Contextualizing Situational Factors of Motivation in an Iranian Medical ESP Setting*

The present study, whose main aim was to investigate the relative importance of a pre-selected set of situational factors which seem to motivate learners to engage in English for medical purposes reading, was carried out at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences in Iran during February - June 2007. A total of 339 students from various fields of study including medicine, dentistry, pharmacology, nursing, midwifery, medical library, medical records, nutrition, health information management and environmental health participated in this study. A questionnaire consisting of twenty-six items on a five-point Likert scale was distributed among students to collect data. The collected data were then analyzed, using simple linear and stepwise regressions. The results showed that the situational factors of motivation with a focus on reading skills, content of EAP textbooks, requirement assigned by EAP teachers, ease/difficulty of EAP textbooks and practitioner of EAP courses significantly contributed to motivating students to engage in EAP reading(p<.05). The findings of the present study can shed light on EAP syllabus design, materials development, course delivery and instructional strategies in a tertiary medical educational setting.