The Effect of Cognitive Strategies on EFL Iraqi Pupils' Literacy Development

The current study aims to investigate the effect of cognitive strategies on EFL Iraqi pupils' literacy development and discover the development of pupils' literacy in reading comprehension. The study hypothesized that there is no statically significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental group and control group in the post 1 and post 2 literacy test, and there is no statically significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental group and control group in post 2 and post 3 literacy test. The current study sampled (60) fourth stage pupils selected from Al-Hikma preparatory school for Girls during the academic year (2021/2022). Both groups have been equalized in their age and the parents' educational achievement. The data collected from the results of the three posttests have been analyzed statistically using the T-test for paired samples to measure the pupil's literacy development in posttests. The results show a statistically significant difference in the mean scores of the experimental and control groups; this indicates that cognitive strategies are more effective than using the conventional method for literacy development. Finally, the study ends up with some conclusions, recommendations, and suggestions for further research.