Abstract

The paper served as an attempt to investigate whether teaching the culturally-loaded texts to Persian English as a foreign language (EFL) learners bear any influence on their performance on reading comprehension tests. The paper, in addition, explores the any interrelationship between the teaching of culture-oriented texts and the motivation level of language learners.To achieve such objectives,102 Persian EFL learners (belonging to two classes) were sampled, using convenient procedure of sampling. The experimental group was given the treatment (teaching culture-loaded texts).They were also given a motivation questionnaire. Analyzing the gathered data, the results revealed that teaching culture elements of target language can have a remarkable impact on the performance of language learners on reading comprehension tests.The study also showed that culture teaching has a great role in improving the motivation level of language learners. The study also bore some implications recounted at the end of the study.

Key words: Culturally-based texts, reading comprehension test, motivation level