Integrating task based instruction as an alternative approach in teaching reading comprehension at an upper secondary school in hanoi an action research

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

TRẦN THỊ THỦY

INTEGRATING TASK-BASED INSTRUCTION AS AN ALTERNATIVE
APPROACH IN TEACHING READING COMPREHENSION AT AN UPPER
SECONDARY SCHOOL IN HANOI: AN ACTION RESEARCH
(Tích hợp phương pháp dạy học giao nhiệm vụ như là một đường hướng thay thế
trong giảng dạy kỹ năng đọc hiểu tại một trường trung học phổ thông ở Hà Nội.
Một nghiên cứu cải tiến sư phạm.)

M.A. Minor Programme Thesis
Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 8140231.01

HANOI – 2019


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

TRẦN THỊ THỦY

INTEGRATING TASK-BASED INSTRUCTION AS AN ALTERNATIVE
APPROACH IN TEACHING READING COMPREHENSION AT AN UPPER
SECONDARY SCHOOL IN HANOI: AN ACTION RESEARCH
(Tích hợp phương pháp dạy học giao nhiệm vụ như là một đường hướng thay thế
trong giảng dạy kỹ năng đọc hiểu tại một trường trung học phổ thông ở Hà Nội.

Một nghiên cứu cải tiến sư phạm.)

M.A. Minor Programme Thesis
Field: English Teaching Methodology
Supervisor: Prof. Hoàng Văn Vân

HANOI – 2019


DECLARATION
I certify that I myself write this thesis entitled “Integrating Task-based Instruction
as an Alternative Approach in Teaching Reading Comprehension at an Upper
Secondary School in Hanoi: An Action Research.” It is not a plagiarism or made
by others. Anything related to others‟ works is written in quotation, the sources of
which are listed on the list of references. If then the pronouncement proves wrong, I
am ready to accept any academic punishment, including the withdrawal or
cancellation of my academic degree.
Signature

i


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Firstly, I would like to express my deepest thanks of gratitude to my respectable
supervisor, Prof. Dr. Hoang Van Van for his friendly and sympathetic assistance
and dedicated involvement throughout the process of this thesis.
I would also like to be grateful to all my dear colleagues of FPT high school, and
my classmates of the Department of Post-graduate Studies, University of Languages
and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their helpful as
well as practical suggestions.

My sincere thanks go to classes of FPT high school for their crucial participation in
completing the survey questionnaires and their willingness to provide their ideas on
this study as well.
Last but not least, I also own a great debt of gratitude to my family and friends for
their immeasurable support bot all my degree and in this arduous process of this
study.

ii


ABSTRACT
Developing reading comprehension ability is an important aspect in acquisition of a
language. The present study focused on improving reading comprehension ability
through Task-based Instruction (TBI). TBI is a methodology that develops from a
focus on classroom tasks. The participants of the study were 100 students at from
four classes of 11th grade at FPT high school through a quasi-experimental design.
The participants were divided into two groups, one control group (CG) and one
experimental group (EG). An action research with a cycle of treatment was
employed in this research. The participants received a pre-test, the instruction, and a
post-test. The participants in EG were taught through TBI, whereas the others in CG
were exposed to a traditional method. The comparison between CG and EGs were
made through paired sample t-tests. The results revealed that the students in EGs
outperformed CGs. The results are also supported by the gathered data from the
questionnaires, interviews, and class observations. This study may have pedagogical
implications for practitioners in the field and for syllabus designers to include
appropriate tasks in English textbooks and English teachers/instructions to deliver
the appropriate teaching methods to their students.
Key words: reading, reading comprehension, task based instruction

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................1
1.1

Background of the study ...................................................................................1

1.2

Rationale for the study ...................................................................................... 2

1.3

Aims and objectives of the study ......................................................................4

1.4

Research questions ............................................................................................ 5

1.5

Significance of the study ...................................................................................5

1.6

A Summary of methodology .............................................................................6

1.6.1

Participants .................................................................................................6

1.6.2

Research instruments ..................................................................................6

