國立體育大學中主修運動技術學群(後稱運技學群)之運動員學生與非運技學群之一般學生的英語文能力常呈現兩極化差異。前者英語在校成績遠遠落後後者，主要因素大致為：英文基礎薄弱、自信心不足、缺乏學習動機與學習方法等，其中又以缺乏學習動機最為關鍵。為提高運技學群學生之英語學習動機與成效，研究者就其特質與程度修改或置換原有教科書部分內容，代之以運動、健身、休閒及運動明星與運動賽事等相關英語素材，並以研究者所授課之一班運技學群學生為實驗組，採用此客製化之體育英語教材(研究者稱之為English for Sports Purposes, 後稱“ESP”)，同時另一班則為對照組，仍沿用原有教科書之教材。課程後測結果發現兩班有明顯差異：實驗組在使用修改過之教材後，在新辭彙的吸收運用上及期末口筆試成績上，均明顯超出使用原有教材之對照組。本研究顯示，使用客製化之體育英語教材，對於英語文程度初階的運技學群學生之學習可收成效，故建議教師多設計客製化體育英語教材與教法，以提升其英文學習動機與表達能力。

In National Taiwan Sport University (NTSU), a bipolar phenomenon on students’ English proficiency exits between athlete and non-athlete students, with athletes lagging far behind non-athletes in English learning. Athletes are mostly disadvantaged because of their poor English background, lack of self-confidence, and, most important of all, lack of motivation in learning English. According to the 2009 questionnaire survey, more than three-fourths NTSU athlete students had no interest in learning English from standardized English textbooks. To enhance learning efficacy, the researcher tailored, revised, and replaced some of the units in ready-made textbooks with materials pertaining to sports, life of athletes, the fitness industry, and popular culture, and applied two sets of teaching/learning materials (one tailored and the other original) to two Freshman English classes for athletes. The results presented significant disparities in the outcomes of post-class examinations. The class using tailored English-for-sports-purposes materials scoring 9.8 points (total 100 points) higher than the class using original textbooks. In the class using tailored materials, athlete students demonstrated higher motivation in learning the new terms, using them in conversation drills, and asking simple questions. The research manifests that the correlation between motivation and ESP materials for athlete students is high. The researcher strongly suggests ESP be applied in English classes for lower-achievement or slower learners.