The Effects of Cognitive Strategies i.e. Note-Making and Underlining on Iranian EFL Learners’ Reading Comprehension

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of using cognitive strategies namely note making and underlining, on Iranian EFL learners’ reading comprehension. In doing so, 60 female fourth year high school EFL learners were selected by means of the NELSON test (050A). They were then divided randomly into three groups, each group consisting of 20 homogeneous students: two experimental groups, and one control group. The experimental groups practiced note making (group A) and underlining reading strategies (group B) on the same reading materials while the control group received the placebo. Then, all the subjects in the three groups took the same reading comprehension test. The results of a Oneway Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and a post-hoc analysis of the Scheffe test showed that the learners who utilized notemaking and underlining strategies outperformed the control group (p<.05). Furthermore, the experimental group who received note-making instruction revealed a higher efficiency than underlining group. As a result it can be concluded that note making and underlining have had positive effects on students’ rate of reading comprehensibility.