Improving Grade 11 Students’ Reading Comprehension Skills through Focused Tasks at A High School in Nam Dinh = Nâng cao kỹ năng đọc hiểu cho học sinh lớp 1

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES



TRẦN THỊ THANH HÒA


IMPROVING GRADE 11 STUDENTS’ READING
COMPREHENSION SKILLS THROUGH FOCUSED TASKS
AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN NAM DINH
(Nâng cao kỹ năng đọc hiểu cho học sinh lớp 11 tại một trường
trung học phổ thông ở Nam Định thông qua các bài tập trọng điểm)

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60.14.10
Course: 20 (2011-2013)




HANOI - 2013

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

TRẦN THỊ THANH HÒA

IMPROVING GRADE 11 STUDENTS’ READING
COMPREHENSION SKILLS THROUGH FOCUSED TASKS
AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN NAM DINH
(Nâng cao kỹ năng đọc hiểu cho học sinh lớp 11 tại một trường
trung học phổ thông ở Nam Định thông qua các bài tập trọng điểm)

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS


Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60.14.10
Course: 20 (2011-2013)
Supervisor: Assoc.Prof. Dr. Nguyễn Văn Độ


HANOI - 2013

i

CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT
*****

I hereby certify that the thesis entitled
IMPROVING GRADE 11 STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION
SKILLS THROUGH FOCUSED TASKS AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN NAM DINH
is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master of Arts at University of

Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi and that this
thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other university or tertiary
institution.

Signature:



Date:











ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This study has, in many senses, been accomplished with the help and
encouragement of many people. Therefore, I hereby would like to express my
appreciation to all of them.
Firstly, I wish to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc.Prof. Dr.
Nguyen Van Do, for his invaluable inspiration, assistance and guidance during the time
I tried to complete this thesis.

I am grateful to all lecturers of the Department of Post-graduate Studies,
University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University,
Hanoi for their lectures, especially Mr. Le Van Canh, Ph.D. for his helpful and
practical suggestions.
I am also grateful to Ms. Le Thu Ha, the librarian at the Resource Centre, who is
willing to lend me a lot of interesting books and valuable materials for my thesis.
I also thank my colleagues and students at Ngo Quyen High School for their
cooperation in completing the survey questionnaires as well as their willingness to
share their ideas on this study.
Last but not least, I also own a great debt of gratitude to my family, my friends
for their support in bringing this study to a success.

Ha Noi, 2013




Tran Thi Thanh Hoa
iii

ABSTRACT

In many second or foreign language teaching situations, reading receives a
special focus. In process of teaching and learning English as a foreign language,
reading has always been offered a great deal of attention both from the teachers and the
students. Reading is not only considered as a means to gain knowledge but also a
means by which further study takes place. This study is concerned with improving
students’ reading comprehension skills through focused tasks.
The benefits of using focused tasks in reading lessons are affirmed again in this
thesis through the studies and the researcher carried out at Ngo Quyen High School,

Nam Dinh province. These benefits bring considerable effectiveness to teachers and
students in teaching and learning reading. This is also the main aim of the study and the
researcher’s wish.
In order to achieve this aim and wish, the researcher enters into consideration of
the relevant literature and then carries out observing classes, giving questionnaires to
them, etc. to have necessary findings and analysis. At the same time, the researcher
also suggests the suitable reading tasks to apply in teaching and learning reading
lessons in Tieng Anh 11.









iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Candidate’s statement i
Acknowledgements ii
Abstract iii
Table of contents iv
List of abbreviations vii
List of tables and charts viii
PART I INTRODUCTION 1
1. Rationale 1
2. Aims of the study 1

