Reflections on Foreign Language Education in Iran

TLDR

The article notes that Iran’s foreign‑language education has received little international attention despite its political prominence, and that a full assessment of its strengths and weaknesses would require a deeper structural analysis beyond this paper’s scope. The author aims to outline Iran’s pre‑1979 educational system to contextualize the post‑revolutionary foreign‑language education. This is achieved by summarizing key structural features of the pre‑1979 system. The paper concludes by identifying problems in Iran’s EFL education and proposing potential solutions.

Abstract

This article reflects upon foreign-language education in Iran. Contrary to its political and historical reputation in the world, Iran has not been well presented regarding its educational system in general and its foreign-language education in particular. Of course, a critical assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the Iranian education system requires an in-depth analysis of its structure that goes beyond the scope of this article. However, I will attempt to provide some basic information about the educational system in Iran before the 1979 Islamic revolution, in order to set the background for a description of the post-revolutionary system of foreign-language education in this country. The article ends with a discussion of the problems in EFL education in Iran, along with some suggested solutions.