Crossing the threshold of Iranian TEFL

Abstract

Teaching English in an Iranian and Islamic culture poses complex questions for both teachers <br />and learners. In this paper, the authors intend to shed light on what it means to teach English as <br />a foreign language (TEFL) in an Islamic-Iranian context. Having reviewed the colonial and <br />postmodern views of English language teaching, the authors took a look beyond the current state <br />of TEFL in Iran, which is marked by its continuing global tendency, and into the future with an <br />emphasis on the importance of including the local specificities of the Iranian culture and <br />religion. The status of the TEFL in Iran and the direction it should take in the future are <br />accompanied by offering some solutions to inherent problems. Iranian TEFL is introduced as <br />the successful assertion of Iranian local culture against the cultural and ideological domination <br />of the West, which can be an antidote to the harshness of all marginalizations Iranians have <br />suffered for centuries.