This paper reports an action research study which aimed to avoid the use of mother tongue in reading comprehension activities. To this end, an action research study was designed and conducted with 30 elementary level students studying at the Preparatory school of Baskent University. The study was conducted in the first term of 2016-2017 academic year. The related literature was reviewed and cognitive reading strategies were taught. Data were collected from three different sources which were students' answers to reading comprehension activities, feedback cards completed by the students and reflection sheets of the teacher researcher. The quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data revealed that when the students were aware of the cognitive reading strategies and used them, the use of L1 could be avoided.