International Journal of English and Education ISSN: 2278-4012, Volume:5, Issue:2, April 2016 231 | www.ijee.org Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Reading Comprehension Performance: An Iranian Experience Ebrahim Zangani Islamic Azad University, Zanjan Branch, Zanjan, Iran Abstract: This paper attempted to uncover the relationship between Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and reading comprehension performance in English as a foreign language. GAD as a psychiatric disorder affects the students’ performance in language learning in general and in reading comprehension in particular. Participants of the study who were 141 male and female high school students in Zanjan were asked to respond GAD-7 self-report scale and a reading comprehension test. The results of the statistical analyses of data indicated that there is a significant negative relationship between GAD and reading comprehension performance. Between GAD and gender no relation or difference was found, though. GAD in males correlated negatively, but insignificantly and in females significantly and negatively with their performance in reading comprehension. The results also showed that GAD can influence the students’ performance in reading comprehension. Moreover, the subjects were divided into four groups in terms of anxiety and their performances compared with reading comprehension and a significant difference was observed among the means. Nevertheless, no groups were found to be statistically different from the rest. Accordingly, it was concluded that cognitive and medical therapies can be applied to students with GAD, but first various sources of anxiety in language classes should be identified and minimized. Key words: Reading comprehension, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Performance, Gender Introduction Second language acquisition is influenced by affective factors, not the least of which is the construct of anxiety. Anxiety refers to an emotional state of tension, apprehension, concern and nervousness mediated by the arousal of the automatic nervous system (Kumaravadivelu, 2006). Horwitz et al. (1986) asserted that foreign language anxiety is “a distinct complex of self- perception, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors related to classroom language learning arising from