1.6.3

Research procedures ...................................................................................7

1.7

Structure of the study ........................................................................................ 7

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................ 9
2.1

Reading .............................................................................................................9

2.1.1

Definition....................................................................................................9

2.1.2

Purposes of reading ..................................................................................10

2.1.3

Reading process ........................................................................................ 10

2.2

Reading comprehension ..................................................................................11

2.3

Task based instructions ................................................................................... 13

2.3.1

Definition of task ...................................................................................... 13

2.3.2

Task based instructions ............................................................................14

2.4

Theoretical frameworks: Framework by Willis (1996) ..................................16

2.5

Previous studies ............................................................................................... 17

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY .........................................................................20
3.1

Research settings ............................................................................................. 20

3.1.1

FPT Upper Secondary School ..................................................................20

3.1.2

Teachers and students ...............................................................................20

3.1.3

Reading materials ..................................................................................... 21

3.2

Research method ............................................................................................. 22

3.2.1

Classroom action research (CAR) ............................................................ 22
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3.2.2
3.3

Treatment ................................................................................................. 28

Data collection instruments............................................................................. 29

3.3.1

Reading tests ............................................................................................ 29

3.3.2

Questionnaires .......................................................................................... 30

3.3.3

Class observation...................................................................................... 31

3.3.4

Interview................................................................................................... 32

3.3.5

Data collection procedure ........................................................................ 33

3.4

Data analysis ................................................................................................... 33

3.5

Summary ......................................................................................................... 34

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS ................................................. 35
4.1 Results from tests ................................................................................................ 35
4.1.1

The distribution of the test results ............................................................ 35

4.1.2

Descriptive statistics ................................................................................. 37

4.2

Results from the questionnaires and interviews ............................................. 38

4.2.1

Students‟ and teachers attitude toward the textbook ................................ 39

4.2.2

Students‟ assessments on teachers‟ teaching activities in reading lessons40

4.2.3

Accomplishment of students‟ performance in reading period ................. 40

4.2.4

Learning reading skills of the 11th students ............................................. 41

4.2.5

Students‟ attitudes towards the roles of teachers ..................................... 43

4.2.6

Teachers‟ activities at reading stages ....................................................... 43

4.2.6.1

Teachers‟ activities at pre-reading stage ........................................... 43

4.2.6.2

Teachers‟ activities at while-reading stage ....................................... 44

4.2.6.3

Teachers‟ activities at post-reading stage.......................................... 44

4.3

Results from observations ............................................................................... 45

4.4

Discussions...................................................................................................... 45

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS ................................... 47
5.1

Recapitulation ................................................................................................. 47

5.2

Concluding remarks ........................................................................................ 48

5.3

Implications ..................................................................................................... 50

5.4

Recommendations ........................................................................................... 51
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5.4.1

Recommendations for teachers ................................................................ 51

5.4.2

Recommendations for students ................................................................ 52

5.5

Limitations ......................................................................................................52

5.6 Suggestions for the further study ........................................................................53
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................54
APPENDIX ................................................................................................................ I
Appendix 1: Questionnaire for students .................................................................. I

Appendix 2: Interview questions for teachers ...................................................... IV
Appendix 3: Interview transcript summary............................................................ V
Appendix 4: Sample of classroom observation (two samples in four) ............... VII
Appendix 5: Reading tests................................................................................... XV
Reading pre-test............................................................................................... XV
Reading post-test ............................................................................................. XX
Appendix 6: Test results ................................................................................... XXV
Appendix 7: A sample of lesson plan with task based approach ..................... XXX

