The Effect of Cooperative Learning on EFL First Year Students’ Reading Comprehension

Abstract

Gender is salient when Cooperative Learning (CL) is implemented in reading instruction, evoking further variability in students’ reading strategy use and achievement; this gender variance requires thorough investigation taking into account the reader, task and text variables so as to support previous studies examining the impact of CL on gender variance in English as Foreign Language (EFL) reading comprehension. The aim of this study, then, is to investigate gender differences in EFL reading comprehension. It explores how gender differences in the sources of text based interest, perceived interest or personal interest, and familiarity with texts, account for the variance in EFL reading comprehension. This study examines the impact of Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR) on EFL reading comprehension of males and females