3. Scope of the study 2
4. Methodology of the study 2
5. Design of the study 2
PART II DEVELOPMENT 4
Chapter I: Theoretical Background 4
I.1. Definitions of reading, reading comprehension and purposes of reading 4
I.1.1. What is reading? 4
I.1.2. What is reading comprehension? 5
I.1.3. The purposes of reading 6
I.2. Classification of reading 7
I.2.1. Classification of reading according to manner. 7
I.2.2. Classification of reading according to purposes 8
I.3. Stages in a reading lesson 9
I.3.1. Pre-reading stage 9
I.3.2. While-reading stage 10
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I.3.3. Post-reading stage 10
I.4. Factors in teaching and learning reading 11
I.4.1. The role of the teacher 11
I.4.2. The role of the student 11
I.4.3. The role of reading texts 12
I.5. Factors determining successful reading comprehension 12
I.5.1. Considerations for students 12
I.5.1.1. Reading strategies 12
I.5.1.2. Background knowledge 13
I.5.2. Considerations for teachers 13
I.5.2.1. Steps in teaching reading 13
I.5.2.2.Ways to select materials 14
I.6. Focused tasks and using tasks to develop reading comprehension skills 14

I.6.1. Focused tasks 14
I.6.2. Using tasks to develop reading comprehension skills 14
I.6.2.1. Skills involved in reading 14
I.6.2.2. Questions and tasks in a reading lesson 15
Chapter II: Methodology 16
II.1. Situation analysis 16
II.1.1. Setting of the study 16
II.1.2. Participants 16
II.1.3. Reading materials 17
II.2. Instrumentation 18
II.2.1. Instrument 1 18
II.2.1.1. The questionnaire for the students 18
II.2.1.2. The questionnaire for the teachers 19
II.2.2. Instrument 2-class observation 19
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Chapter III: Data analysis and findings 20
III.1. Data analysis and findings 20
III.2.1. Survey for students 20
III.2.2. Survey for teachers 26
III.2. Classroom observation 28
Chapter IV: Suggested some focused tasks in teaching reading skills and sample
work 30
IV.1. Suggested some focused tasks in teaching reading skills 30
IV.1.1. Bases for reading tasks 30
IV.1.2. Suggested some focused tasks 33
IV.1.2.1. Suitability for students’ level 33
IV.1.2.2. Suitability for reading purposes 33
IV.2.Sample work 38
PART III: CONCLUSION 40

1. Summary of the study 40
2. Limitation and Suggestion for further study 40
REFERENCES 42
APPENDIX 1 I
APPENDIX 2 IV
APPENDIX 3 VI







vii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

N: Number
CUP: Cambridge University Press
OUP: Oxford University Press

viii

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

Tables:
1. Students’ Attitudes towards reading in English
2. Students’ Attitudes towards purpose of reading English
3. Kinds of tasks students are often asked to do
4. Students’ strategies of doing reading tasks
5. Students’ strategies when coming across a new word
6. Students’ interest in doing supplementary tasks
7. Teachers’ attitudes towards students’ problems in reading

Charts:
1. Students’ Attitudes towards reading materials
2. Students’ difficulties in doing reading tasks
3. Teachers’ attitudes towards reading texts and tasks in textbook

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PART I: INTRODUCTION
I. Rationale
Language itself plays an important part in our daily life and it is the most
effective means of communication. Language distinguishes man from animals. That is
because language is an effective means of information, transaction and interaction
making experience so we can say that without language there would be no civilization,
no culture, no intervention and no progress. Nowadays, the demand of communication
among people in all countries is greater, therefore it is really necessary for everyone to
learn at least one foreign language.
In our country, English is widely taught and learnt because it is an international
language used in all aspects of life such as tourism, technology, literature, commerce
and so on. Especially, English has become a compulsory in high schools. That is why it
is vital to find out to teach and learn English effectively.
Teaching English involves four skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing.
Among them, teaching reading plays an important role for high school students in
enriching their general knowledge, enlarging their vocabulary and in helping them with
their further study later. Reading also contributes to the development of other language

skills. When teaching reading, some issues may arise such as how to assess students’
reading ability, how to give tests to students, techniques to improve students’ reading
skills and so on. Among these issues, I choose to do my research on the project entitled
“Improving Grade 11 Students’ Reading Comprehension Skills through Focused Tasks
at A High School in Nam Dinh” because I myself believe that reading can help learners
to get information to the fullest, and that providing learners with useful techniques and
tasks will motivate them in reading.
II. Aims of the study
The study is aimed at:
2