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LISTS OF ABBREVIATIONS
GTM

: Grammar translation method

CG

: Control Group

EG

: Experimental Group

ESL

: English as Second Language

EFL

: English as Second Language

Ss

: Students

T

: Teacher

TBLM

: Task-based language method

TBM

: Task-based method

TBI

: Task-based instruction

TL

: Target Language

MOET : The Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training

vii

LISTS OF TABLES AND FIGURES
Figure 2.1: A Heuristic approach for reading comprehension ..................................12
Figure 3.1: The scheme of Classroom Action Research (CAR) ............................... 23
Figure 4.1 Comparison between pre-test and post-test score ....................................36
Figure 4.2: Students‟ difficulties in doing reading tasks ...........................................42
Table 3.1: Procedures for test development .............................................................. 30
Table 3.2: Score interval for tests..............................................................................30
Table 4.1: Paired sample t-test between means of CG and EG on pre-test ..............37
Table 4.2: Paired sample t-test between means of CG and EG on post-test .............38
Table 4.3: The descriptive statistics of the two tests scores .....................................38
Table 4.4: Students‟ attitude toward the textbook .................................................... 39
Table 4.5: Students‟ assessments on the teachers‟ teaching activities in reading
periods ....................................................................................................................... 40
Table 4.6: Accomplishment of students‟ performance in reading lessons ...............40
Table 4.7: Kinds of tasks ........................................................................................... 41
Table 4.8: Students‟ strategies of doing reading tasks ..............................................42

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
These days, it is thought that language itself plays a significant role in our daily life
and it is believed to be the most effective means of communication. Around the
world, the greater the demand of communication among people is, the more
necessary everyone needs to learn at least one foreign language. Therefore, English
is increasingly taught and learnt as a second/foreign language in all fields of life
such as technology, education, tourism, etc. in Vietnam. It is special to suggest that

English has become a compulsory subject in high schools. That is a reason why it is
very important to improve English teaching and learning for students effectively.
Throughout many years, traditional focus of many teaching approaches has been
mainly on grammar, so it is accepted as the key of various classroom activities.
However, nowadays it is mostly undeniable to trust that reading comprehension is
considered as an important language skill in learning new information because it
can help foster the process of language acquisition and assist students to read
various materials for a great number of purposes (Poorahmadi, 2012). According to
that, learners can gain information and knowledge to meet their needs of learning,
doing research, entertaining, etc. by mastering reading comprehension via different
materials for plentiful purposes.
Besides, it is one of the most integral skills which are essential for students,
especially the high-school ones. In detail, the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and
Training (MOET, 2012) emphasizes that flourishing communicative competence for
students is one of the most essential targets in building and implementing foreign
language teaching. Students are required to achieve certain linguistic knowledge
and enhance communication strategies and skills after finish English curriculum in
high schools. Hence, teaching reading comprehension aims to help students develop
essential reading skills (e.g., skimming and scanning) and strategies (e.g., metacognitive strategies, affective strategies) and achieve linguistic knowledge (e.g.,
lexical knowledge, grammatical knowledge) (MOET, 2012). Nevertheless, to a
large extent, both teachers and learners cannot obtain the aims for teaching and
1


learning reading comprehension in this study‟s context. Probably, most students
lack motivation in learning reading and their performance in reading comprehension
is still far from satisfactory. It could be argued that the use of Grammar Translation
(GMT), which mainly focused on eliciting vocabularies and translating written
texts, might have resulted in students‟ poor motivation and achievement in reading
comprehension. As a result, the researcher found it necessary to find out an

alternative that could work in terms of motivating students to learn reading and
improving their reading comprehension. In fact, different approaches such as
Natural approach, Communicative Language Teaching, Content-based or TaskBased approach launched and emerged in second language learning. When teaching
reading, some issues may arise, for example, how to apply students‟ reading ability,
how to improve their reading comprehension, how to assess their reading ability,
and so on. There is some increasing evidence to suggest that task-based approach is
one of the approaches that put students into meaningful contexts and make them
produce as much English as possible.
1.2 Rationale for the study
Many students have difficulty comprehending what they read. All schools need to
have some sort of remedial reading program provided to help struggling students.
Low reading skills affect both reading fluency and comprehension for elementary
school students. Reading skills are foundational building blocks at this age and the
earlier students with low reading skills receive interventions, the greater the
interventions will impact the students‟ reading ability (Hausheer, Hansen, &
Doumas, 2011). Knowing how to read words has ultimately little value if the
student is unable to construct meaning from the text (Klinger, Vaughn, &
Boardman, 2007). If schools are able to provide what the students need, there will
be more success for everyone involved.
Reading is one of the important skills in English and it gives many benefits for us.
Reading is the window of the world. By reading, people can get more knowledge
and information from books, magazines, newspapers, and others. Reading is the
most important component in learning process and social interaction for the
2


