The present study examined the effectiveness of using the contract learning strategy on special diploma students' achievement and attitudes towards English language; a strategy that has been used in the field of education in general and teaching English language in particular. The subjects of the present study consisted of 41 graduate students (male and female, majored in different disciplines) enrolled in the special diploma (Curriculum Planning and Development Section) studying the ESP Readings Course, during the academic year 2005-2006, in the Faculty of Education, Benha University, Egypt. To achieve the study objectives, a learning contract was developed in Arabic and distributed to the subjects for signature in the first class. In the last class, an achievement test in English was applied to the subjects. In addition to that, an evaluation questionnaire and an open-ended questionnaire were developed in Arabic and administered to examine the effectiveness of the suggested contract learning strategy on the students' attitudes. The findings revealed that the subjects' seriousness and commitment to the learning contract motivated them and they, as a result, scored highly on the achievement test. Most of them (n=39 out of 41) passed the achievement test successfully. Most subjects reported positive attitudes toward English language in general and ESP Readings course in particular. Thus, the contract learning strategy was effective in the present study. Appended are: (1) Learning Contract [in Arabic]; (2) Evaluation Questionnaire [in Arabic]; and (3) Achievement Test. (Contains 7 tables.)