MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

THE EFFECTS OF TASK-BASED LEARNING ON NON-ENGLISH
MAJOR STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION AT NIIE NGUYEN
TAT THANH UNIVERSITY

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of Master of Arts in TESOL

Submitted by HUYNH HUU NGHIEM
Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. PHAM VU PHI HO

Ho Chi Minh City, 2019


MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

HUYNH HUU NGHIEM

THE EFFECTS OF TASK-BASED LEARNING ON NON-ENGLISH
MAJOR STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION AT NIIE NGUYEN
TAT THANH UNIVERSITY
Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)
Code: 60 14 01 11

MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL
Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. PHAM VU PHI HO

Ho Chi Minh City, 2019

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP
I certify that this thesis entitled “The Effects of Task-Based Learning on NonEnglish Major Students’ Reading Comprehension at NIIE Nguyen Tat Thanh
University” represents my own work.
Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis contains no
material published elsewhere or extract in whole or in part from a thesis by which I have
qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma.
No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgment in the main
text of the thesis.
This thesis has not been previously submitted for the award of any degree or diploma
in any other tertiary institution.
Ho Chi Minh City, 2019

Huynh Huu Nghiem

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The long journey of the study cannot be completed without the encouragement of many
people in a variety of ways.
First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Mr.
Pham Vu Phi Ho (Assoc. Prof.) for his on-going support, invaluable feedback, and patience
throughout the study.
I am also thankful for my students at NIIE Nguyen Tat Thanh University for their
contributions as willing participants.

Lastly, my special thanks go to my family, friends, and colleagues who always love and
support me unconditionally during the time I conducted the study.

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ABSTRACT
Teaching reading is an indispensable part of English teaching. However, choosing
appropriate teaching method is not simple. For this reason, this research “The Effects of
Task-Based Learning on Non-English Major Students’ Reading Comprehension at
NIIE Nguyen Tat Thanh University” was carried out with the aims to investigate if Task
Based Learning (TBL) was better than Grammar Translation Method (GTM) which had
been used widely in improving reading comprehension. Moreover, the researcher wanted
to investigate if there was significant difference in task focus achievements between TBL
and GTM. Finally, this study was designed to research how the students felt when
implementing TBL in reading classroom practice. The study was conducted within 12
weeks over 29 students from experimental group taught by TBL and 30 students from
control group taught by GTM. The data collection instruments were pre-test, post-test and
interview.
The findings of this study indicated that generally TBL is more effective than GTM
in improving students’ reading comprehension. Moreover, GTM is beneficial for teaching
reading tasks related to identifying appropriate vocabulary and structural words while TBL
is suitable for teaching reading tasks related to authentic readings, reading for gist or real
conversations. Finally, this study also pointed that the students did express the positive
attitudes towards TBL.
Based on the findings, this study concluded with some recommendations for both
teachers and students and limitations for future research in terms of TBL.
Key words: GTM = Grammar Translation Method, TBL= Task Based Learning

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TABLE OF CONTENT

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ii

ABSTRACT

iii

TABLE OF CONTENT

iv

LIST OF FIGURES

viii

LIST OF TABLES

ix

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION


1

1.1.

Background of the study

1

1.2.

Statements of problem

3

1.3.

Aims of the study

5

1.4.

Research questions

5

1.5.

Significance of the study


6

1.6.

An overview of the study

6

Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

8

2.1. Reading

8

2.1.1. Definition of reading

8

2.1.2. Reading comprehension

9

2.1.2.1. Reading strategies

9

2.1.2.2. Reading factors


12

2.1.3. Levels of reading

12

2.1.4. Teaching reading

14

2.1.4.1. Principles in teaching reading

15

2.1.4.2. Principles in learning reading

16

2.1.4.3. Reading activities

16

2.1.4.4. Problems in reading comprehension

17

iv


2.1.4.5. Models of reading process


18

2.2. The task-based learning

20

2.2.1. Definition of task-based learning

20

2.2.2. The task-based learning framework

21

2.2.3. Task types

24

2.2.4. Advantages of task-based learning

26

2.2.5. The roles of teachers and students in task-based learning

27

2.2.5.1. The roles of teachers in task-based learning

27


2.2.5.2. The roles of students in task-based learning

28

2.3. Grammar translation method in teaching reading

28

2.4. Previous studies

31

2.5. Research gaps

36

2.6. Chapter summary

37

Chapter 3: METHODOLOGY

38

3.1. Research design

38

3.2. Pedagogical setting


39

3.3. Participants

40

3.4. Teaching material

41

3.5. Instruments

42

3.5.1. Pre-test and post-test

43

3.5.2. Interview

45

3.6. Training procedure

46

3.7 Data collection

48


3.8. Data analysis

48

3.9. Chapter summary

50

Chapter 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

51

4.1. Reading comprehension ability of experimental and control

51

groups in the pre-test
4.2. Research question 1:” Which method is more effective to teach reading
v

