The Effect of Iranian EFL Learners’ Awareness of Reading Comprehension Strategies on Their Motivation to Read

Abstract

Although it is generally clear that reading plays a significant role in a language, reading comprehension remains a young field that merits greater research attention. Moreover, knowledge about reading comprehension regarding learning strategies has been devoted to those involving in listening, writing and speaking. Concerning the above mentioned points and the importance of reading, the current study aims at investigating whether the awareness of reading comprehension strategies and instructing reading strategies have any effect on Iranian EFL learners’ motivation and their comprehension abilities. To this end, 62 female learners of intermediate level were selected from among 100 learners. They were EFL learners studying English at Kish language institute. The participants were between the ages of 18 to 30 years old. There were experimental (3 classes, 37 students) and control groups (2 classes, 25 students), which were decided upon based on proficiency test. All subjects in the experimental group were exposed to reading strategies while working on reading texts of their course books. On the other hand, in control group, the reading texts were used without pointing to any of reading strategies and just focusing on the outcome of reading. A pre-test of reading comprehension and a parallel post-test were given to subjects. At the beginning and almost at the end of the semester Schmidt et al.’s (1996) motivation questionnaire was administered to both groups to investigate their progress in their motivation at the end of the study. The results revealed that the awareness of reading comprehension strategies affect Iranian EFL learners` motivation and reading comprehension abilities.