en Educational Studies پژوهشي Original <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color:#669933;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="line-height:2;"><b>Objective:</b> The objective of this study was to comparatively examine the effects of pictorial versus linguistic context on Iranian EFL learners&rsquo; reading comprehension.<br> <b>Methods</b>: The study involved 60 female EFL learners from the Abidar Private Language Institute during the spring term of 2022 in Sanandaj, Iran; they were selected based on their scores from the Nelson Proficiency Test. Participants were divided into two groups: an experimental group exposed to both pictorial and linguistic contexts, and a control group exposed solely to linguistic context. After administering a 25-item multiple-choice reading comprehension pretest, both groups were differently taught based on American English File (3rd edition). A parallel reading comprehension post-test was conducted to assess the outcomes after the treatment.<br> <b>Results</b>: Data analysis indicated significant differences in reading comprehension scores between the two groups, demonstrating that the inclusion of pictorial context alongside linguistic context positively influenced learners&#39; performance.<br> <b>Conclusions</b>: The findings suggest that incorporating pictorial elements in reading materials can enhance EFL learners&#39; reading comprehension. This has implications for educational policymakers, textbook designers, material developers, language teachers, and learners, advocating for the use of adequate visual contexts to facilitate more effective learning.</span></span></span></span></div> Pictorial context, Linguistic context, Reading comprehension, EFL learners 135 154 http://ijer.hormozgan.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-244-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Mohammad Reza Khodadust m.khodadoost@cfu.ac.ir 10031947532846005119 10031947532846005119 Yes Assistant Professor, Department of English Language Teaching, Farhangian University, P.O. Box 14665-889, Tehran, Iran Sheida Ahmadi Navareh stu-100@tvu.ac.ir 10031947532846005120 0009-0008-5407-9021 No M.A. in ELT, English Department, Technical and Vocational University, Sanandaj, Iran Fatemeh Faramarzi Kohnehshahri fatimafaramarzi@cfu.ac.ir 10031947532846005121 0009-0005-1668-8342 No B.A. Student, Department of English Language Teaching, Farhangian University, P.O. Box 14665-889, Tehran, Iran