The Role of Authentic Text in Enhancing the EAP Learner’s Reading Skill The Case of 2nd Year Academic Production

Abstract

Teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) and English for Specific Purpose (ESP) often look for what may help their learners enhance their reading comprehension. The present study aims at investigating the role of authentic texts in enhancing reading comprehension. We have chosen as a sample second-year Hydrocarbures and Chemistry students at the University Kasdi Merbah OuarglaWe hypothesize that if authentic texts are introduced into the reading course, this will motivate students to perform more effectively in the reading skill.We adopted a needs analysis sheet to our sample, and we administered test to the sample to test the reliability of the model adopted. Results revealed that ESP learners are able to understand authentic texts through a top-down mode of processing and hence to achieve more effectively in reading comprehension.