A decoding device having a turbo decoder and an RS decoder concatenated serially and a method of decoding performed by the same. A turbo decoder decodes received data of a channel and an RS decoder RS decodes the turbo decoded data. A controller controls the turbo decoder to iteratively turbo-decode the data according to a number of iterations determined by a stored iteration number and to cease the turbo decoding if an error correction completion signal is received from the RS decoder. The controller decreases the iteration number for a next frame of the data if the completion signal is received within the predetermined number of iterations and increases the iteration number for a next frame if the completion signal is not received within the predetermined number of iterations. The iteration number is changeable within maximum and minimum limits and may exceed the maximum limit in special cases.