated that students at BA and MA levels have more serious speaking problems. The causes of these problems were reported to be insufficient focus on improving speaking skills, the inefficiency of the preceding education and lack of any gate-keeping or post-admission speaking assessment. The instructors were in favor of introducing the speaking skill in the post-admission assessment and the EAP programs to solve the problem.