Bulletin de la Société Royale des Sciences de Liège, Vol. 85, 2016, p. 1642 - 1652 1642 The Effect of Clil Method on Teaching Reading Comprehension to Junior High School Students Nadia HAMIDAVI 1,* , Mansoureh Shekar AMIZ 2 , Bahman GORJIAN 3 1 Department of ELT, Ahvaz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz, Iran Email: nadiahamidavi2@gmail.com 2 Assistant Professor, Department of ELT, Ahvaz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz, Iran Email: mansoore.shekaramiz@gmail.com 3 Associate Professor, Department of ELT, Abadan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Abadan, Iran Email: bgbahgorji@yahoo.com Abstract This study investigated the effect of CLIL (i.e., content and language integrated learning) on Iranian EFL learners’ reading comprehension. 60 students of junior high school in the age of 12 to 14 years who attended language institutions were selected non-randomly. They took part in Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT) test to determine their level of proficiency. Based on their scores in the placement test, the students were divided into two groups: High and low achievers. Then they took a pre-test of reading comprehension. Depending on their scores in the pretest, the high level and the low level groups were divided into two subgroups of experimental and control. The experimental groups of high and low achievers were taught through CLIL and the control groups of high and low achievers were taught through intensive reading. After ten sessions of treatment, they took a post-test of reading comprehension. Data were analyzed to compare the high and low achievers with each other to examine the effectiveness of CLIL method through Independent Samples t-test. The findings showed a significant difference between the pre and post-test of high and low achievers. Implications of CLIL method could be influential for both high and low achievers in reading comprehension courses. Keywords: CLIL, foreign language, EFL, reading skills, high school learners 1. Introduction Content and language integrated learning (CLIL) has been initiated in Europe since 1994. According to Mehisto (2012), this term was launched during 1994 in conjunction with the European Commission. Ortiz (2014) stated that it was defined and launched by UNICOM, University of Jyväskylä and the European Platform for Dutch Education in 1994. Dissatisfied with the outcomes of grammar-focused language teaching and inspired by theories about natural language learning, an alternative method for language teaching was created in the 1960s (Brinton, Snow & Wesche, 1989). This new method of language teaching tries to further language development by eliminating the artificial separation between language instruction and subject matter classes. In other words, a dual-focused educational approach in which an additional language is used for the learning and teaching of both content and language could be developed (Mehisto, Marsh & Frigols, 2008). According to Solé (1998), reading is a process of interaction between the writer and the reader on a text to get the meaning. The interaction involves two types of knowledge: a previous one