following reasons: (i) firstly, reading is an indispensable communication tool in a
civilized society; (ii) secondly, the reading materials produced in any period of time
in history are most influenced by social background; and (iii) thirdly, developments,
that over the period of the recorded history of reading has led to two very different

poles (Klinger, Vaughn, & Boardman, 2007).
Reading is bringing meaning to and getting meaning from printed or written
material (Finochiaro and Bonomo, 1973). Through the reading activity, the students
can enlarge their knowledge and it can also make them wise and respectful.
Students‟ reading ability must be developed. Teachers have duties to develop their
skill and ability. Everything teachers do in reading class should be designed to build
students‟ ability to understand increasingly complex content of the texts. The
methods, techniques, and teaching media that are chosen and used by the teacher
will influence the success of teaching learning process and students‟ achievement.
By developing good method, technique and media students are expected to be able
to have an active learning. Active learning can make the students interested in the
reading lesson that given to them, not only silent or passive in the teaching and
learning process.
There are four skills in learning process; listening, reading, speaking, and writing.
In this research, the researcher will focus on reading skill, because through the
teaching experiences and observations it is realized that many students at FPT high
school have problems in understand aspect of English and they always confused to
master the reading text. Reading is the important section to be taught in the school.
In reading learning process the student must understand what the content of text to
get the information from it. Reading is process to transfer the science from book to
brain from writer to reader, and this information will be not received with the
readers if they did not understand what the content of the text. Other problem in
reading is lack of vocabularies and also pronunciation. From that many problems,
they will have an opinion that English learning is a difficult in particular the reading
skill. The students know from their test result that they always failed in the reading
text. This matter will out from the goal of teaching learning. The solution of thus
3


problems is that the teacher should know more about approach, method, and

strategy in learning English, as the method will support the teacher way to make his
teaching learning more effective. Teaching through task, or task based instruction
which is considered as an activity which involves the use of language but in which
the focus is on the outcome of the activity rather than on the language used to
achieve that outcome can create favorable learning conditions for the students to
master their reading skills (Kavaliauskiené, 2005). Based on the background and
stated problems of the study the researcher conducts a classroom action research on
“Integrating task-based instruction as an alternative approach in teaching
reading comprehension at an upper secondary school in Hanoi: An action
research” to improve the English teaching and learning process and enhance the
reading competence of English learners.
1.3 Aims and objectives of the study
In English as a Foreign Language (EFL) setting, it is mostly believed that reading
comprehension is the central means for learning new information and it is the most
important skill needed for the student's success. The importance and position of
reading comprehension skill in Vietnamese academic setting like other EFL settings
are undeniable; in a way, it is often introduced as the main goal of English language
learning. Therefore, it has attracted the attention of many English Language
Teaching (ELT) researchers and applied linguists.
The overarching aim of this research is to explore how the English teachers in
Vietnam use the task-based teaching/approach to solve those exposed problems of
reading comprehension of their students, contributing to the enhancement of
students‟ reading comprehension ability.
For the achievement of the overall aims, this research seeks out for the following
specific objectives:
(1) Exploring

the

theoretical

fundamentals

of

reading

skills,

reading

comprehension, and task-based approach;
(2) Examining the problems with traditional approaches in English reading teaching
and learning English at FPT upper secondary school in Hoa Lac, Hanoi;
4