52


comprehension at NIIE Nguyen Tat Thanh University. GTM or TBL?”
4.2.1. A comparison of students’ reading performance in pre-test and

53

post-test

4.2.1.1. Control group

53

4.2.1.2. Experimental group

53

4.2.2. A comparison of students’ reading performance in post-test in both groups 54
4.3. Research question 2: “Is there any significant difference in task focus

56

achievements between TBL and GTM?”
4.4. Research question 3: “What attitudes do the students express

59

towards TBL?”
4.4.1. Students’ preference about TBL

59

4.4.2. How TBL enhances students’ reading achievement

62

4.4.3. Reading challenges

63


4.5. Discussion

65

4.5.1. Research question 1: “Is there any significant difference in achievement

66

between non-English major students taught reading comprehension by
TBL and those taught reading comprehensions by GTM?”
4.5.2. Research question 2: “Is there any significant difference in task focus

68

achievements between TBL and GTM?”
4.5.3. Research question 3: “What attitudes do the students express

69

towards TBL?”
4.6 Chapter summary

70

Chapter 6: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

71

5.1. Conclusions


71

5.2. Recommendations

72

5.2.1. Recommendations for the researcher

72

5.2.2. Recommendations for the students

73

5.3. Limitations and recommendations for further studies

73

5.4. Chapter summary

74
vi


REFERENCES

75

APPENDIX A: LESSON PLAN


84

APPENDIX B: PRE-TEST AND POST-TEST SPECIFICATION

86

APPENDIX C: LESSON CONTENT

88

APPENDIX D: INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS

89

APPENDIX E: PRE-TEST

98

APPENDIX F: POST-TEST

102

APPENDIX G: STUDENTS’ TEST SCORES IN BOTH GROUPS

106

APPENDIX H: PRE-TEST AND POST-TEST DATA ANALYSIS

107


APPENDIX I: TEXTBOOK DESCRIPTION

119

APPENDIX J: ANSWER KEY

120

vii


LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.1. Task based learning framework

22

Figure 2.2. Principles of Grammar Translation Method

30

viii


LIST OF TABLES
Table 3.1. Research design

39

Table 3.2. Pedagogical settings descriptions


40

Table 3.3. Student information

41

Table 3.4. The connections between research questions and instruments

42

Table 3.5. Summary of training procedure

47

Table 4.1. The comparison of experimental and control groups in the pre-test 51
Table 4.2. A comparison of students’ reading comprehension in

53

pre-test and post-test of the control group
Table 4.3. A comparison of students’ reading comprehension in

54

pre-test and post-test of the experimental group
Table 4.4. Students’ reading performance in post-test in both groups

55


Table 4.5. Differences in task focus achievements between TBL and GTM

56

Table 4.6. Students’ interests

59

Table 4.7. Students’ favorite activities

61

Table 4.8. Students’ improvement in reading comprehension

62

Table 4.9 Students’ reading difficulties

64

ix


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Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
Overview
The purposes of this study are to investigate the effects of TBL on nonEnglish major student’s reading comprehension at NIIE Nguyen Tat Thanh

University. This chapter firstly mentions the background of the study. Then it
describes the problems the researcher has faced during his teaching reading
comprehension. After that, the aims of te study, reseach questions and significance
of the study are also mentioned.
1.1.

Background of the study
Language is considered as a mean of communication. Communication occurs

between two or more speakers but also readers and texts. It is said that reading in a
second language is an easy process and it is taught once and that is enough for all
years of schooling. What is more, reading is commonly considered to be
straightforward process: reading words, knowing how to pronounce words and then
understand the meaning of them like the way people do in daily spoken conversations
(Ruddell & Unrau, 1994). Reading skill, however, is not that simple process of
comprehensing every single word in texts. It is actually a difficult procedure where
readers have to make sense out of not only words, phrases, sentences in the pare but
also thoughts, awareness and background information. In addtition, reading is a
process of identifying, interpreting and then perceptualizing the reading materials.
Moreover, reading creates a connetion between authors and readers (Sheng, 2000).
Regarding to educational domain, especially English language learning, reading is
one of leading sources of education. Without fundamental foundation in English
reading, EFL students are not be able to access the diversity of curriculum.
Additionally, being able to reading in English can help EFL students develope in
language learning owning to reading supports in obtaning knowledge, gives plenty



