The Effect of Pre-reading Strategies on the Reading Comprehension of Iranian EFL Learners at Different Levels of Reading Proficiency

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of some pre-reading strategies (i.e., vocabulary introduction, pre-reading summary, anticipation guide, pre-passage signpost fact questions, and K-W chart) on the reading comprehension of Iranian EFL learners at the two different levels of low and high reading proficiency. The main finding of the study was that all the five pre-reading strategies affect the reading comprehension of the students. Furthermore, it was found that there is a relationship between reading proficiency level and Iranian EFL students’ comprehension of passages with those pre-reading strategies. Also, it was concluded that the students in the low proficiency level group were the most successful with the passages having vocabulary practice, a strategy which activates the linguistic schema of the students. However, as for the comprehension of passages with the other four pre-reading strategies, the high proficiency level students outperformed the low proficiency level group.