(3) Determining the meaningful effects of the task based approach on the
students‟ improvement in reading comprehension ability; and
(4) Suggesting the recommendations for English curriculum designers and
instructors/teachers to include useful tasks to students so as to improve their
reading comprehension ability.
1.4 Research questions
The following research questions are formulated in response to the aims and
objectives of the study:
Question 1: How are reading skills taught at FPT Upper Secondary School?
Question 2: How does task-based instruction have an effect on reading
comprehension ability of grade 11th students at FPT Upper Secondary School?
Question 3: What can the teachers and students do to improve reading
comprehension teaching and learning with reference to the use of task-based

instruction?
1.5 Significance of the study
The available findings in this area reveal that emphasizing on reading based on
traditional approaches and strategies has been the source of new problems. In this
case, Hokmi (2005) states that traditionally EFL students are required to read texts,
translate them into the first languages, and answer the comprehension questions.
According to Shokouhi (2006), inadequate approaches including Grammar
Translation Method have been dominant in the current EFL textbooks and
classrooms; significant approaches which have shown to be effective in enhancing
the learner's understanding have somewhat been neglected in this trend.
In fact, the problem with traditional approaches is that they do not usually consider
as being purpose-driven and comprehension questions generally address all
information in the text in an undifferentiated manner as if all ideas or aspects of the
text are equally important. In this regard, Farhady (2006) clearly asserts that the
activities and exercises in the English textbooks do not give learners a sense of
achievement in terms of the reading skill. Tasks are not designed to involve students
in the process of learning, so a remodelling of the texts and activities is highly
5


recommended. Among the recent effective approaches, Task-based Language
Teaching, also referred to as Task-based Instruction has become an important
approach; in a way, that it is currently known as the dominant teaching approach to
language instruction. Therefore, it is expected that the findings of the research will
contribute to only the fulfilment of the literature gap concerning the employment of
task based approach for the improvement of students‟ reading comprehension skills
but the practical implications for the design of reading comprehension curriculum
and lessons with the inclusion of proper and useful tasks.
1.6 A Summary of methodology
1.6.1 Participants

Participants were 100 students from the four intact 11th grade classes at FPT high
school in Hanoi with the age range of 16-18 years old. All participants were
supposed to be at the similar level of English proficiency since they have learned
English as a second language for one year and a half at FPT high school. The total
number of students was selected to do carry out two reading comprehension tests, a
pre-test and a post-test, to measure the reading comprehension ability of the
students under the effects of task based approaches in the English reading classes.
Furthermore, then, a survey questionnaire was conducted to obtain more in-depth
attitudes and perceptions towards the use of task based approach for reading
comprehension teaching by their teachers. Four English teachers of the school were
also invited to administrate the reading tests and check the validity of the tests and
the questionnaire.
1.6.2 Research instruments
A quasi-experimental research was employed in this study to measure participants‟
reading comprehension achievement as well as the influence of focused tasks on
their reading ability.
To collect effective and relevant data for this study, four research techniques were
carried out:
(i)

Using a pre-test and a post-test to assess the teaching and learning
success through the intervention of task based approach in reading
6


comprehension;
(ii)

Designing a questionnaire to measure intrinsic motivation of English
learning activities;

(iii)

Conducting class observations to evaluate the attitudes of the students
towards the teachers‟ use of task based approach in reading
comprehension lessons; and

(iv)

Interviewing students and teachers to support the findings from other
instruments to evaluate the effects of task based approach on the students‟
improvements in reading comprehension ability.

1.6.3 Research procedures
The researcher conducted the study with the following steps:
(1) Administering the pre-test and the questionnaire to check the current reading
ability of the participants;
(2) Carrying out the task based instructions to the two experimental groups as
the treatment of action research;
(3) Issuing a questionnaire to check students‟ attitudes, understanding of the
experiment period;
(4) Conducting class observations to obtain the way the teachers employs the
task based approach in their teaching of reading comprehension and the
attitudes of the students towards this approach in the natural context;
(5) Administering a post-test to measure the success of treatment; and
(6) Analyzing the gathered data and discussing the findings for the conclusion
and implications
1.7 Structure of the study
The study consists of three main parts: the Introduction, the Development and the
Conclusion with reference to five chapters.