1



of input to EFL students. It also helps students enhance wide source of vocabulary
and productively has influences on other English skills such as writing skill (Tang,
2000). Agreeing with Tang, Hung and Ngan (2015) also stated that reading is main
skill improving students’ other 3 skills as well as fluency. Grabe and Stoller (2009)
indicated that reading skill does not ensure that everyone can reach to success of
reading comprehension, but with strengthening reading skill, readers are capable of
creating better progress and accomplishing goals in most of academic fields.
Generally speaking, reading comprehension is viewed as popular issue in
English classroom nowadays. Stauffer (1969) showed the essentiality to comprehend
reading materials by claiming reading is equal with comprehending. Against with
this Stauffer’s opinion, being able to reach English reading comprehension is
something that is required by EFL students. In reality, however, they also have to
find solutions to solve reading problems.
According to Davoudi and Yousefi (2015) mentioned a list of reading
problems like lacking of vocabulary and background information, grammatical
knowledge, poor strategies. Also, English reading materials are not similar to first
language ones; hence, when reading English texts, EFL students may detect some
unfamiliar points from their mother tongue. The differences may be lexical items
(Samad, Jannah, & Fitriani, 2017). Moreover, there are some factors that are not
related to linguistic problems, which turns English reading comprehension into more
difficult thing. Differences between cultures are the main causes for that. During the
period of reading English texts, EFL students often face cultural troubles while they
do not in their mother tongue materials. This problem occurs due to languages’
identities.
Knowing the alarming situation above, English teachers are constantly trying
to figure out the solutions helping EFL students overcome English reading problems
so as so improve English proficiency. Atma (2010) suggested that using suitable
methods obviously enhance EFL students’ level of English. Moreover, teaching
English requires active participations from both teacher and students and learning is




2


acquired effectively when students work in groups. In doing so, Task-based
Learning(TBL) has been considered to be an effective teaching method of English
teachers (Hong-qin, 2007). TBL is supposed to be the suitable to improve students’
reading ability. This method can help teachers to encourage their students to be more
active in participating and creating; thus, they can have more motivations. Studying
with TBL, students will comprehend, manipulate, produce or even interact with
English while they focus mostly on meaning rather than forms. Moreover, TBL
provides students with more opportunities that they can externalize thoughts and
ideas. Teachers using TBL are also more responsive. Additionally, TBL is more
student-centered. The researcher of this study chose TBL to teach reading because it
is able to develop reading skill of his students. TBL can be taught and applied to
students. The researcher supposed that all reading comprehension indicators can be
improved by using TBL in reading class. The assumption is as follow: TBL mentions
a method which is based on the usage of tasks like the main unit of instruction and
planning in language teaching. The tasks follow a sequence: pre-task, task cycle and
language focus.
1.2.

Statements of problem
Teaching reading is an indispensable part of English teaching. If it works,

EFL student will achieve the benefits of communication through being able to access
any reading materials, especially in English so that they can reach their goals such as
studying or working as well as gaining knowledge. However, it is not simple to

obtain those without choosing an appropriate teaching method. Reading teaching
needs great knowledge and skill achieved over many years by studying and
practicing. Louisa (1999) claims that although English teachers can join many
courses of teaching reading, it is just the beginning. Without having a suitable
method, the core of the lesson cannot be attained. It is necessary to be competent at
reading teaching methods and to practice them.



3


In Vietnam, The Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training (MOET,
2012) claims that the most vital target in teaching and learning English is improving
the communicative competence. When student finish High School English
curriculum, they should have certain English knowledge about linguistic. Regarding
to this, teaching reading is required to provide EFL students with necessary reading
skills (MOET, 2012). Unfortunately, this purpose has not been reached in Vietnam.
A majority of EFL students have lacked of motivations in learning reading (Thao &
Tham, 2017). In addition, the use of Grammar Translation Method (GTM) focusing
mainly on translations of lexical items and written materials results in lacking of
motivations in reading. The researcher has the same experience with that. When
researcher was in University, his reading teacher mostly applied GTM in classrooms.
She asked the researcher to answer the questions which were not in the textbooks
and then translate the answers into Vietnamese. What it more, GTM has been
dominant in researcher’s workplace. Most of the teachers have been using GTM in
their reading classes. Researcher interviewed some of his colleagues why they do
that. Quang (personal communication, August 13, 2017) stated that he used GTM
because he did not have enough time for his teaching, particularly in reading text, so
he usually translates the meaning of the vocabulary first then his students started to

