The effect of metadiscourse markers presence on high school EFL learners reading comprehension

This study investigates the effect of metadiscourse markers presence on reading comprehension, and also explores the effect of metadiscourse awareness of learners on reading comprehension performance. A total of 96 participants, studying in pre-university centers, in Namin and Ardabil cities were selected to take part in the study based on their scores on Nelson Proficiency Test. Those who scored one standard deviation above the mean were selected as high level groups and those who scored one standard deviation below the mean were assigned to the low level groups. The participants were then randomly assigned to four groups. The first and the second groups, i.e. high experimental group and low experimental group, received the metadiscursively stripped reading text. The third and the fourth groups, i.e. high control group and low control group received metadiscursively un-doctored reading text. Hawing read the texts, all the participants took the reading comprehension test. A two-way ANOVA was used to analyze the data. The analysis showed that the participants performed better on the un-doctored texts. Also, based on the results of the follow-up questionnaire, the learners were divided into high and low level of awareness and then their scores on reading test were compared through a t-test. The results showed that the learners with more awareness of metadiscourse markers performed better on reading comprehension test. The results were argued to have implications for English languge material production and teaching.