محمد رضا خدابخش

Abstract In the area of teaching, the past focus was mainly on the teacher and teacher-centered classes; yet, scant attention was paid to the learners' needs and interests. Specifically, when it comes to academic and higher education, needs analysis plays a crucial role in terms of improving students' English for specific purposes. The current study sought to find out the attitudes of ESP students at Kurdistan University in Sanandaj towards English materials. To achieve this goal, forty five undergraduate students, majoring in PE (physical Education), were selected to fill a questionnaire and their responses were examined through six factors: practical concerns, course objectives, subject matter, linguistic issues, skill, and variety and layout. Also, five students participated in the interviews and their suggestions for improving their English materials were analyzed. In this study, the qualitative data (interview) was gathered after quantitative data collection (questionnaire) in order to deepen the researchers' understanding and interpretation of the results. The results mainly showed that a big majority (over 76%)of students had negative attitudes towards the materials. 43.1 percent of the students (16.6% very weak and 26.5% weak) have identified textbook materials weak or very weak. Another 33.9 percent have taken a neutral position while only 23 percent (19.9% good and 3.1% excellent) have rated the textbooks materials appropriate. Keywords: Attitude, English for Specific Purposes, textbook materials