read the text. Additionally, Thi (personal communication, August 18, 2017) also
shares her teaching experiences which is that she used GTM because she wants to
save time by using mother tongue in classrooms because she has to save time for her
students to practice some reading tests taken from KET which is the main source of
final tests. Furthermore, Hoa (personal communication, August 21, 2017) says that
her students sometimes find difficult with the reading section, so she usually lists the
new words and helps her students translate the reading texts so as so get them
understandable. Thus, seeking an alternative method is necessary for the researcher’s
situation to improve his students’ reading comprehension.
TBL potentially motivates EFL students because it brings a lot of chances to
use English through doing tasks (Willis & Willis, 2007). With 3 phases in its



4


framework, EFL students can reduce stress on working on English, so they have
more motivations. Furthermore, Trinh (2005) indicated that EFL students can
improve communicative competence with TBL. Not but at least, the TBL’s
principles totally match communicative language teaching, enhance EFL students to
use English communicatively and control their languages (Van den Branden, 2016).
As mentioned above, many researchers have explored the relationship
between TBL and EFL students’ reading comprehension. Those studies have proved
that TBL is a suitable method to teach English reading comprehension. However, the
dominant method of teaching reading comprehension at NIIE was GTM. For this
reason, the researcher examined the influences that TBL and GTM has on Non
English Major students’ reading ability and their influences on different task focuses
and the students’ opinions towards TBL at Nguyen Tat Thanh Institute of
International Education (NIIE).

1.3.

Aims of the study
The most vital aim of this research was to find out if TBL was better than

Grammar Translation Method (GTM) which had been used widely in improving
reading comprehension. Moreover, the researcher wanted to investigate the
effectiveness of TBL and GTM on certain reading tasks. Finally, this study was
designed to research how the students felt when implementing TBL in reading
classroom practice.
1.4.

Research questions
So as to obtain the aims above, there are 3 research questions as below:
R-Q. 1: Which method is more effective to teach reading comprehension at

NIIE Nguyen Tat Thanh University, GTM or TBL?



5


R-Q. 2: Is there any significant difference in task focus achievements between
TBL and GTM?
R-Q. 3: What attitudes do the students express towards TBL?
1.5.

Significance of the study
After carrying on this study, there are lots of benefits. First of all, EFL students


are the ones obtaining advantages from this research. They can improve their own
reading skills and they also get familiar with the TBL which has been used to design
most of the textbooks recently (Nga, personal communication, July, 2017).
Furthermore, EFL students will gain plenty of new vocabulary and they are
motivated with TBL. Secondly, English teachers also benefit from this study. They
can apply TBL in their own classes as alternative method when teaching reading.
Beside that, this encourages teachers to seek new way for teaching reading. Not but
at least, it brings teachers great teaching activities which they can use to motivate
their students. Finally, other researcher can refer to this research to improving EFL
students’ reading skill.
1.6.

An overview of the study

This thesis includes 6 chapters:
Chapter 1 (Introduction) indicates the background of the study. It comprises
of background of the study, state of problem, aims of the study, research questions,
significance of the study and overview of the study.
Chapter 2 (Literature Review) shows the background of the theory for this
study. Specifically, the reading definition and reading comprehension and the
reading teaching method are described in the first part. Next, this study covers the
TBL. In this part, this study defines what TBL is, followed by its framework,
characteristics and advantages. Then this study presents how to design tasks in



6



reading classes. Following that, teaching procedures are described. The next part
goes through empirical studies giving reviews for this study. Finally, the rationale
and hypothesis are presented.
Chapter 3 (Methodology) handles with the research methodology. It
describes the research design and some related issues. Particularly, the subjects and
situation, instruments are illustrated and the way they are designed. Furthermore, the
reliability and validity are shown. Finally, it mentions the data collection.
Chapter 4 (Findings and discussions) gives a presentation of the results
from the pre-test and post-test and interviews and presents the discussions on the
results achieved from this study.
Chapter 5 (Conclusion and recommendations) summarizes the main
findings and points out some ideas for further research.



