SEMANTIC MAPPING AND TASK-BASED TECHNIQUES IN THE COMPREHENSION OF THE ACADEMIC TEXTS

This quasi-experimental study determined the effectiveness of task-based and semantic mapping techniques in the comprehension of academic texts of Grade 11 students for academic year 2017-2018. Matched-pairing of the English 10 students’ average and sex were used to determine the participants in the study. A teacher-made comprehension test and lesson plans were used in the study. These instruments were content- and face-validated by a panel of four experts, were found reliable and were pilot tested to determine their administrability. Mean and standard deviation were employed for the descriptive analysis and inferential statistical tools employed were the t-test for dependent samples and t-test for independent samples. Results revealed that the students had average level of reading comprehension skills before and after the exposure to the task-based technique and semantic mapping technique. It was found out that there was a significant difference in the reading comprehension skills of the students before and after the exposure to the semantic mapping and task-based techniques. Finally, task-based technique and semantic mapping technique were found to be effective techniques in enhancing students’ reading comprehension skills of academic texts for it was revealed that participants in task-based technique group and semantic mapping technique group performed better after the conduct of the interventions. Furthermore, task-based technique and semantic mapping technique are both good teaching strategies in enhancing students’ comprehension skills.