The Role of Motivation through Cultural Awareness inEnhancing Reading Comprehension of ESP Learners

Either motivation or culture are two key concepts in the field of second language learning. However, the incorporation of motivational and cultural aspects into curricula has been under investigated. To fill the existing gap, this study aimed to investigate the effects of motivation and cultural awareness raising based curriculum on Iranian ESP learners’ reading comprehension. To achieve these aims, 40 advanced adult participants were recruited and divided into 2 groups of experimental and control group. While the control group received the routine tradition curriculum, without any focus on cultural awareness and motivation, experimental group received a treatment which included a motivational and culturally based curriculum. The main instrument of the present study was a reading comprehension subtest of the 2006 institutional TOEFL Test which contained five passages. The findings revealed that motivation and cultural awareness raising based curriculum enhances participants reading comprehension. These findings have pedagogical implications for course designers and material developers.