A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TASK TYPES ON THE VOCABULARY LEARNING OF IRANIAN LEARNERS OF ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

The present study attempted to investigate the relative comparison of three task types: Information-gap task, opinion-gap task and reasoning-gap task on the vocabulary learning of Iranian learners of English as a foreign language whose access to the target language is limited. In this study, the researcher questioned the efficacy of each task type in a context where learners do not have adequate opportunities to use English outside classroom, such as is the case with learners of English in Iran. Moreover, effectiveness of using Task-based Instruction, which is an approach popularly practiced in EFL, was investigated in this study. Data were collected from three lower-intermediate high school classes which were taught for eight weeks with three different task types: One class practiced language through information-gap tasks, another through opinion-gap tasks, and the last one through reasoning-gap tasks. Findings from the results of an achievement vocabulary test which was given to the students of the three classes after instruction, and a think-aloud report protocol run by the researcher herself are discussed in terms of their implications for future English teaching and learning as a foreign language.