1) better understanding the concepts of reading, content reading, reading
comprehension.
2) identifying some problems in teaching and learning reading English at Ngo
Quyen High School in Nam Dinh.
3) providing the 11
th
grade students at Ngo Quyen High School with useful
focused tasks to improve reading comprehension skills.
The study is the hope of the author to make some contributions to the improvement
of reading comprehension skills for the 11
th
form students .
III. Scope of the study
The study on reading in general is immense and covering every aspect of
language theory and practice in this study is impossible. Due to the time limitation,
only one small aspect of reading comprehension is mentioned to, that is reading
comprehension tasks. Some focused tasks to help teachers and students better in
teaching and learning reading comprehension would be recommended.
IV. Methodology

In seeking answers to the research questions, survey questionnaires and class
observations were chosen to obtain relevant information for the study. The strategic
method of the study is quantitative one. That is all remarks, considerations, and
conclusions are made largely based on the analysis of the statistic data collected
through the survey questionnaires. Class observations are carried out as a
supplementary to the survey questionnaires.
V. Design of the study
The study consists of three main parts: the Introduction, the Development and
the Conclusion.
Part I introduces rationales, aims of the study, scope and methods of the study.
3

Part II comprises four chapters.
Chapter I deals with an overview of the theoretical background of the research. It is
concerned with the issues relevant to the topic of the research: reading and reading
comprehension, classification of reading, the importance of improving reading skills,
roles of reading teachers and those of reading students, focused tasks in reading .
Chapter II describes the participants and instruments of the study.
Chapter III is data collection and data analysis.
Chapter IV offers some focused tasks to improve reading comprehension skills and a
sample work.
Part III summarizes the issues addressed and presents recommendations for further
improvements and some suggestions for further research.

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PART II: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

In this chapter, the review of the issues most relevant considered as a theoretical
background to the study will be provided. It consists of definitions of reading and
reading comprehension, the purposes of reading, classification of reading, stages in a
reading lesson, factors affecting reading skills, and focused tasks and using tasks to
develop reading comprehension skills.
I.1. Definitions of reading, reading comprehension and purposes of reading
I.1.1. What is reading?
Reading is a natural and common activity that people always do in their daily
life. It is stated that reading is a kind of culture that people regardless of age, sex, or
class should learn and have. Although no one can deny the high frequency of reading
in every day life, to understand thoroughly what reading or reading comprehension is
may not be well aware by many. There have been so many definitions of reading that
they cause much confusion. Hence, many linguists take reading into account to do
research. They have studied and given various definitions of reading.
According to Frank Smith (1978:2) “reading is to understand the author’s
thought”. He also adds “Understanding print or even receiving communication can

hardly be said to explain reading. The problem still remains of how readers
understand the print or receives the communication”. This means that readers need to
understand the author’s mind, not the author’s words. The meaning of a word on any
particular occasion will depend largely on the context in which it occurs. So when
readers understand the author’s thought, they are successful in reading because the
nature of reading is the interaction between writers and readers. Reading is much more
5

