This study aimed at investigating the effect of two strategies of teaching reading: ‘semantic mapping’ and ‘question generation’ on the reading achievement of a sample of 40 female students enrolling in two classes in Level 2 English as a Second Language Foundation Program at the Community College of Qatar. The researcher of the current study tried to find ways to help solve the problems of students’ low achievement in reading comprehension tests. Convenient sampling was used to select the two classes as the researcher herself was teaching them. The two classes of 20 students each constituted two experimental groups. One class was
taught by the semantic mapping strategy, and the other was taught by students’ question generation strategy. A pre-posttests design was used in both experimental groups. T-test computed on the pretests in both classes revealed that the groups were equivalent. The researcher established the validity and reliability of all the components of the study: the preposttest and the instructional material. The instructional material selected for the intervention consisted of four extra expository texts, which are not written in students’ textbooks. After analyzing students’ results on the pre-post tests using two T-Test statistical analyses, it was found out that there were significant differences in the mean scores of each group on the prepost tests, which reveals that each individual strategy has significantly influenced the group achievement. In order to investigate which teaching strategy was significantly better than the other was a third T-test on the post-tests, mean scores in both groups were computed. The results
were in favor of the experimental group, which was taught by the Semantic Mapping Strategy. In light of these findings, the researcher suggested several recommendations directed to ESL instructors, curricula designers, and researchers