ISSN 2039-2117 (online) ISSN 2039-9340 (print) Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences MCSER Publishing, Rome-Italy Vol 6 No 1 January 2015 568 The Impact of Discourse Markers and Relative Clauses on the Reading Comprehension of EFL Learners Ali Derakhshan Assistant Professor at English Language and Literature Department, Golestan University, Iran a.derakhshan@gu.ac.ir Seyyed Farzad Kalali Sani Alikaram Esfandiari Ghalaee Chabahar Maritime University, Iran farz1dk@gmail.com, & esfandiariali77@gmail.com Masoume Izadi English Department, Torbat-e Heydarieh Branch, Islamic Azad University, Torbat-e Heydarieh, Iran masoumeizadi@gmail.com Doi:10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n1p568 Abstract In the realm of reading comprehension, syntactic knowledge has generated a great deal of debate among the researchers who believe in the effectiveness of teaching vocabulary through different methods and strategies, and those who believe in the effectiveness of syntactic knowledge in reading comprehension. The present study investigated the contribution of learners’ syntactic knowledge, namely discourse markers and relative clauses in reading comprehension. A quasi-experimental design was used. Two groups of students were assigned as experimental and control groups. The performances of students in the experimental group were compared with the performances of students in the control group. A series of t- tests was run to determine the impact of syntactic knowledge on reading comprehension. Comparing the mean score of the experimental group with that of the control group on the post-test revealed that the experimental group outperformed the control group (p= .000 < .05). The findings could shed light on our understanding of the role of syntactic knowledge in reading comprehension and provide some pedagogical implications for learners, teachers, and materials developers. The paper finishes with some strands of research in the realm of reading comprehension. Keywords: Reading Comprehension; Syntax; Discourse Markers; Relative Clauses; Grammar 1. Introduction Not only had reading been the cynosure of old methods, but also it had received more attention from modern methods. It, therefore, has always been a fresh topic for research regarding various aspects which may influence it or it may influence them. Bodies of research previously conducted in this area have shown some special purposes for reading a text. As Rivers and Temperly (as cited in Nunan, 1999, p. 187) suggested, there are seven main purposes for reading: 1. To obtain information because we are curious about some topic; 2. To obtain instructions on how to perform some task for our work in our daily life (e.g., knowing how an appliance works); 3. To act in a play, play a game, do a puzzle; 4. To keep in touch with friends by correspondence or to understand business letters; 5. To know when or where something will take place or what is available; 6. To know what is happening or has happened; 7. For enjoyment or excitement. Bernhardt and James (1987) argued that comprehension is a topic dependent process. It is the reader who starts processing the text from the beginning, so it involves making proper decisions during reading it. Comprehension also depends on the selection of critical features for rapid processing of the texts and a given test. Finally, metacognitive