The paper examined the reading strategies used by ESL learners at University of Bahrain to comprehend academic material. It investigated the interdependence between the use of reading strategies by ESL learners’ and their reading comprehension attainment. To accomplish this goal, three instruments were used: a survey of the Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory (MARSI) by Mokhtari and Sheorey (2002) and a Pre-reading comprehension test and Post-reading comprehension test and a paired sample t-test. The paper used quantitative data collected from 100 students studying in the Foundation Program at the English Language Centre and Department of Applied Studies at University of Bahrain. The findings of this research showed a notably positive relationship between the use of cognitive and metacognitive reading strategies by the students and their reading comprehension achievement. The compilation of the quantitative data, displayed that students practiced Global Reading Strategies appreciably, followed subsequently by Support Reading Strategies and Problem Solving Reading Strategies.