An Investigation of the Reasons and Aspirations of Iranian Mothers for Early English Education to their Children

English education to young learners has largely attracted the Iranian families during recent years. To meet this demand a large number of private centers have been established, and English has become an indispensable program of most kindergartens and pre-primary school centers. Moreover, there are particular English programs offered to pregnant and breast-feeding mothers to promote English education of their children. Since mothers are the target of these programs, it deems essential to investigate the mothers’ aspirations for early start of English education for their children. For this purpose, the present qualitative research used purposeful sampling and semi-structured interviews among 37 mothers whose young children were learning English. The results obtained from the qualitative content analysis of the data revealed that a series of personal, national and international factors are involved in creating these aspirations. Moreover, this trend is actively managed by mothers at two economic and mental levels. This study has implications for families, experts in women studies, and English education policy makers.