than just understanding individual words but it is the process that the writer and reader
understand each other.
To advocates of cognitive reading model, reading is defined as the
interaction between the reader and the text. It is also a process of negotiating
understanding between the reader and the writer. Aebersold and Field (1997:15)
propose, “Reading is what happens when people look at a text and assign meaning to
the written symbol in that text.”
Goodman pointed out that, reading is “a psycholinguistics process by which the
reader – a language user reconstructs, as best as he can, a message which has been
encoded by a writer as a graphic display” (Goodman, 1988:135). This act of
reconstruction is considered as a cyclical process of sampling, predicting, testing, and
confirming.
To conclude, definitions of reading are many but no definition can possibly
include all viewpoints and features. Each definition reflects what reading means to that
person but they seem to have some features in common. Reading is a process in which
the reader looks and understands what has been written. Understanding a text means
being able to extract the required information from it as efficiently as possible. Thus, it
is essential for us to understand thoroughly the definition of reading comprehension
before teaching a reading text.
I.1.2. What is reading comprehension?
Reading comprehension takes a very important part in teaching and learning
reading a language and a foreign language as well. Reading comprehension is a process

that requires how to decode through the development of an extensive repertoire of sight
words, learning the meanings of vocabulary words encountered in the texts, and
learning how to abstract meaning from text. It represents how well readers understand
literal comprehension which concentrates on explicit meaning and inferential
comprehension which concentrates on implicit meaning in the reading text.
6

Grellet gives an idea that “reading comprehension or understanding a written
text means extracting the required information from it as effectively as possible”
(Grellet, 1981:34). From this point of view, Grellet focuses on readers’ ability of
understanding the meaning of a written text based on the individual’s background
knowledge.
Richard and Thomas (1987: 143) state that “Reading comprehension is a mental
process that in the final analysis, only the readers fully understand. Comprehension is
what stimulates readers to remember the past experience. That knowledge is, then,
used in trying to get meaning out of print. Meaning does not reside on the printed page
but rather in the meaning of the reader.”
From the above mentioned definitions, it is possible to draw a conclusion that it
is meaningless if readers spend time reading but have no comprehension or attain
nothing or even little from a written text. In other words, it is no use of reading without
comprehension. Therefore, reading comprehension is an important part in teaching and
learning a foreign language in general and teaching reading in particular. However, the
reasons for reading differ from one person to another. As a result, the ways we read are
also different. In other words, the purposes of reading determine the ways or the styles
of reading. Now it is necessary to have a close look at the classification of reading
according to manner and the purposes of reading to identify different types of reading.
I.1.3. The purposes of reading
The purposes of reading will determine how we read, what skills we need and
what types of reading text we practise in order to fulfill the purposes. There are three
main purposes of reading: reading for pleasure, reading for information and reading for

language development.
Reading for pleasure is considered as a purpose of reading because some people
only read for entertainment, especially when getting stressed or after their hard
working hours. They read funny stories, jokes, newspapers and articles to entertain
7

themselves. In language classroom, reading for pleasure is used to lessen tension in
class through funny stories, spicy stories, etc.
Reading for information means that readers have to find out something or do
something with information they get. Information may be presented in several ways in
written or spoken language, in drawings, photographs, etc.
Reading in a foreign language is an effective way to learn a language for
students. Through reading they can get the content of the subject which they are
studying and get the way to develop their knowledge of language itself.
In general, reading skills will make other skills such as speaking, writing and
listening improve because by teaching reading, the teacher provides students
knowledge that can be used in writing, speaking and listening.
I.2. Classification of reading
I.2.1. Classification of reading according to manner
According to manner, reading aloud and silent reading are two types of reading
in which “reading aloud involves looking at the text, understanding it and also saying
it” (Doff, 1988:70). Although reading aloud is considered a way to convey necessary
information to the others, it is an unpopular activity outside classroom.
Reading aloud involves looking at a text, understanding it and also saying it. Its
purpose is not just to understand a text but also covey the information to someone else.
When reading aloud, students focus on pronunciation, spelling sounds but not on
meaning. So there is little value in developing reading skills. However, reading aloud is
useful for speaking skill, it can help students practise speaking accurately and fluently.
Unlike reading aloud, silent reading is more often used in both real life and
classroom, and “it is the method we normally use with our native language, and on the

whole the quickest and most efficient” (Lewis, 1985:110). It is an activity that we
focus on meaning of the text so silent reading is called “reading on meaning”. It
8