7


Chapter 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
Overview
Improving English teaching has been the priority of educators and EFL
teachers over the past few years. They have been trying to create more interactions
among students and teachers so that they can reach learner-centered classrooms
where teachers and learners talk about ideas, shares experiences as well as
knowledge. In modern teaching field, EFL teachers are not the people in charge of
everything in learning process and EFL students have to be more active in classrooms
and their teachers should be considered to be facilitators.
In this chapter, the research is proving that TBL is a vital method that is highly
recommended in reading classrooms. This part depicts clearly TBL in details. The it

shows and synthesizes related studies using TBL in teaching English reading.
2.1.

Reading

2.1.1. Definition of reading
Throughout the history of teaching languages, espcially in teaching reading,
there are a lot of researchers have studied much about reading and they have pointed
out their own reading definition.
According to Urquhart & Weir (1998), reading is a suitable meaning
responsed towards written texts. This means reading is the connection between
symbols and language. During the time reading process occurs, readers have to try
to achieve the meaning that writers send to the texts. Following this, Wallace (2005)
also give his own definition about reading. He states that reading is interpreting
meanings from a written materials as a part of communication. Hence, it can been
seen that there is some communicative meaning that readers try to understand.
Additionally, Day & Bamfold (1998) claimes that reading is the capacity of a person
who can recognize visual symbols, link them with experiences to reach
understanding. Contributing to reading, Aebersold and Field (2006) gives a more



8


simple definition which is that people see the texts and figrure out the meaning of
written symple. Agreeing with that definition, a linguitics, Nunan (1998) defines
reading is a procedure of interpreting written icons, dividing them into small parts
(letters) moving to bigger ones (words, sentences, etc.....).
In conclusion, it can been infered that reading is a complicated procedures and

its purpose is to reach comprehension, meaning through written language.
2.1.2. Reading comprehension
Compared with other sorts of comprehension, reading comprehension is not
something very dissimilar. It is simply considered as the skill to apprehend what the
authors give to the materials (Smith, 1988). Reading comprehension includes 4
components: (1) obtaning

general meaning of things are communicated, (2)

apprehending and memorizing details supporting ideas, (3) memorizing ideas, (4)
following directions. It can be seen that these 4 factors depict readers have to both
comprehend and memorize all the ideas and try to figure out details supporting ideas.
Moreover, some other points that need considering to reading comprehension.
They are illustrated as below:
2.1.2.1.

Reading strategies:

In reading comprehension field, there a lot of strategies and they are
mentioned in details below.
1. Motivating and applying background knowledge
Using this strategy, students activate the background information and use it to
support them to understand what they read. This information includes personal
experiences with the world for how the readings work and how they are formed
(Mcneil, 1992).
Schemata is totally vital in reading comprehension process. This theory
orginates from they way people form and motivate background knowledge. This
theory states that when people get to know about the world, they set up their own




9


series of information structures. These structures or schemas grows when people gain
new knowledge through experiences or reading. For example, a little boy’s schema
for cow can involve his understanding of black and white farm animal. When he gain
more experiences with a lot kinds of cow in different places, the schema of cow will
develop and be improved. It can be related to cows with brown color (Anderson,
Reynolds, Schallert, & Goetz, 1977).
Cognitive scientists claim that students who succeed in reading permanetly
link thier own knowledge to new one they find in the texts. Effective students activate
their schema when reading. Schemas influence how students understand and react
to the texts (Pichert & Anderson, 1976). They are also considerably important to
reading comprehension. Thus, when students have knowledge about the organization
of the text, they are likely able to understand that text (Armbruster, Anderson, &
Ostertag, 1987).
2. Making and answering questions
In this strategy, students have to ask themselves frank questions in the text.
This strategy helps students to link information, figure out main ideas and summarize
information. Using suitable questions allows students to focus on vital details from
the text (Wood, Woloshyn, & Willoughby, 1995). Moreover, making relevant
questions assists students to focus on challenges with reading comprehension and to
take essential actions to handle those difficulties (Pressley, 1995).
3. Creating inferences
Students draw conclusion from what they read in the text. In this strategy,
authors do not always give all information about topics, places, characters. They
usually add information which students can use to creating inferences integrating
information from the text with background information. With this process, students
can develop their skills to infer meaning. When students are able to make inferences,




