TEXT FAMILIARITY, READING TASKS, AND ESP TEST PERFORMANCE: A STUDY ON IRANIAN LEP AND NON-LEP UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

____________________ In a study of the effects of text familiarity, task type, and language proficiency on university students’ LSP test and task performances, 541 senior and junior university students majoring in electronics took the TBRT (Task-Based Reading Test). Variance analyses indicated that text familiarity, task type, and language proficiency, as well as the interaction between any given pair of these and also among all of them resulted in significant differences in subjects’ overall and differential test and task performances. In addition, regression analyses revealed that the greatest influence on subjects’ overall and differential test and task performance was due to language proficiency. The implications of the study are discussed. _________________________