International Journal of English Language Education ISSN 2325-0887 2014, Vol. 2, No. 1 www.macrothink.org/ijele 225 The Application of Task-based Writing and Traditional Writing on the Development of Reading Comprehension of EFL Advanced Iranian Learners Seyed Hamed Seyedi (Corresponding Author) Dept. of English, Abadeh Branch, Islamic Azad University, Abadeh, Iran Tel: 98-912-219-7099 E-mail: hamed.seyedi@yahoo.com Ali Akbar Khomeijani Farahani Dept. of English, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran Tel: 98-912-159-4413 E-mail: farahani@ut.ac.ir Received: March 5, 2014 Accepted: March 20, 2014 Published: March 20, 2014 doi:10.5296/ijele.v2i1.5330 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5296/ijele.v2i1.5330 Abstract Every single teaching method has its own merits and demerits; however, teachers typically select a method which they deem suitable. Task-based language teaching, a learner-centered method, advocates the shift from teacher dependence to learner independence. This study was an attempt to find out if traditional writing makes a significant contribution to the development of reading comprehension. It also concentrated on the usefulness of performing writing tasks on the development of reading comprehension. The participants were 60 female advanced EFL learners chosen from among 100 learners, randomly assigned into two groups of 30 learners. During the treatment period, first-group participants received task-based writing instruction while second-group participants received instructions through traditional methods. The analyzed results clearly demonstrated the contribution of task-based writing to the development of reading comprehension of EFL advanced Iranian learners. The findings also showed that traditional writing instruction was not a good means of improving reading comprehension. Keywords: Task-based writing, Traditional writing, Reading comprehension