Chapter 1: Introduction presents the background, rationale, aims and objectives,
scope, methods, significance and design of the study
Chapter 2: Literature Review is intended to give some theoretical background
related to reading and reading comprehension in English language, task based
7


instructions, theoretical frameworks of task based approach and the previous
researches concerning task based approach.
Chapter 3: Methodology deals with research governing orientation, research
methods and presents the situation analysis, participants, data collection
instruments, data collection procedures and data analysis. The detailed results of the
survey and a comprehensive analysis on the data collected are focused.
Chapter 4: Findings and Discussions shows major findings and discussions and
offers some recommendations for teachers to use the task based approach to
improve the students‟ reading comprehension skills.
Chapter 5: Conclusion and Implications summarizes the issues addressed,
recapitulates the research procedure, and further makes recommendations for the
implementation of task-based language teaching in the following research.

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter deals with three major aspects regarding the studied issues, including
reading and reading comprehension in English; task based instructions; and
theoretical framework by Willis (1996) concerning the use of task-based approach
in foreign language teaching and learning. Furthermore, a critical analysis of
previous studies is carried out in this chapter to explore how the task based
instructions in English teaching are addressed by the scholars and education

practitioners.
2.1 Reading
2.1.1 Definition
Reading is one of the most important skills in learning language besides listening,
speaking and writing. It has the fundamental goal to know enough the concept and
the language. It operational means an activity that the students perform to gain
information or massage from the written material the read. Therefore, in reading
activity students have intention to obtain knowledge from their listening.
Hornby (1994) defines reading as an action of a person who reads. Carillo (1976)
concludes that educators and psychologists differ as to what should be included in
the definition of reading in three categories, including:
(1) Reading is purely a mechanical process in reading skill by the following:
-

A reader‟s accuracy in recognizing words and attacking words that are
known;

-

The amount of print recognized at each fixation of the eyes;

-

The rate of recognizing of words and phrases; and

-

Rhythmic progress along the line of print an easy return sweep to the next
line.

(2) Reading is mechanical process plus the acquisition of meaning advocates of this
broader view hold that in addition to acquisition efficiency in the mechanical
aspect given above; the reader must fuse the meaning represented by the printed
words into a chain of related ideas.
(3) Reading is combination of mechanics, understanding, retention, and use. In this
9


broadest of the three views, the reader should be able not to perform the
mechanics and comprehend and the meanings meaning of the words, but to
critically evaluate the ideas expressed and apply then to his or her situation.
Nuttal (1982) states that reading is to recall, to understand, to interpret, and analyze
the printed page while Smith and Robinson (1980) state that reading an active
attempt, on the part of the reader, to understand a writer message. The reader
interacts with and try to reconstruct what the writer wishes to communicates. Haris
and Sipay (1980) state reading is the meaningful interpretation of printed or written
verbal symbols. Nuttal (1982) remarks that reading is process of getting a massage
from a text or understanding a written text mean extracting the information from the
text as efficiency as possible. According to Clark and Silberstein in Anita (2006)
define that reading is an active cognitive process of interacting with print and
monitoring comprehension to establish meaning. From this point of view, it can be
concluded that reading is an active thinking process where the reader try to gain
information given by the author and understanding what actually the purpose of the
author.
2.1.2 Purposes of reading
The purposes of reading refer to readers‟ aims and objectives. Therefore, different
readers may have different purposes in their mind with the reading text in their
hand. According to Ruiqi (2007), basically there are two main reading purposes
including reading for getting information and reading for pure fun or enjoyment.
Grabe and Stoller (2002), however, divided reading purposes into seven subtypes

which are more specific: reading for search for simple information, reading to skim
quickly, reading to learn from the text, reading to integrate information, reading to
write, reading to critique the text and reading for general comprehension.
2.1.3 Reading process
Reading process is claimed by Gascoigne (2005) to be a selective process which is
characterized as an active process of comprehending. So far, there have been three
widely accepted reading models developed to depict the act of reading or the way
and procedure that readers use to construct meaning from the reading texts. The
10


