The Comparative Impact of Content-Based and Task-Based Teaching in a Critical Thinking Setting on EFL Learners’ Reading Comprehension

This study was an attempt to investigate the comparative impact of two types of teaching approaches, namely content-based (CBI) and task-based (TBLT) instruction on the reading comprehension of Iranian EFL learners. For this purpose, sixty intermediate students from a pool of eighty five students studying at a private language school were chosen using a piloted PET. The students were then randomly assigned to two experimental groups: CBI and TBLT. These teaching approaches were coupled with critical thinking activities. A piloted PET reading was administered as the posttest of the study after each group was exposed to the treatment for 18 sessions in six weeks. The mean scores of the two groups on this posttest were compared. The result of this study depicted no significant difference concerning the impact of CBI and TBLT on EFL learners’ reading.