Designing reading comprehension materials for automotive engineering student at MARA Vocational Institute in the context of English for specific purposes / Insani Genam

With the advent of English for Specific Purposes (ESP), English for Science and Technology (EST), English for Academic Purposes (EAP), English for Occupational Purposes (EOP) and etc, seems to focus learners to fit ‘register’ nicely into the structures and vocabulary used in the fields given. Learner's competency and proficiency in the respective fields lies greatly on comprehension of the language learnt and acquisition of the subject matters. In this study, the researcher develops the reading comprehension materials as one of the tools in helping learners especially the Automobile Engineering Technology learners to encounter, acquire and comprehend difficult technical jargon or ‘register’, vocabulary or structures in their readings of manuals, and other reference materials. This study focuses on the development of five reading comprehension texts extracted from Automobile Engineering Technology references for Automobile Engineering Technology learners. The focal point of comprehension exercises obtained from Nuttal (1982) reading strategies that are word-attack and text-attack skills. The skills include lexical items, synonym, sequencing, and inference skills. Significantly the designed texts of their own fields promote students’ interests to read and comprehend the texts so as to do the tasks. This proven in the test results in data on page 23 showing that more than 80% of the students manage to pass the tests.