Brainstorming in First and foreign Language: Which One Will Improve Iranian EFL Learner’s Reading Comprehension Skills

The present study was implemented to investigate the effect of brainstorming in English and Persian on the intermediate Iranian EFL learners reading comprehension ability. One hundred– ten intermediate learners were invited to participate in this study. Their age ranged between 15 and 17. They all were interested to participate in the survey because of their eagerness to learn more and promote their reading comprehension skills. After having being homogenized, the participants were divided into 2 groups. There was no control group in this study. After that, English reading comprehension tests were given as pre-test and the time allocated was 50 minutes. Then in treatment stage, one group received brainstorming in Persian and the other in English. Finally, the subjects were given the same reading comprehension tests as the post-test. After collecting data, Analysis of Covariance was performed and the results showed that in both cases, the scores in the post-test positively changed and brainstorming in first language and foreign language were effective in improving learner’s reading comprehension ability. Furthermore, the results confirmed that in both groups, the post test score have improved, but in Persian brainstorming group they improved more. There was a difference in brainstorming in English and Persian languages, and for Persian students, Persian brainstorming worked better than English brainstorming.