Learners' Gender, Reading Comprehension, and Reading Strategies in Descriptive and Narrative Macro-genres Yadollah Hosseini Asgarabadi Department of English Language Teaching and Literature, Payame Noor University, PhD Center, Tehran, Iran Afsar Rouhi Department of English Language Teaching and Literature, Payame Noor University, PhD Center, Tehran, Iran Manouchehr Jafarigohar Department of English Language Teaching and Literature, Payame Noor University, PhD Center, Tehran, Iran Abstract—This study investigated whether learners’ gender could make difference in their reading comprehension and use of reading strategies in descriptive and narrative macro-genres. To this end, six short macro-genre-based reading passages with the same readability and length were prepared from which appropriate reading tests were constructed and administered to a total of 50 EFL intermediate male (n = 21) and female (n = 29) students. This was followed by administrating reading strategies questionnaires to explore the learners’ use of reading strategies in the descriptive and narrative macro-genres. Results of the study indicated that there was no statistically significant difference between male and female students’ reading comprehension in these macro-genres. It was also shown that there was no significant difference observed between male and female learners in the overall use and employment of reading strategies in the descriptive and narrative macro-genres. The findings of the study hold implications for language teaching and testing, teacher training, and curriculum design. Index Terms—descriptive and narrative macro-genres, reading strategy, reading comprehension I. INTRODUCTION In the area of reading research, gender is frequently explored as a mode of analysis (e.g., Logan & Johnston, 2010). Males and females have been shown to differ in many aspects of their reading choices (Coles & Hall, 2002; Merisuo- Storm, 2006), frequency of reading (Coles & Hall, 2002), attitudes towards reading (Coles & Hall, 2002; Logan & Johnston, 2009; Sainsbury & Schagen, 2004), motivation to read (Marinak & Gambrell, 2010), competency beliefs in reading (Wigfield et al., 1997), value of reading (Durik, Vida, & Eccles, 2006; Marinak & Gambrell, 2010; Wigfield et al., 1997), and reading skill (Ming-Chui & McBride-Chang, 2006; Mullis, Martin, Kennedy, & Foy, 2007). There are some studies (e.g., Brantmeier, 2004; Chiu & McBride-Chang, 2006) on the role of the learners’ genders where significant differences between male and female learners in the reading comprehension have been reported. The authors of these studies reported that females outscored the males in their reading comprehensions, in general. There are, however, some other studies (e.g., Fahim & Barjesteh, 2012; Sotoudenama & Asadian, 2011) in which no significant difference between male and female learners’ reading performance were indicated. Almost any reading text employed to develop the learners' proficiency in the reading skill at different levels of instruction shares some characteristics of these two macro-genres. Whether learner's gender plays any substantial role in understanding these text types and in employing the required reading strategies are issues of interest in the literature where no considerable study has been reported. II. LITERATURE REVIEW A. Gender Differences and Reading Comprehension Gender refers to the social characteristics of people which are commonly associated with being male or female (Millard, 1997). Differences in the learner’s gender identity often lead to differences in intellectual activities including reading. The characteristics associated with being male or female provide a better predictor of the learner’s reading skill or motivation to read. From an early age, reading has been recognized as an activity more closely associated with females than males (Millard, 1997). For example, in a survey, learners reported that their mothers read more than their fathers, and that their mothers played a more significant role in teaching them how to read (Millard, 1997). This point may help explain why learners consider reading to be more a feminine activity (Dwyer, 1974). Reading can be contrasted with other academic subjects, such as mathematics, science, and sports, which are usually associated more ISSN 1799-2591 Theory and Practice in Language Studies, Vol. 5, No. 12, pp. 2557-2564, December 2015 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17507/tpls.0512.17 © 2015 ACADEMY PUBLICATION