Opportunities and challenges of teaching English as a foreign language in Iran

This study aims to demarcate the main opportunities and challenges of teaching English as a foreign language in formal education system of Iran. Coming to this end, challenges and pitfalls of English teaching in Iran have has been enumerated by means of meta-analyzing the most recent researches done in current decade. and Consequently relevant solutions to these shortcomings have been suggested through semi-structured interview sessions with a group of experts. The findings show that the traditional approach to teaching English, insufficiency of textbooks and supplementary materials, shortcomings of teacher training courses and lack of qualified and motivated teachers, ambiguity of policy making, lack of instruction time in schools and formal education system are among the most critical challenges of teaching English in Islamic Republic of Iran. To bridge the gaps, some suggestions have been posed by the researchers based on meta-level cultural and educational documents. Findings can be interesting both for policy makers and English teachers.