diff --git a/fairseq/data/__init__.py b/fairseq/data/__init__.py
index 685059baab..2ce6d459cc 100644
--- a/fairseq/data/__init__.py
+++ b/fairseq/data/__init__.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 
 from .dictionary import Dictionary, TruncatedDictionary
 
-from .fairseq_dataset import FairseqDataset
+from .fairseq_dataset import FairseqDataset, FairseqIterableDataset
 
 from .base_wrapper_dataset import BaseWrapperDataset
 
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@
     'Dictionary',
     'EpochBatchIterator',
     'FairseqDataset',
+    'FairseqIterableDataset',
     'GroupedIterator',
     'IdDataset',
     'IndexedCachedDataset',
diff --git a/fairseq/data/fairseq_dataset.py b/fairseq/data/fairseq_dataset.py
index ca6fd47dc1..fe5681be5a 100644
--- a/fairseq/data/fairseq_dataset.py
+++ b/fairseq/data/fairseq_dataset.py
@@ -7,7 +7,15 @@
 import torch.utils.data
 
 
-class FairseqDataset(torch.utils.data.Dataset):
+class EpochListening:
+    """Mixin for receiving updates whenever the epoch increments."""
+    def set_epoch(self, epoch):
+        """Will receive the updated epoch number at the beginning of the epoch.
+        """
+        pass
+
+
+class FairseqDataset(torch.utils.data.Dataset, EpochListening):
     """A dataset that provides helpers for batching."""
 
     def __getitem__(self, index):
@@ -54,5 +62,11 @@ def prefetch(self, indices):
         """Prefetch the data required for this epoch."""
         raise NotImplementedError
 
-    def set_epoch(self, epoch):
-        pass
+
+class FairseqIterableDataset(torch.utils.data.IterableDataset, EpochListening):
+    """For datasets that need to be read sequentially, usually because the data
+    is being streamed or otherwise can't be manipulated on a single machine.
+    """
+
+    def __iter__(self):
+        raise NotImplementedError
diff --git a/fairseq/data/iterators.py b/fairseq/data/iterators.py
index 83760b3615..813d9cbaca 100644
--- a/fairseq/data/iterators.py
+++ b/fairseq/data/iterators.py
@@ -63,6 +63,15 @@ def __len__(self) -> int:
         raise NotImplementedError
 
     def next_epoch_itr(self, shuffle=True, fix_batches_to_gpus=False):
+        """Return a new iterator over the dataset.
+
+        Args:
+            shuffle (bool, optional): shuffle batches before returning the
+                iterator (default: True).
+            fix_batches_to_gpus: ensure that batches are always
+                allocated to the same shards across epochs. Requires
+                that :attr:`dataset` supports prefetching (default: False).
+        """
         raise NotImplementedError
 
     def end_of_epoch(self) -> bool:
@@ -71,12 +80,15 @@ def end_of_epoch(self) -> bool:
 
     @property
     def iterations_in_epoch(self) -> int:
+        """The number of consumed batches in the current epoch."""
         raise NotImplementedError
 
     def state_dict(self):
+        """Returns a dictionary containing a whole state of the iterator."""
         raise NotImplementedError
 
     def load_state_dict(self, state_dict):
+        """Copies the state of the iterator from the given *state_dict*."""
         raise NotImplementedError
 
 
@@ -84,7 +96,7 @@ class StreamingEpochBatchIterator(EpochBatchIterating):
     def __init__(
         self, dataset, epoch=0, num_shards=1, shard_id=0,
     ):
-        # assert isinstance(dataset, torch.utils.data.Dataset)
+        assert isinstance(dataset, torch.utils.data.IterableDataset)
         self.dataset = dataset
         self.epoch = epoch
         self._current_epoch_iterator = None
@@ -93,6 +105,7 @@ def __init__(
 
     def next_epoch_itr(self, shuffle=True, fix_batches_to_gpus=False):
         self.epoch += 1
+        self.dataset.set_epoch(self.epoch)
         self._current_epoch_iterator = CountingIterator(
             iterable=ShardedIterator(
                 iterable=self.dataset,
diff --git a/fairseq/data/list_dataset.py b/fairseq/data/list_dataset.py
index 4d3b01d7bf..b96bba3437 100644
--- a/fairseq/data/list_dataset.py
+++ b/fairseq/data/list_dataset.py
@@ -12,6 +12,10 @@ def __init__(self, dataset, sizes=None):
         super().__init__(dataset)
         self._sizes = sizes
 
+    def __iter__(self):
+        for x in self.dataset:
+            yield x
+
     def collater(self, samples):
         return samples