10


they will have more opportunities to be successful in reading comprehension
(Hansen & Pearson, 1983).
4. Prediction
In this strategy, students are capable of gaining meaning from reading texts
through creating guesses. Successful students use predictions to link their
background information to new ideas from reading materials to achieve meaning.
Before reading, students can use their knowledge to guess what the reading will be
about. The title of the reading materials can active memories with same contents,
allowing them to predict the content of the new texts. While reading, students can
make guesses about what will happen next. Students try to determine these guesses
constantly and change any of them if they are not proved in the text (Mukhroji, 2011).
5. Summarizing
Students combine details in the reading to expand in their words what the
reading means. Being able to summarizing is a vital strategy allowing students to
remember the reading quickly. Using this strategy, students are aware of the structure
of the text, important details in the text, and how things are linked. Successful
summary of explanatory reading materials consist of steps in scientific process,
developments of art movements, or events resulting in historically vital happenings.
Also, successful summary of narrations comprises of linking details in a story or
recognizing the factors stimulating characters’ actions (Pearson & Johnson, 2000)
6. Visualizing
Students can create picture of the reading texts to understand what they face
while reading. This strategy shows that students observe the texts. Students picturing
an image while reading are better at remembering things then those who do not

(Pressley, 1976). Being able to visualizing is important when used for narrations.
When students encounter narrative readings, they are capable of comprehending the



11


texts easily by imagining places, characters, etc. Visualizing can also be used for
expositive readings. Students visualize procedures in a process helping them to
memorize several abstract details (Gambrell & Bales, 1986)
2.1.2.2.

Reading factors

It is true to claim that there are some problems that EFL students have to face
when handling with reading comprehension. These problems occur during the
reading procedures. There are 7 factors having impacts on reading comprehension
(Abbas & Narjes, 2016). (1) The first factor is relevant to emotions. EFL students
usually get worried when they do not undersatnd reading materials. They may feel
disappointed. Furthuremore, it is indicated that family environment not hamonizing
thier mental might affect their ability of concentrating. (2) The second factor is about
the intelligence. According to Wolf (1987), reading comprehension is regarded as
process of information. It is also considered ascognitive process. Initially, the input
is recognized in visual form and it is then analyzed with cognition. Thus, each
comprehension level needs its intelligence level. (3) The third factor is physical.
Some health problem can cause bad effects on reading comprehension as well as
reading for gist (Thomas, 1962). (4) The fourth factor is about background
experience. Student who have limitations of vocabulary find it difficult to understand
in general. According to Baker and Brown (1985), being able to have a logical

thinking of the reading material is firmly orginated from backgorund information of
the words. If students do not have suitable prior knowldge, it might be hard for them
to follow the currences of the texts. It is clear that background experience plays vital
role in efficient comprehension.
2.1.3. Levels of reading
It is thought that reading is only focused on pronouncing words and
comprehension is not significantly vital. But according to Davis & Lass (1996), it is
time-wasting to only concentrating on pronouncing words while not achieving the



12


main core of reading texts, they also emphasizes that English teachers should pay
more attention to the fundamental features of comprehension skills. They states that
reading comprehension consistes of 4 levels. (1) The first level is literal reading. At
this level, EFL students are required to understand the meaning that is directly stated
and this level is also a prerequisite for higher comprehension. (2) The second level
is interpretive reading. At this level, making inferences is concentrated and ideas are
implied, which means that EFL students have to be capable of understanding the
author’s implications. (3) The third level is critical reading. At this level, being able
to evaluate texts, comparing with the ideas in them. They are considered as standards
and to point out their accuracy and approriateness. This level is based on 2 levels
mentioned above. (4) The fourth level is creative reading. At this level, EFL students
have to go beyond the reading texts shown. They have to think when they read with
their imagination.
When a teacher teaches reading, he has to apply 4 levels into his teaching.
Initially, teachers use techniques like discussion or questions to figure out the literal
meaning from the author; in other word, this is called pre-reading, teachers ask

students to answer some questions relevant to the topic before conducting the mean
reading. It is more efficient to motivate students to read and help them to understand
literal meaning by facilitating it. After that, when students finish the reading sections,
both students and teacher should discuss together. (Richards, J. C., and Schmidt, R.,
2002).
From what is mentioned above, it is clear that reading is not a simple process
to achieve meaning or ideas from reading material. Reading comprehension means
that when an EFL student reads, she has to be able to understand what she reads. In
reading comprehension, interaction should occur between readers and the texts. On
the other hand, the author show her ideas in written form and readers what she wants
to intend.
According to Nancy and Jhon (2009), in order to get the main reasons of
reading comprehension, an EFL student should possess several fundamental reading



13