Presenting a Task-based Framework for Developing Reading Course Materials in Teaching Persian to Speakers of Other Languages within Nunan’s Model

The primary purpose of this research was to present a task-based framework for developing the reading course materials to teach Persian to speakers of other languages. The base of this framework was Nunan’s (2004) task-based framework and the reading comprehension strategies of Lai (1997), and also the realistic strategies of Thompson and Rubin (1982), which have been determined for language learners and teachers. Nunan’s (2004) framework is distinct from other frameworks because it considers the teacher’s and learner’s roles (Nunan, 2004). According to Nunan (2004), teacher and learner roles are two sides of a coin. Giving the learners a more active role in the classroom requires the teacher to adopt a different role. Considering the role of the teacher and learner in the process of developing and carrying out the tasks helps to educate active, autonomous, and reflective learners. Goals, input, procedure, and settings are other components of Nunan’s framework that make the learner experience the real world of language use in the classroom. According to this model, seven reading tasks were provided. Reading texts were selected based on Lai's strategies. The reading goals were matched with these strategies.. Texts written and  translated by native speakers were selected. These texts were supposed to increase the general knowledge of the reader or to entertain them. They were at the level of the target learners and could be matched with the intended strategies. The level of the chosen texts was determined by one of the teachers and authors of Persian language teaching textbooks at Dehkhoda International Institute. These texts were reviewed by her. They were also given to advanced-level learners to determine their readability.. After confirming the appropriateness of the texts for this level of language learners, the proposed framework for developing reading tasks out of the readers was implemented. The results indicated that if these approaches are integrated, richer texts could be provided that might improve the reading comprehension of language learners and train independent language learners.
Extended Abstract:
The content of educational materials in language teaching plays an important role in the learning process. Accordingly, educational content should be developed based on effective and efficient frameworks. From the past to the present, various frameworks for foreign language teaching materials development have been proposed, and their effectiveness has been investigated in various studies (Prabho, 1987, Nunan, 2004, Elis, 2004). Meanwhile, the task-based framework, which is relatively new, has received more attention due to real opportunities for language learning. On the other hand, researchers have concluded that material development as an academic discipline is critical both theoretically and practically. It is essential that the developers of materials, prepare educational materials based on research, principles, and observations. In recent years, instructors and curriculum developers have become more inclined to use a task-based approach, because task-based teaching facilitates the learning process. In this regard, studies have been conducted to examine the theoretical foundations employed in the development of Persian language teaching contents to speakers of other languages.
A study has been conducted based on developing materials including books and syllabus design in teaching Persian to speakers of other languages (Sahraei,2012). This study shows that as the content of these materials is developed based on the personal experience of the authors, they have their style and context. The literature reviewed for the present study shows that in teaching Persian to speakers of other languages, regarding material development based on a task-based approach, there is a lack of research studies. The main purpose of this research was to offer a task-based framework for developing reading course materials in Persian language teaching texts based on Nunan's (2004) framework, the reading skills strategies adapted from Lai (1997) by Nunan (2004), and the roles provided by Thomson and Rubin (1982) for the successful learners and teachers. Nunan (2004) considers the components of the task as goals, inputs, and procedures. These components  are supported by the role of the teacher and learner and the settings in which the task is performed. The study made an effort to integrate Nunan's (2004) task-based framework and Lai's (1997) reading skills strategies and the roles suggested by Thomson and Rubin (1982) to offer a framework for developing reading course materials. After integrating the intended frameworks, tasks were prepared to examine the application of this framework in the preparation of content for reading skills and comprehension. In this study, real sources were used to prepare these texts. Brado (2006) argues that real sources for producing authentic texts are unlimited. Newspapers, magazines, television programs, movies, songs, and literary texts are the most common instances of these texts. One of the most useful and widely used resources is Internet. In this study, texts were selected that were written or translated by native speakers. These texts were supposed to increase the general knowledge of the readers or entertain them. Texts that were at the level of learners and could be matched with the intended strategies were selected. Lai (1997) believes that if the text matches the strategies and goals of reading skills, it significantly increases the speed of reading and comprehension.
Considering the role of the teacher and learner in the materials helps to educate active, autonomous, and reflective learners. The data employed for developing the tasks in this study were at the advanced language level. Efforts were made to choose texts relevant to the learners' language level and appropriate for adult learners and in line with reading skills strategies and goals. The texts were selected according to the strategies and goals of reading skills by searching various internet sites that contained various scientific and educational articles. According to Clark and Silberstein (1977), if the goal is to strengthen the learner's skills in finding the main idea of the text and the intended strategy of scanning, texts should be selected whose first sentence contains the main idea of the whole paragraph and supports the details of the text. The strategies used in this study were the strategies proposed by Lai (1997) for reading skills. The level of the chosen texts was determined by one of the teachers and authors of Persian language teaching textbooks at Dehkhoda International Institute. These texts were reviewed by her. They were also given to advanced-level learners to determine their readability. After confirming the appropriateness of the texts for this level of language learners, the proposed framework for developing reading tasks out of the texts was implemented. The results indicated that if these approaches are integrated, richer texts could be provided that might improve the reading comprehension of language learners and train independent language learners.