Exploring EFL Learners Reading Comprehension Problems
in Reading ESP Texts
Amir Rezaei, Mohammad Ali Rahimi
Zanjan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Zanjan, Iran
Siavash Talepasan
Semnan University, Semnan, Iran
By considering the fact that in EFL (English as foreign language) contexts learners need reading comprehension
skill more than other skills in their academic studies, reading comprehension should be attached more importance
especialy in ESP (English for specific purposes) classes in which reading ability plays a crucial role in the students’
academic success. But in order to help learners in the best possible way, teachers need to identify their learners’
problems in reading ESP texts. Detecting the problematic areas for the students will assist teachers better design
and apply appropriate methods and strategies to solve their students’ reading comprehension problems. Therefore,
the following research was an attempt to explore the EFL learners’ reading comprehension problmes in reading
ESP texts in ESP classes. For the purpose of the study, five passages from their coursebook were selected and they
were asked to underline the syntactically problematic parts in the passages. The subjects of the study were
composed of 185 homogenous engineering students who were learning english as a foregin langauge. Chi-square
analysis showed that 15 major syntactic categories are serious hurdle to reading comprehension of ESP texts. The
results and implications are discussed in the light of TLA (teachers’ language awareness).
Keywords: ESP (English for specific purposes) texts, teachers’ language awareness, reading comprehension