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Abstract

In this study an attempt was made to analyze the Reading Activities (tasks), suggested in currently in use grade 11 English textbook, and to see how well they are organized in a way that they could promote students Reading skills. The required data for the study were collected using text analysis, interviews and classroom observation. The contents of the reading sections of the selected units (unit 3,4,5,6 and 7) in the textbook were analyzed using elements of communicative tasks. This is done using a Littlejohn (1998:196) suggestion that says for internal evaluation; 10%-15% of the material would be the unit of analysis (i.e. taking three units of the whole textbook). For the sake of maximizing the reliability of the study, the researcher adds other two units. The study was conducted at Bule Hora Secondary and Preparatory School, which was selected purposively. Text analysis, observation and interview were used to gather the relevant data. Two Grade 11 English teachers who were available to teach from this textbook and nine ranked students (from three sections) selected through the purposive sampling technique and interviewed assumed to forward detail information about their new English textbook. The findings of the textbook analysis were used as background information for the further analysis of the findings of the study. Then, descriptive analysis was employed to analyze the responses given to each item in the interviews' questionnaire, the findings of the text analysis and classroom observation. The analysis revealed that there has been a mismatch among the Reading activities designed for grade 11, the teaching practices implemented by the teachers and the pedagogical procedures favored by the course designers for teaching the reading sections of the new textbook. The textbook analysis reveals that even if the Reading activities in a new textbook are designed to improve students' communicative skills, however, the Reading activities are not seemed designed for grade 11 students' level of understanding, needs and interests. Teachers also claimed that the activities are challenging and teacher's book they have been using is not properly prepared with the book. The teachers' and students' responses and the classroom observation results indicated mismatch between what actually happened in the reading classes and what has been proposed in the teachers' and text book. Accordingly, the unfamiliarity and difficulty of the contents, absence of teachers' training for presenting the new textbook, mismatch of teachers' and students' textbook; and lack of motivation and commitment on the part of the learners and teachers appeared to be the major causes for the students' poor communicative skills and failure to execute the suggested Reading activities (tasks). To sum up, there was no uniformity in students' response across different aspects of Reading activities, but there was more consistency between teachers' response. The results of the study generally suggest that the designer did not properly organize Reading tasks, which were designed for teaching English reading skill. Consequently, reading tasks seemed to suffer from different problems created at various stages of implementing the tasks. The tasks did not appear to provide the students with helpful learning atmosphere in order to practice reading and develop their oral skills. Recommendations were forwarded to alleviate the problems.

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Citation: Mengesha Robso Wodajo (2026) Evaluating Reading Tasks in Ethiopian Secondary Education: A Pedagogical Analysis of the Grade 11th English Textbook. Epistora J. Soc. Sci. & Glob. Stud. 1(1), 1-21. Article EJSSGS-2026-102