چكيده
This study investigated the target situation/ job-related English language needs of Iranian diplomats who have worked in the I.R. of Iran's embassies in different countries. Using convenience sampling method, the researcher collected the data via a questionnaire administered to 36 participants who were/are diplomats in the I.R. of Iran's embassies in different countries and also retired diplomats, as well as an interview with seven high-ranked diplomats. It is worth noting, to have a better picture of participants' behavior in the process of the implementation of the study, some informal observations were also conducted by the researcher.
Results showed that, in the first place English is the most common used language in diplomatic context. According to the collected data, the most frequent used skills at work, was listening, on the other hand, based on an analysis of chi-square, the main research questions exploration indicated that, the most needed skills at work are respectively reading, listening speaking, and writing and in this regard some sub-skills like reading e-mails and formal letters, surfing the internet, obtaining news from TV, dealing with different accents, describing countries’ cultural gaps, conducting negotiations, talking on the phone with a colleague, ordering meal in a restaurant, considering cultural and political sensitivities, writing e-mails to other diplomatic missions, doing translation from/to English, taking notes while listening and writing text of invitation, are most needed and problematic sub-skill at work. This study's findings highlights lack of providing student with felt needs and any English language training in the form of mandatory, more formal and in-service training within the specified period of time, concentrating on target situation language needs especially job-related themes and discourse. In addition, based on the researcher observation, it appears that lack of clarity in accent, fluency in speech, weak lexical knowledge and difficulty in use of vocabulary and terminology related to diplomacy, are considered as negative points for Iranian diplomats.
