final_Issue_4_5.cdr

The Role of Reading Strategies Awareness on Reading Comprehension Performance of Advanced Iranian EFL Learners Reading both as a source of getting information and pleasure and also a means of extending one's knowledge of the language is one of the most important skills in any language class. For the majority of the university students of English as a second or foreign language, reading is not the primary means by which they become acquainted with the content of the subject area they are studying, but the most important way they would develop their knowledge of the language itself. In spite of this crucial role of reading, many university students have still problems concerning reading and understanding different types of texts. There are some non-linguistic factors involved in the process of reading comprehension. These factors are called "strategies". Reading strategies are of interest for what they reveal about the way readers manage their interaction with written text and how these strategies are related to text comprehension. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the role of reading strategies awareness on reading comprehension performance of advanced Iranian EFL learners. To carry out the present research, two tests were administered to subjects. A TOEFL test was administered to 280 subjects in order to check the homogeneity of the subjects. The experimental groups was offered oxford's fairly exhaustive list of reading strategies: Metacognitive, cognitive, memory, social, affective, compensatory strategies. Reading comprehension passages were administered as pretest and posttest.Finally, according to the obtained results, the researcher concluded that there is a relationship between reading strategies and reading comprehension, however, in case of unsuccessful readers, their limited control over English language short circuits their reading ability. These students should be helped with their L2 and, therefore their reading skills must be improved while successful readers benefit more from the reading strategies than unsuccessful readers do