involves looking at a text and saying the words to yourself so it is useful for
development of reading skills.
I.2.2. Classification of reading according to purposes
It is clear to assume that the reasons for reading are different from this person to
that person because of their uncommon purposes. According to purposes, reading is
categorized into skimming, scanning, intensive reading and extensive reading.
Skimming is commonly used in reading comprehension. Grellet assumed that
“when skimming, we go through the reading material quickly in order to get its main
points or the intention of the writer, but not to find the answer to specific questions”
(Grellet, 1981:19). In skimming, the reader goes through the text extremely quickly,
merely dipping into it or sampling it at various points. By skimming, students quickly
run their eyes over the text to get the gist of it. It is a kind of reading we do when we
want to read in details or to find out the subject of the text.
In terms of scanning, Nuttall indicated that “Scanning means glancing rapidly
through a text either to search for a specific piece of information or to get an initial
impression of whether the text is suitable for a given purpose” (Nuttall, 2000:49).
From this notion, scanning is a type of reading frequently used by all. When scanning,
students quickly go through a text to find a particular piece of information. This skill
involves the ability to reject or pass over irrelevant information. Scanning can be
practised with variety of texts such as maps, dictionaries, reference materials, etc.
In terms of intensive reading, Grellet defined that “Intensive reading means
reading short texts to extract specific information. This is an accuracy activity
involving reading for details” (Grellet,1981:41). The aim of intensive reading is to
arrive at a profound and detailed understanding of the text not only of what it means,
but also of how the meaning is produced. Under the guidance of the teacher or a task,
students have to read the text carefully and try to understand every single word and

idea or hidden information of a text.
9

In terms of extensive reading, students read long texts usually for their own
pleasure. When reading, students have a general understanding of the text without
necessarily understand every word. Most of extensive reading is done silently and out
of the class time. Therefore, the aim of extensive reading is to cover the greatest
possible amount text in the shortest possible time. Extensive reading is a good way for
students to enrich their knowledge of language and of the world. The teachers should
encourage students to perform extensive reading because it will activate reading
outside the class.
From Nuttall’s point of view, “intensive and extensive reading are not just two
contrasting ways of reading but an infinitive variety of interrelated and overlapping
strategies” (Nuttall, 2000:38). These two types of reading, of course, are
complementary and reciprocal with each other, and necessary.
In short, when teaching and learning reading comprehension teachers and
students should remember that there are several reading types and an effective reader is
the one who can adapt his style flexibly according to his purpose. Generally, readers do
not choose to read a text either intensively or extensively, for gist or specific
information because a text can be best tackled by a combination of strategies.
I.3. Stages in a reading lesson
Activities in a reading lesson can be divided into three stages: pre-reading stage,
while-reading stage and post-reading stage. For each stage, different techniques should
be used to help students read the text comprehensively.
I.3.1. Pre-reading stage
According to Williams (1984:37), the purposes of the pre-reading stage are:
- To introduce and arouse interest in the topic.
- To motivate learners by giving a reason for reading.
- To provide some language preparation for the text.
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Normally, pre-reading phase often last from two to ten minutes depending on
each lesson. Several techniques are suggested such as using pictures, predicting from
the titles, guessing and brainstorming to see what students have already known. These
activities are aimed at drawing the students’ interest towards reading as well as
preparing them for the reading text.
I.3.2. While-reading stage
Williams (1984:38) states that while-reading stage is the main part of a reading
lesson with the following specific aims:
- To help understanding of the writer’s purpose.
- To help understanding of the text structure.
- To clarify text content.
At this stage, there is a great deal of activities can be performed in order to help
students to understand the text. The teacher acts as an organisor, a helper only. He will
be available to help individuals with their particular difficulties. He will be likely to be
about the meaning of new vocabulary items, new grammar structures, etc. In this
situation, he should encourage students to guess the meaning from the context.
On the whole, the teacher must manage his class in such a way every student
participates in the lesson and understands the text.
I.3.3. Post-reading stage
After reading, the teacher needs to consolidate or reflect upon what has been
read. Williams stated that “the post-reading stage is aimed at consolidating or reflecting
upon what has been read and relating the text to the learners’ own knowledge, interests
or views” Williams (1984:39). This stage is where integration of four skills will be
appropriately conducted. Activities in this stage are aimed at helping students apply
what they have learnt from the text to their further study or communication through the
tasks provided by the teacher.
Obviously, the three-phase approach is not to be carried out mechanically on
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every occasion. Sometimes, the teacher may wish to cut out the pre-reading stage and
get learners to work on the text directly. At other times, post-reading stage may not be
included.
I.4. Factors in teaching and learning reading
I.4.1. The role of the teacher
In a reading lesson, the teacher acts as a helper and students work individually
and actively but this does not mean that there is nothing for the teacher to do. The roles
of teachers in an EFL reading lesson are also significant and worth mentioning. On the
one hand, Nuttall (2000:32-33) specifies some of these roles as choosing reading
texts, designing tasks, facilitating reading process and monitoring progress. He thus
comes to a conclusion that there is always a great deal the teacher to do in a reading
lesson. On the other hand, he also reminds teacher of several pitfalls in teaching
reading, in which “testing instead of teaching” and teacher’s overly dominance in
processing the reading texts are among the most common mistakes. That is why the
teacher needs to organize activities in teaching reading and then carry out a number of
appropriate techniques to teach a particular text. While providing appropriate activities,
the teacher should be active and creative to help students read effectively in a reading
lesson.
I.4.2. The role of students
The students are the heart of the reading process in a reading class and they can make a
reading lesson successful. Nuttall (2000:33) mentions several main roles for the
students in a reading lesson. They are as follows:
- Taking an active part in learning: This is the first and foremost responsibility of
the learner. They have to be active and take charge of what they do.
- Monitoring comprehension: Students need to understand how texts work and
what they do when they read.
- Learning text talk: It is clear that a good reader carries on a dialogue with the
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text. Consequently, the students have to learn how to do this. An effective way to

