Investigating Change in Iranian EAP Learners’ Beliefs about Reading

Abstract

Framed in Sociocultural Theory, this paper investigated changes in Iranian EAP (English for academic purposes) learners’ beliefs about reading as a result of instruction in an EAP course. Previous research has relied much on quantitative approaches in belief studies and assumed learners’ beliefs to be fairly stable; however, this study adopted a qualitative approach examining eight female learners’ belief change about reading as a result of instruction in an EAP course. The data were collected through diaries and think-aloud protocols and they were analyzed based on the grounded theory methodology. The findings showed that 1) there were substantial changes in the learners’ initial simplistic beliefs about reading during ten weeks of the term, and 2) learners’ changed beliefs about reading were to a large extent evidenced in their actions while reading a text and verbalizing their thought. The results suggested that belief changes were affected by the learning context in which learners interacted with and beliefs and actions were interwoven concerning the context of learners’ interaction.