The Effects of Text-Structure Awareness on Reading Comprehension of Iranian EFL Learners

This study aimed at determining the relative efficacy of text-structure strategy instruction, compared to that of traditional instruction, on the reading comprehension of Iranian EFL learners. Forty Iranian advanced participants (i.e., 3 male students and 17 female students) participated in this study. Theywere divided into 2 groups: control group (n = 20) and experimental group (n = 20). To choose advanced language students with no statistically significant differences in reading skill and no textstructure knowledge, both groups were pretested with an Oxford Placement Test (OPT), a textstructureknowledge test, and the reading section of TOEFL, respectively. Then, during four weeks, students in both groups were taught reading comprehension through four passages. Students in control group were taught traditionally, and students in experimental group were taught through text-structureawareness instruction. At the end of the fourth week, students were posttested to determine the effects of the intervention program. The results revealed that reading comprehension of both groups improved statistically significant; however, text-structure awareness instruction group outperformed the traditional instruction group significantly.