Exploring Reading Comprehension Strategies and Their Influence on EFL Students' Reading Competence

Abstract

This study aims to reveal the EFL fourth-grade female students' attitudes toward the influence of reading comprehension strategies on students' reading competence. The participants were 41 female students from the Department of English (Evening Studies) at the College of Education for Women, University of Anbar. Out of the total number of participants, only 11 female students participated in the pilot sample, the rest (30) students participated in the survey. The design of the study is a survey study. A questionnaire was built to collect the data for the study. The validity and the reliability of the questionnaire were verified. The results revealed that the students have positive attitudes toward the influence of reading comprehension strategies on students' reading competence, the strategies help the students in skimming and scanning texts helped them to quickly grasp the main ideas, also the note-taking strategy helps the students to retain the important information, and finally, the majority of the participants agree that the "Repeated Reading strategy" contributes to a better understanding over time.