THE JOURNAL OF ASIA TEFL Vol. 14, No. 1, Spring 2017, 32-46 http://dx.doi.org/10.18823/asiatefl.2017.14.1.3.32 32 The Journal of Asia TEFL http://journal.asiatefl.org/ e-ISSN 2466-1511 © 2004 AsiaTEFL.org. All rights reserved. The Effect of Task-based Reading Activities on Vocabulary Learning and Retention of Iranian EFL Learners Bahareh Kamalian Department of English, Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch, Qom, Iran Hassan Soleimani Department of Applied Linguistics, Payame Noor University (PNU), Qom, Iran Mahmud Safari Department of English, Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch, Qom, Iran Task–based reading activities are of crucial value today, and consequently learners’ proficiency is more important than their abstract knowledge of language rules. It seems that learners’ familiarity with task-based reading activities may increase learners’ proficiency. Therefore, this study investigated the effect of task-based reading activities such as text completion and pupil generated questions on vocabulary learning and retention of Iranian intermediate EFL learners. To conduct the study, three intact classes of learners who had already finished Top Notch Fundamental A and B (Saslow & Ausher, 2011) in previous semesters in an English language institute were selected as the participants of the study. To ensure the homogeneity of the participants, those who got a score between 30-47 from the total score of 60 in OPT were selected as the intermediate level for main participants of the study (N=47). As the data were normally distributed, one way ANOVA and repeated measure ANOVA were employed for the statistical analyses of the study. The findings indicated that using task-based reading activities such as text completion and pupil-generated questions has significant and meaningful impacts on Iranian EFL learners’ vocabulary learning and retention. The implementations of the study are discussed. Keywords: task-based language teaching, task, reading activities, vocabulary retention, vocabulary knowledge Introduction Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) has recently become a widespread approach in many educational settings (Carless, 2004; Littlewood, 2007; Nunan, 2003). Littlewood (2007) stated that task- based approach has achieved something of a status of a new orthodoxy that teachers in a wide range of settings are being told by curriculum leaders how to teach. Along with this, publishers almost everywhere are describing their new textbooks as task-based. There has also been a steady increase in the number of studies in which tasks are the organizing unit of learning activity (Ellis, 2003, 2009; Wood, 2010). For example, Ellis (2009) believes that TBLT has drawn extensively on research into L2 acquisition. TBLT considers a task as a basic unit of instruction. Besides all the characteristics that a task should have (i.e. meaning, gap, need for learners’ resources, etc), it should be clearly distinguished from other types of