three reading models are bottom-up, top-down and interactive (Barnett, 1989).
In bottom-up model, reading is compelled by the text, proceeds from part to whole,
constructs meaning from letters, words, phrases, sentences. Readers process the text
in linear direction (Nunan, 1991). Therefore, in this model, readers are believed to
play a rather passive role. The basis of bottom-up reading model lies in the
linguistic knowledge of the reader (Samuel & Kamil, 1988).
In top-down model, the understanding of the text is constructed from whole to part.
The readers predict what come next, test their prediction and adjust or confirm. In
this model, readers actively use their background knowledge. Goodman (1967)
described reading using top-down model like a “psycholinguistic guessing game” in
which the “reader reconstructs, as best as he can, a message which has been
encoded by a writer as a graphic display” (p.135).
Interactive model is a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches. This
model was discussed as the process of combining textual information with the
information the reader brings to a text (Widdownson, 1979); therefore, the meaning
of the text is, in fact, “synthesized based on information provided simultaneously
from several knowledge sources” (Stanovich, 1980, p.35).
2.2 Reading comprehension
Reading comprehension is a crucial component of second language acquisition. As

a core part of language learning it is, obviously, not an effortless process. Learners
often complain of not understanding a text, therefore they fail in answering to the
comprehensive questions. In addition to this, Gough and Tunmer (1986) supported
that reading comprehension is actually a process of decoding. Besides, it is believed
by Smith (1978) that “reading comprehension involves bringing a prior knowledge
interacted with what she is reading, so that she can achieve comprehension”.
Moreover, Block et al. (2002, p.5) claimed that “reading comprehension is an
interactive process involving the reader, the text and the context.”
Sedita (2001) claimed that reading comprehension is the ability to determine
meaning from text. It is a complicated, interactive process where readers construct
meaning based on information they get from the text combine with their own
11


knowledge. Gough and Tunmer (1986) supported that reading comprehension is
actually a process of decoding. According to the RAND Reading Study Group
(2012), reading comprehension is the process of simultaneously extracting and
constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with written language
which entails 3 elements: the reader who doing the comprehending (bring his own
capacities, abilities, knowledge and experiences), the text to be comprehended and
the activity (the purposes, the processes, the consequences). The dynamic
interaction between these elements of reading comprehension can be depicted in the
following figure.

Figure 2.1: A Heuristic approach for reading comprehension
Source: RAND Reading Study Group, 2002
In English learning process as input or as English materials is measured the
students‟ reading comprehension. The wrong strategy in teaching can make the
students lazy and raise impression that subject is not important so they consider that
learning is the fact of being forced. Hence, this research looks into the task based

approach as an effective method in teaching and learning of reading English
comprehension.

12


2.3 Task based instructions
2.3.1 Definition of task
Second language and foreign language teachers both seek to find the means,
activities, and tasks to help language learners achieve their goals in learning
languages. Thus, task holds a central role in language pedagogy and SL/FL
language research because it is used to assess what learners can do in the L2.
The definition of the concept of task can predetermine language use. As Nunan
(2004) claims, the concept of task has made its way in syllabus design, classroom
teaching, and learner assessment. It has also influenced pedagogical policies in
ESL/EFL classrooms. Task has been defined differently by different experts in the
field (Lee, 2000; Long, 1985; Prabhu, 1987; Skehan, 1996).
Ellis (2003) claims that the definitions of task have addressed different dimensions
such as (a) the scope of a task, (b) the perspective from which a task is viewed, (c)
its authenticity, (d) linguistic skills required to perform a task, (e) psychological and
cognitive processes involved in performance of a task, and (f) the outcome of a task.
Willis (1996, p. 23) defines task as “an activity where the TL is used by the learner
for a communicative purpose in order to achieve an outcome.” For Richards and
Rodgers (2014), a task is an activity carried out as the outcome of processing or
understanding language. Tasks may end in production of language. Using different
tasks can make language teaching more communicative.
There are different types of tasks which could be employed in ESL/EFL settings,
such as, jigsaw tasks, information-gap tasks, problem-solving tasks, decisionmaking tasks, opinion exchange task, etc. They are generally divided into
pedagogical tasks and real-world tasks. Nunan (1989) believes that task is an
activity which necessarily includes language. It involves learners in comprehending,

