To the TeacherThis Reading book is for high beginning students of English as a foreignlanguage. It contains 5 units, each containing 4 lessons, featuring not longerthan one page reading texts on topics of high interest to university studentsin Saudi Arabia. The book has been designed with great care taking accountof cultural sensitivity.The rationale of this book is that University students in Saudi Arabianeed to improve their communicative competence for the purposes not onlyof participating effectively in tutorials, seminars and teacher-led classes,but also of survival within the system professionally. Therefore, each of the5 thematic units in this book contains readings which introduce students totheir immediate academic environment.In the first unit, students are introduced to resources commonly found inuniversities. These lessons guide students in dealing with issues such asuniversity registration, using the library and building awareness of thedifferent academic and support departments in universities. The second unitcarries on with university resources. In the first lesson of this unit studentsare guided in the process of using such resources. The unit then promptlyshifts to content subjects that university students study in theirOrientation Programme –i.e. Mathematics and Computing. This part of thesecond unit is designed to serve Preparatory Year students by helping themgrasp basic principles in mathematics and computing. Therefore, it can bestated that this unit addresses a specific purpose which is acquaintingstudents with their content subject areas through specific reading textsand their accompanying activities.Unit three goes into more detail about these two subject areas byproviding reading texts related to these areas. The activities howevertarget students’ understanding of the language forms used in these areaswithout heavily relying on the jargon associated with these topics. Unit fourcontains lessons which support students’ understanding of mathematicallanguage and analysis. The approach however emphasises linguistic andcommunicative tasks which test students’ understanding of the readings.This is done through the introduction of activities which require students tointeract with the readings and infer meanings to support theircomprehension. Unit five however includes a variety of readings which arenot entirely linked to content subject areas University Preparatory Yearviistudents take in their first year. This unit features selected readings whichaim at broadening students’ understanding of scientific processes and somepatterns of social behaviour in Middle Eastern societies.This Reading book provides the students with intellectually stimulatingreadings which are not far beyond their understanding. The focus in theentire book is on strategies that make reading easier for the students. Tothis end, both vocabulary and grammar have been carefully controlled to beat the students’ level of comprehension. Throughout the book students areexposed to limited vocabulary items which are continuously recycled toenable them to improve rapidly. High frequency vocabulary has been recycledthroughout the units of the book to give students the opportunity to see newvocabulary many times and in a variety of contexts.The tasks that students are required to perform are not too exigent. It ishoped that students will move through the units of this book with a growingsense of confidence and achievement as they discover that they can findmain ideas, guess meaning from context, make inferences, recognise topics,and understand the vocabulary used. In addition, some of the pre-readingactivities allow students to practice dictionary skills in an attempt to fosterlearning independence through self-directed learning activities.