Arab Educational Information Network

This study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of a proposed program based on English for Specific Purposes in developing reading comprehension skills and attitudes towards learning EFL among student-teachers of Arabic Language. Three main instruments were administered to seventy male and female students: reading comprehension skills checklist, reading comprehension skills test and attitudes scale. The participants received a reading comprehension program based on English for Specific Purposes for twelve weeks. The data, collected in the form of a range of measures: literal, inferential, and critical reading comprehension skills as well as the attitudes of students towards learning EFL, were subjected to t-tests. The results indicated that after the implementation of the program, the participants achieved higher levels in the post-administration of the reading comprehension skills test as well as in the post-administration of the attitudes scale than in the pre-administration of both of them. The results reflected support for the proposed program. They highlighted the positive effect of teaching English for Specific Purposes on students who need certain characteristics in the introduced language in order to develop their reading comprehension skills and attitudes towards learning EFL. (Published abstract)