INVESTIGATING READING COMPREHENSION PROCESSES IN ESP EDUCATION

Abstract

Reading is regarded as a cognitive process of meaning construction, or an interactive process that comprises low-level processes of word recognition and high-level processing of ideas. Schema theory implies the meaning of а text is not embedded in the text itself; it is actually created in an active manner through interaction between the reader and the text, in which readers use their world knowledge to decode text meaning. Accordingly, readers bring their ideas, experience and previously gained knowledge into reading comprehension processes. The attainment of specific reading goals, including main idea comprehension and extracting specific information from the text, requires the employment of various reading strategies. In that sense, strategic behavior is deployed by proficient readers; it enables them to facilitate and improve text comprehension, which is the ultimate aim of the reading skill. 10 ESP students of the College of Applied Professional Studies in Vranje took part in this research as respondents. After completing their reading comprehension assignments, students reported on those tasks by virtue of think-aloud protocols. This type of research may provide an insight into specific problems students encounter during text processing activities, as well as strategies they employ to resolve them, which would facilitate the evaluation of reading performance and progress monitoring. The results imply that strategic training would enable ESP students to efficiently attain both general and specific reading goals.