The Comparative Effect of Consciousness Raising Tasks on the Reading Comprehension of the High and Low Risk-Taking English as Foreign Language Learners

This study investigated the comparative effect of consciousness raising tasks on the reading comprehen- sion ability of the high and low risk-taking English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners. To achieve the purpose of this study, 106 students from the Shahid Sattary University in Tehran were selected from among a total number of 150 based on their performance on the Preliminary English Test (PET). A per- sonality trait questionnaire was administrated to determine learners’ risk-taking levels (i.e. high, modera- tor and low). Therefore, 30 high and 30 low risk-taking learners were selected as two experimental groups. Although the learners had different personality traits, they were in the same classes and received the same treatment. The design of this study was quasi experimental and an independent samples t-test was applied to test the null hypothesis. The findings of the study showed that the group with high risk- taking trait outperformed the low group. Therefore, a significant difference was found between the two experimental groups in term of their reading comprehension ability.