Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 199 (2015) 225 – 230 Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect 1877-0428 © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer-review under responsibility of Hacettepe Üniversitesi. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.07.510 GlobELT: An International Conference on Teaching and Learning English as an Additional Language, Antalya - Turkey The effect of smartphone on the reading comprehension proficiency of Iranian EFL learners Maryam Gheytasi a Akbar Azizifar a* , Habib Gowhary a a Department of English language Teaching, Islamic Azad University, Ilam Branch, Ilam, Iran Abstract Smart phones have turned into an everyday object for teenagers and many believe that these can be used to facilitate the language learning process. The extended band-with as well as the possibility of installing different apps on these smart phones has opened new opportunities for learners to better utilize these technologies for learning and comprehending different contents of language. The current study tries to investigate the impact of using such devices on increasing the reading comprehension competency of English language learners in the city of Ilam, Iran. In order to realize this objective, a sample of 40 high school students (boys and girls) in Ilam Mojtama Fani Tehran English language institute was selected. The participants were divided into two groups; namely experimental and control. Using pre-test and post-test as well as the SPSS software application, the study evaluated the difference in scores of these groups regarding the reading comprehension capability. The results show a significant difference between the experimental and control group following a month of using the application. © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Peer-review under responsibility of Hacettepe Universitesi. Keywords: smart phones; learning English; reading comprehension 1. Introduction This research reflects the impact of mobile phones on reading comprehension. Technology supported learning has a long history. From the early sixties on, new technological developments have inspired and supported new innovative learning arrangements. In particular, portable devices, coupled with intelligent teaching techniques allow learners to learn what, when, where and how they want. One such portable device is the modern mobile phone. While the first generations of mobile phones did not offer much functionality beyond phoning and text messaging, the latest generation of smart phones offers far greater * Corresponding author. Tel: +989188430411; E-mail Address: aazizifar2@gmail.com © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer-review under responsibility of Hacettepe Üniversitesi.