Abstract This research aimed to investigate the relationship between reading comprehension abilities and metacognitive awareness of reading strategies of third year secondary school students in Bahrain. A mixed research approach was used as reflected in the application of both quantitative and qualitative data in the results analysis. The combination of descriptive and correlational research design was also utilized in order to address the research questions. A total of 240 third year high school students were asked to accomplish the translated Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory (MARSI) and the First Certificate Exam (FCE) in Reading Comprehension. In addition to that, 17 teachers were interviewed using a semi-structured interview on the students' use of reading strategies and reading comprehension level The results revealed that students in the govemment schools have an overall mean score level which is categorized as below B1, while students in the private schools have an overall mean score that is classified as B2 level High performing students had higher level of metacognitive awareness of reading strategies than the students whose CEFR levels were lower than B1 level There was a statistically significant correlation between the students' reading comprehension abilities and metacognitive awareness of reading strategies. However, only school affiliation had a significant correlation with the respondents' reading comprehension abilities. In other words, gender did not seem to have an effect on the reading comprehension abilities of the students. Both school affiliation and gender have a significant correlation with the metacognitive awareness of reading strategies. Overall, there was a significant difference in the intergroup pair comparisons of students between the public and govemment schools in terms of their reading comprehension abilities and metacognitive awareness of reading strategies. Male and female students did not differ significantly in terms of their reading comprehension abilities. Training, workshops, and relevant methodological revisions are put forward by the study.