This research aims to describe and analyze the reading comprehension process in students of a university course of English in order to identify the cognitive strategies used by students to approach texts. A qualitative and a field study was conducted with three students of an English-reading course of the Engineering degree at a university located in the western part of the country, using as techniques and instruments a non-participant observation, a semi structured interview and the analysis of documents written by the students. Four categories emerged from the results obtained. It is concluded that students do not explicitly and consciously employ cognitive strategies in the comprehension of English written texts despite programmatic and pedagogical guidelines by opting for literal translation. It is suggested to apply explicit pedagogical activities in order to promote the development of reading skills.