manipulating, producing, or interacting in TL while they focus on meaning rather
than form. For Ellis (2003, p.16) a pedagogical task is “a work plan that requires
learners to process language pragmatically in order to achieve an outcome that can
be evaluated in terms of whether the correct or appropriate propositional content has
been conveyed.”
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The focus is on meaning even if the design of the task affects learners‟ choice of a
particular form. A task can refer to receptive skills (listening and reading) or
productive skills (speaking and writing). Knowing the definition and the dimensions
can differentiate TBI from traditional teaching methods.
2.3.2 Task based instructions
Task-based instruction has gained popularity in the field of language teaching since
the last decade of 20th century (Sanchez, 2004). In this approach, learners
concentrate on meaning rather than form; that is, students carry out a group of
communicative tasks instead of doing form-based discrete exercises. Students are
expected to express their own ideas, either orally or in a written mode, about the
topic of the lesson (Willis, 1996). Nunan (1991) outlines five characteristics of a
task-based approach to language learning:
(1) An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target
language.
(2) The introduction of authentic texts (teaching materials) into the learning
situation.
(3) The provision of opportunities for learners to focus not only on language, but
also on the learning process itself.
(4) An enhancement of the learner‟s own personal experience as important
contributing elements to classroom learning.
(5) An attempt to link classroom language learning with language activities
outside the classroom.

Willis (1996) explains that “within the TBL framework, tasks and texts combine to
give students a rich exposure to language and also opportunities to use it
themselves” (p. 101). Ellis (2006) cites several authors that propose various designs
of framework; however, they all coincide in three principal stages or phases.
According to him, the first phase in the framework shown in the above figure is the
“pretask” that includes the various activities that teachers and students can
undertake before beginning the task. Some of these activities may be asking and
answering questions or reading a passage related to the topic. The second phase, i.e.
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task cycle or “during-task”, takes place when the task is selected and learners
engage in fulfilling the goals of the task. According to Haseli (2004), in this stage
the learners usually perform the task (typically a reading exercise) in pairs or small
groups. The final phase is “post-task” and involves procedures for following up on
the task performance. Only the “during-task” phase is obligatory in task-based
teaching. Options selected from the “pre-task” or post-task” phases are nonobligatory, but can serve a crucial role in ensuring that the task performance is
maximally effective for language development.
TBI emphasizes on conveying meaning with a proposed product where learners can
learn and practice the forms of TL while paying attention to meaning. Tasks are
activities engaging the participants to be language users because tasks improve
learners‟ ability to communicate in real-world. As Schmitt (2008) stated, an
important part of mastering a SL is learning understanding reading passages. L2
learners need a lot of words to successfully read and understand.
Vocabulary is a powerful carrier of comprehension. However, there is no agreement
over the best resources of vocabulary learning/teaching. In line with new
developments in language teaching methodology, some researchers (De La Fuente,
2006; Keating, 2008) have argued that integrating tasks in reading classes can
increase engagement and facilitate learning and teaching. As Nation (2001)
claimed, L2 learners usually know that their limitations in their vocabulary

knowledge affect their communication skills, especially reading comprehension
because lexical items bear the basic information for comprehension.
To increase reading comprehension ability, different teachers employ different
methods, ranging from traditional ones to alternative, communicative one. TBI as a
substitute method to traditional language teaching method in teaching English is
suggested because it supports a method in which functional communicative
language use is expected. Ellis (2009) believes that TBI can be both input-providing
and output prompting. It is a refinement of CLT and takes a fairly strong view of
CLT (Skehan, 1996). It can be regarded as an opportunity to return to the
conceptual foundations of CLT (Samuda & Bygate, 2008). In TBI learning
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