1 Abstract—Although English is not a second language in Iran, it has become an inseparable part of many Iranian people’s lives and is becoming more and more widespread. This high demand has caused a significant increase in the number of private English language institutes in Iran. Although English is a compulsory course in schools and universities, the majority of Iranian people are unable to communicate easily in English. This paper reviews the current state of teaching and learning English as an international language in Iran. Attitudes and motivations about learning English are reviewed. Five different aspects of using English within the country are analysed, including: English in public domain, English in Media, English in organizations/businesses, English in education, and English in private language institutes. Despite the time and money spent on English language courses in private language institutes, the majority of learners seem to forget what has been learned within months of completing their course. That is, when they are students with the support of the teacher and formal classes, they appear to make progress and use English more or less fluently. When this support is removed, their language skills either stagnant or regress. The findings of this study suggest that a dependant approach to learning is potentially one of the main reasons for English language learning problems and this is encouraged by English course books and approaches to teaching. Keywords—English in Iran, English language learning, English language teaching, evaluation. I. INTRODUCTION RAN - officially the Islamic Republic of Iran - is a country in Western Asia. Iran consists of 31 provinces. Its capital and the largest city is Tehran which is the centre for economic issues and culture. It is a multicultural nation comprising numerous ethnic and diverse linguistic groups. Although Persian is the official language, many other local languages exist in different cities of Iran such as: Mazani/Mazandarani, Kurdish, Lori/ Lurish, Balochi, Gilaki, Taleshi, Turkish, and Mashhadi. Although English is used in public signals and education, it is considered as a foreign language (FL). II. ENGLISH IN IRAN A. English in Public Domain (Media, Organizations, and Businesses) in Iran First-time visitors to Iran report that Iranian people are kind, hospitable, and are eager to communicate in English [1]. There is a growing interest in English language learning in almost every part of Iran even though English is not spoken as a second language there. Based on an experimental research Fatemeh Zarrabi is with Monash University, Australia (e-mail: fatemeh.zarrabi@monash.edu). study by Sadeghi et al. [2], there are many reasons why Iranians have great enthusiasm and motivation for learning English, the international language. Some of the most common reasons are intending to continue their education abroad, to travel all around the world, to speak with native speakers of English, to watch English movies, to live abroad, to find a good job, to earn credit (since English is regarded as prestigious by many Iranians) while others love to learn English because they enjoy listening to English songs, reading English books, or simply because they love their English teacher. Iranian EFL students have revealed that they consider English language learning as either “important” or “somewhat important” to their lives [3], [4]. English is regarded as an essential means of communication with the world beyond Iran’s borders and as a tool for providing access to information needed for technical and scientific texts in this globalized digital world [5]. Furthermore, English is viewed as cool and modern (prestigious) in Iran as well as a means of providing information for tourists and visitors who do not understand Persian [2]. This perspective is clearly obvious and reflected in advertisements, trading billboards, clothing items, domestic products (e.g. chocolates, snacks and dairy products), hotels, shops, and restaurants through the use of English words/phrases or the use of letters from the English alphabet to express Persian words. The use of English by uneducated people can result in funny mistakes which appear in social media as jokes. Some English words have become an integrated part of Persian language such as bank, park, hotel, sandwich, jean(s), as well as some techno-words such as laptop, mobile, telephone, tablet and so on. In addition, many in the younger generation use English ‘script’ for their Farsi text message communications and emails. English graffiti, especially romantic messages, are also found on many walls in Iran. Moreover, English (along with Farsi/Persian) has a strong presence in public life as reflected in street names, traffic signals, and public signs and messages. English language newspapers such as the Tehran Times and Iran Daily, monthly English periodicals (e.g. VIVA), as well as channel 4 which broadcasts English news programs and documentaries (on wildlife, lives of famous people, landmarks, etc.) are also available in Iran. The audience and readers would typically be foreigners living in Iran and students who enjoy learning English or who are majoring in English and want to expand their vocabulary or develop their reading and listening skills. Although English is not used as a means of communication - orally or written - in many Iranian organizations, knowledge of English together with computer literacy, is considered as an English Language Teaching and Learning Analysis in Iran F. Zarrabi, J. R. Brown I World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology International Journal of Educational and Pedagogical Sciences Vol:9, No:10, 2015 3485 International Scholarly and Scientific Research & Innovation 9(10) 2015 scholar.waset.org/1307-6892/10007318 International Science Index, Educational and Pedagogical Sciences Vol:9, No:10, 2015 waset.org/Publication/10007318