Reading comprehension is an important skill for EFL learners with fewer opportunities to communicate and gain knowledge in English. For a complete comprehension, the interaction between the student’s prior knowledge and the content is necessary. Background knowledge plays the most important role in comprehension. The present study used a mixed method design to investigate the effect of THIEVES as an activating (schema activation) strategy on EFL learners’ reading comprehension. Participants were 63 advanced students from an English language institute in Iran. First, they took the Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT) and then they were divided into experimental and control groups and the strategy was administered for the experimental group. Second, they were asked to fulfill a questionnaire about their difficulties through reading comprehension process. Based on the results of the questionnaire analysis, EFL learners confronted problems such as difficult content, unknown vocabulary, lack of background knowledge, and shortage of time. Results showed that there is a significant statistical difference between the scores of the control group and experimental groups. Besides, in the questionnaire learners of the experimental group indicated that THIEVES can help them to overcome their comprehension problems. Thus, it can be concluded that using THIEVES is beneficial in comprehension of expository texts.

中文翻译：

---

THIEEVES策略对EFL学习者阅读理解的影响

阅读理解是英语学习者的一项重要技能，他们用英语交流和获取知识的机会较少。为了完全理解，学生的先验知识和内容之间的相互作用是必要的。背景知识在理解中起着最重要的作用。本研究使用混合方法设计来调查窃贼作为激活（模式激活）策略对 EFL 学习者阅读理解的影响。参与者是来自伊朗英语语言学院的 63 名高级学生。首先，他们参加了牛津快速定位测试 (OQPT)，然后将他们分为实验组和对照组，并对实验组实施策略。第二，他们被要求通过阅读理解过程填写一份关于他们困难的问卷。根据问卷分析的结果，EFL学习者面临着内容难懂、词汇未知、背景知识缺乏、时间紧等问题。结果表明，对照组与实验组的得分存在显着的统计学差异。此外，在问卷调查中，实验组的学习者表示，THIEVES 可以帮助他们克服理解问题。因此，可以得出结论，使用 THIEVES 有利于理解说明性文本。结果表明，对照组与实验组的得分存在显着的统计学差异。此外，在问卷调查中，实验组的学习者表示，THIEVES 可以帮助他们克服理解问题。因此，可以得出结论，使用 THIEVES 有利于理解说明性文本。结果表明，对照组与实验组的得分存在显着的统计学差异。此外，在问卷调查中，实验组的学习者表示，THIEVES 可以帮助他们克服理解问题。因此，可以得出结论，使用 THIEVES 有利于理解说明性文本。