promote this skill is to talk about texts in class.
- Taking risks: Students have to take the risk of making mistakes because a
mistake is an opportunity to learn.
- Learning not to cheat oneself: Learning to read is learning to give students
enormous advantages in life. It may lead to better jobs, to personal development,
interest and enjoyment. Students who do not want to learn to read can easily cheat but
they are only cheating themselves.
In short, students are the key figures to decide the success of teaching reading.
I.4.3. The role of reading texts
Texts plays an important role in a reading lesson. That is because text is used
“as a way of learning new language by looking at the text and focusing on particular
words and expression” Doff (1988:62). This means that through reading text, students
can understand phonetic, lexical and grammatical items. Besides, students can enrich
their knowledge in different fields such as science, technology, culture, art etc in the
target language.
I.5. Factors determining successful reading comprehension
I.5.1. Considerations for students
Language learners can learn to use different kinds of reading strategies. Some
read and understand a text very quickly while others read slowly and fail to understand
what they read and it is essential to take the following elements into consideration on
the part of students.
I.5.1.1. Reading strategies
Reading is considered as an active skill. It involves guessing, predicting,
checking and asking questions. Therefore, students should apply reading strategies to
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each kind of reading effectively. Students do not read every word in a text. They
should focus on the important words so they can understand most of the text and can
read faster. They should try to predict what comes next in the text and read the text
again if they do not understand what they have read. They should read silently, not

