The Relationship between Home-Culture Attachment and EFL Learners’ Reading Comprehension

The current study aimed to investigate the relationship between home-culture attachment and EFL learners’ reading comprehension. It was a correlational survey using a questionnaire and a test to explore the relationship between home-culture attachment and EFL learners' reading comprehension. To fulfil the objectives of the study, 90 EFL learners at Kerman Azad University participated in this study. They were selected based on their language proficiency level and completed a home-culture attachment questionnaire developed by Pishghadam et al. (2013). The native language of the participants of the study was Persian and they were students of English literature, translation, and teaching. The findings showed that there was a negative relationship between home-culture attachment and learners’ reading comprehension. Analysis of the data showed significant negative correlations between EFL learners' religious and artistic attachments and reading comprehension. An increase in home-culture attachment and its sub-scales (religious attachment & artistic attachment) led to a decrease in reading comprehension, and religious attachment and artistic attachment predicted learners’ reading comprehension. Therefore, to minimize attachment to home culture and optimize reading effectiveness in educational contexts, teachers, students, and curriculum designers should increase student readiness and receptivity to target cultures must be considered.