two groups of students were assigned as experimental and control ones, and were given instruction on directed reading-thinking activities and after some treatment, they were post-tested. although the initial pre-test did not show any significant differences, the final post-test result revealed that the cooperative reading comprehension helped the experimental group. the cooperative students’ work on directed reading-thinking activities helped them to improve their referential and inferential reading skills. whereas the difference between the cooperative and individual work is significant, the role of individual instruction and strategy training cannot be denied. the students in the control group improved their referential and inferential reading abilities, though to a less degree than the experimental group.