The Role of Translation in Developing ESP Learners’ Reading Comprehension Skills- A Case Study of Medical Students at Najran University-KSA

Abstract

Reading comprehension is developed through successful interaction between the reader and the text. This interaction is the major factor that plays the crucial role in comprehension. ESP has a strong and palpable presence in the curricula of Saud universities due to a range of considerations. It  is  used  in  different  domains  such  as  medicine,  engineering, and  allied health. It  is well  known, that  any  use  of  L1  in  English  language  instruction  has  always  been a  matter of hot debate. This study  aims  to  shed  some fresh light on the importance of  translation as a pedagogical tool  in  developing  reading  comprehension  skills  of  ESP  medical learners  at  Najran  University- KSA. Undeniably, the  students  experience bewilderment and  great  difficulties  in  grasping  the  enormous  quantity of  medical  terms  and  texts  as  a  result  of  their  extreme  weakness  in English. The level of most Saudi students in English is very low and their knowledge of vocabulary is extremely limited. Studying medical terminology is the foundation for studying any health-related field. Medicine has a language of its own, and mastering it is a complex task. So, regarding ESP medical courses, the students resort to machine translation, because they cannot absorb the medical texts and terms properly. There are so many shortcomings with respect to machine translation  This  study  investigates the effect of using translation  in  ESP  medical  classes  with  the  objective  of  helping  students  in  comprehending  terminologies  and  texts. It also aims at motivating them and meeting their learning needs. Moreover, the study aims to help  students  concentrate on the  standardized  terminology  and  avoid  the  imperfections  of  machine  translation.