whispering the words while they read because reading aloud may slow the students
down and force them to read every word. Besides, they should learn to guess the
meaning of new words. They look at the context of words and other clues such as the
affixes of words. Thus, it is important to encourage them to combine top-down and
bottom-up strategies in reading. Moreover, for different texts, students have to use
different skills.
In summary, there are different kinds of texts and different purposes for reading
so it is necessary to find out a suitable way of reading for each.
I.5.1.2. Background knowledge
A successful reader requires good general background knowledge. Background
knowledge does not cover knowledge of a particular topic. Readers will use their own
knowledge to understand what they are reading. In order to understand a text, readers
skillfully recall what they have already known about the topic and need to read
frequently and read many kinds of books.
I.5.2. Considerations for teachers
Teachers take an important role in improving the students’ reading. They must
know how to convey or present a reading lesson to students. It is really necessary to
take the following elements into considerations for teachers.
I.5.2.1. Steps in teaching reading
As I have mentioned above, there are three steps in teaching reading. These are
pre-reading, while-reading and post-reading. In order to have successful reading, the
teacher should follow three stages. There are two advantages of the three-stage
14

approach. Firstly, it respects and makes use of the students’ own knowledge and of the
world and uses this as a basis for involvement, motivation and progress. Secondly, it
leads to integration of the skills so that the reading lesson is not simply isolated. That is
why a good reading lesson requires the above three-stage approach.
I.5.2.2. Ways to select materials
The selection of materials is one of the factors determining the success of a

reading lesson. One of the teachers’ roles is to provide the students with suitable
reading texts. To fulfill this role and have a successful lesson, the teacher should bear
in mind the following criteria for the selection of a text: readability, suitability of
content and exploitability.
I.6. Focused tasks and using tasks to develop reading comprehension skills
I.6.1. Focused tasks
According to Breen (1989), a task is “a structured plan for the provision of
opportunities for the refinement of knowledge and capabilities entailed in a new
language and its use during communication. He specifically states that a task can be a
brief practice exercise or a more complex work plan that requires spontaneous
communication of meaning.
Focused asks, according to Ellis (2003), aim to introduce learners to process,
receptively or productively, some particular linguistic feature, for example, a
grammatical structure. He says that focused tasks have two aims: one is to stimulate
communicative language use, the other is to target the use of a particular,
predetermined target feature.
I.6.2. Using tasks to develop reading comprehension skills
I.6.2.1. Skills involved in reading
Readers need variety of skills when reading. In fact, a change in purpose of
reading usually results in the change in the reading skills so the type of reading
performed. According to Tomlinson and Ellis (1980:150), reading skills include:
15

mechanical skills, understanding the lexical items, understanding grammatical
meaning, reasoning skills, selection skills and evaluation skills.
Another possible way of classification of reading skills is suggested by Grellet
(1981:4). He considers that reading skills consist of: recognising the scrift of a
language, deducing the meaning and use of unfamiliar lexical items, understanding
explicitly stated information, understanding information what not explicitly stated,
understanding conceptual meaning, understanding the relations within the sentence,

understanding relations between parts of the text through grammatical cohesion
devices, interpreting a text by going outside it, recognising indicators in discourse,
identifying the main point or important information in a piece of discourse,
distinguishing the main idea and supporting details, extracting salient points to
summarise, basic reference skills, skimming, scanning and transcoding information to
diagrammatical display.
I.6.2.2. Questions and tasks in a reading lesson
In teaching reading, reading lessons have been traditionally based on passage
followed by questions and tasks. The aim of which is to check understanding rather
than to produce understanding. Introducing questions and tasks will encourage students
to anticipate the content of a text from its title and illustrations. Questioning and tasks,
therefore, are very important to improve the students’ reading comprehension.
There must be variety in the range of tasks and it is necessary if different
reading skills are to be covered. A task should not always imposed on a text and it is
better to allow the text to suggest what tasks are most appropriate. There are various
ways of classifying types of questions and tasks. According to Nuttual (1989:434),
there are five types of questions and tasks such as: questions of literal comprehension,
questions involving recognition or interpretation, questions of inference, questions of
valuation and questions of personal response. Questions and tasks are one of the best
ways of building up the students’ comprehension reading skills and their confidence.