The effects of supplementary reading materials on the strategic reading skills of EFL students: an experimental study

Abstract

This study examined the effect of supplementary reading materials on the development of strategic reading skills among Kurdish undergraduate EFL learners. The present study adopted a pre-test–post-test control group design to investigate the role of supplementary reading materials in enhancing skimming and scanning strategies among 155 Kurdish undergraduate EFL learners. Data were analyzed using paired-samples t-tests and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). While both the control and experimental groups showed significant improvement over time, the experimental group demonstrated greater gains in reading strategy performance. The ANCOVA results revealed a statistically significant group effect on post-test scores after controlling for initial reading ability, indicating that supplementary materials contributed to improved strategic reading development beyond regular instruction. Gender-related analyses were treated as exploratory and did not reveal statistically significant differences. The findings highlight the instructional value of integrating supplementary materials into EFL reading courses to support the development of strategic reading skills.