ature on language for specific purposes is mainly descriptive of particular courses. Significantly, the interrelationship between these three areas has not been a major research focus. This paper describes a project conducted over the last three years which looks at an undergraduate foreign language reading course designed for a specific group of people.' Broadly speaking the project is concerned with curriculum development and foreign language pedagogy. More specifically it involves the efforts of the authors, as reflective practitioners, to improve the structure and content ,of a particular foreign language reading course, and to enhance the efficacy of their teaching strategies. The goal of the project, however, is not simply to bring about change but also to enhance our understanding of the learning processes of our students. Based on certain assumptions about the interrelationship between first language reading processes and reading in a foreign language, plans for alterations to course structure and content were made and implemented, and the consequences of these changes were observed and reflected upon. The cyclical repetition of this process of planning, action, observation, and reflection is the methodology of qualitative action research (7: p. 432). The course which is the subject of this research was designed in response to the needs of undergraduate science students, and was initially revised as a result of evaluation at the end of the