Iranian and Turkish EFL Teachers’ and Learners’ Perceptions of English as an International Language

What teachers and learners think of English influences their teaching/learning performance, especially in today’s world, where English does not exclusively belong to English-speaking countries anymore, giving rise to the concept of English as an International Language (EIL).The present study was an attempt to compare Turkish English teachers and learners with Iranian English teachers and learners in terms of their perceptions of EIL. A survey study was designed in which 20 teachers and 50 students from Turkish EFL community and 20 teachers and 50 students from Iranian EFL community took part as the participants. Two different versions of questionnaires were used to elicit the learners’ and teachers’ perceptions on EIL. The measures of t-test were employed to compare the perceptions of teachers and learners in the two contexts focused on in the study. The findings revealed that there was a significant difference between Iranian teachers’ and learners’ perceptions as well as between Turkish teachers’ and learners’ perceptions on EIL. As for the comparison made between the learners’ perceptions, a significant difference was also found between Iranian and Turkish learners of English; nevertheless, the results indicated a non-significant but weak to moderate difference between Iranian and Turkish teachers’ perceptions on EIL. The implications of the study are also discussed at the end.