the effects of webquest and strategy-based instruction on iranian efl learners reading comprehension and strategy use

Reading comprehension is a significant skill that furthers the development of learners’ various academic tasks. learners can improve their reading skills by conducting inquiry-oriented activities such as webquest. webquest along with strategy-based instruction can transform reading classes into interactive and dynamic places, where learners’ strategy use, is very important in the process of language learning (norouzian & mehdizadeh, 2013). therefore, this study explored the effects of webquest and strategy-based instruction on efl learners’ reading comprehension and strategy use. the participants of the study were selected through convenience sampling. the researcher conducted a quasi-experimental design. to this end, 86 iranian intermediate efl students from two branches of islamic azad university, including aliabad katoul and gorgan branches were volunteers for participating in this study. subsequently, only 60 students out of these 86 students were chosen based on their preliminary english test scores, and were randomly assigned to two groups (webquest/face-to-face). the webquest group received webquest, along with strategy-based instruction, but the face-to-face group received only strategy-based instruction in face-to-face learning environment. after 14 sessions of treatment, a reading test similar to the one employed as the pre-test of the study was assigned to the two groups. finally, the participants were given the adapted version of baker and boonkit’s (2004) reading strategy questionnaire before and after the treatment. the results of the two paired samples t-tests revealed that strategy-based instruction significantly improved learners reading comprehension and strategy use. besides, the webquest group outperformed face-to-face group in reading performance. lastly, based on the results of independent sample t-tests, instruction through webquest boosted learners’ strategy use more than face-to-face instruction. the findings of this study may have implication for efl teachers and material developers to incorporate webquest instruction into reading classes and be aware of learners’ strategy use to increase the quality of language learning.