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

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.