Reading is the main activity to get information or verify knowledge from sources, and it is very important for students. It needs deep understanding to determine what is read, especially in understanding the content conveyed by the text. The students should need the accuracy so what is obtained can be the same as the author's intent. It can especially help students improve their vocabulary knowledge and become fluent readers in their reading skills. Moreover, it is a process of interaction between the readers and the text. The students can transfer their ideas and know the meaning of words and sentences. According to Jiang & Grabe (2007) reading is the ability to convey meaning by using graphic organizers. However, people can add to their information by reading text books, so that they can increase their knowledge. This makes the students more adept at applying and improving everything that has been learned and understood from reading books and developing their critical thinking and knowledge. Many researchers carry out their studies in reading activities because this is a basic activity to open one’s perspective, especially the students', about new things (Küçükoğlu, 2013; Dewi & Salmiah, 2019; Martika & Hermayawati, 2016; Ariandika & Kartikawati, 2018).

Many studies have reported the use of strategy and media in reading activities with the purpose of understanding the meaning of words and contents of a text that is written in English. The use of strategy-directed inquiry activities (DIA) by Hamidi & Adnan (2013) helps the students develop their comprehension using their own efforts. Andriana (2017) has reported the use of mind mapping in reading comprehension for students. Then, the use of media comic strips can help the students comprehend the story of the text (Maulana & Fitrawati, 2017). Moreover, Restanto (2016) reported a study on teaching reading by using picture books and found that it helps the students read and understand the text, especially in narrative texts.

It means that a reading activity needs a strategy and media to help the students understand the meaning of words in the text, and it makes the students feel able to comprehend the content of the text. Furthermore, reading activity can be employed by using technique (Rosyida & Ghufron, 2018) by using strategy (Suryani, 2017) using media (Ismail et al., 2020). Therefore, in reading activities, the teacher should use suitable strategies in order to make reading activities in the classroom more fun and not boring. In reality, the problems with reading activity are still present.

Teachers in the COVID-19 pandemic believe that the instructional strategies in schools need to change in order to determine and formulate online learning goals that are in line with the national curriculum. The online meeting is being used to teach and learn in schools((Bhamani et al., 2020; Bestiantono et al., 2020; and Rasmitadila et al., 2020) Concerning instructional strategies, they emphasize the importance of technological readiness, including technological capacity, as well as whether online media is required to support the success of online learning. The learning is transferred using e-learning and the students still face difficulty in learning, especially in reading class. The students find many problems in understanding the meaning of the English text, and they do not know how to answer the questions related to the text. The students grasp to find information from the identifying topic, controlling idea, generic structure, and language feature in reading activities. It is very challenging for the teachers to teach reading during the outbreak COVID-19 pandemic. To figure out those problems, the teachers should be creative in teaching reading and use an effective activity to help the students verify the context of the text they are reading.

A task-based activity is intended to help the students learn through activities that prioritize working on tasks that are given based on varied activities to help the students understand and read the text clearly. This activity aims to create opportunities for the students' skills development through the development of knowledge. It is in line with Roskos & Neuman (2014) and Tahmasebi (2011) have reported as best practices for task-based language learning (TBLL). Keyvanfar & Modarresi, (2009) focus on task-based activities in teaching reading, and the result shows that the students perform better in their reading skills. It involves the creativity of the students who can provide the experience of the students. Mao (2012) focuses on the application of task-based activities in the reading classroom, and the result shows that task-based activities in teaching

reading help solve communication problems in reading activities. Irfan (2017) focuses on the task-based activity on students’ reading comprehension, and the result shows that task-based activities can improve their understanding of the material so that they can get better results in reading comprehension. Mesbah (2016) focuses on the task-based in reading comprehension, and the result shows it can develop into the effectiveness of using tasks in teaching the reading comprehension skill. Chen & Chen (2005) examine the effectiveness of using a collaborative task-based approach in the teaching of reading, and the result shows that the effects of reading on vocabulary learning are strong, and it is necessary to believe that reading not only strengthens the effects of reading but also helps to improve learners’ capability of using either familiar or new words.

Furthermore, during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, task-based studies are conducted by (Al Kandari & Al Qattan, 2020; Flores, 2020; and Ferrucci et al., 2020). It can be concluded that task-based language teaching activities are effective in reading activities. It improves students' performance and encourages them to be more creative in their reading activities. It can help students gain a better understanding of the material and improve their ability to use new words.

Based on the explanation above, the researchers are interested in learning more about the impact of task-based activities on reading skills for junior high school students. Diannisa & Ridwan (2021) propose that researchers investigate strategies for teaching reading comprehension during a pandemic in depth. Then, according to Hanewald & Trust (2013) researchers prefer junior high school students because in this grade, the students can profoundly alter the school experience. They know less about how their children, youth, families, and teachers view the transition and how it changes the trajectory of their education. Thus, the researchers do the study entitled "The Impact of Task-Based Activities on Reading Skills for Junior High School Students."

This study aims to investigate the impact of using task-based activities on reading skills for junior high school students in one of the junior high schools in Madiun . In this research, the researchers used quantitative research. According to Creswell (2009), quantitative research is a means for testing objective theories by examining the relationships among variables. The research is quasi-experimental research design which uses pre-test and post-test control group design.

The researchers involved the subjects as the participants. Creswell(2003) states that a population is a group of people who have similar characteristics. The population of the study were the eighth-grade students at one of the junior high schools in Madiun. The sample for this research is 8B as an experimental class and 8C as a control class. There are 30 students in the experimental class (8B) and 30 students in

the control class (8C). According to Creswell(2003), a sample is a subgroup of the objective population that the researcher regards as suitable for study for generalizing about the target population. In this research, the researchers chose the sample randomly, so all classes had the same chance of being selected. The researchers wrote the names of classes from 8A to 8J on small pieces of paper, then rolled the papers..

This study had 6 meetings, including pre-test, treatment, and post-test. As a result, there were four treatment meetings. Synchronous and asynchronous online meetings were used in learning activities. The Google form was used to administer the pretest asynchronously. The treatment was done in combination with Google Meet. The study during the Covid-19 outbreak, the students of the experimental and control groups participated in different activities. In the treatment activity, the syntax of task-based activities was used in the experimental group and the control group was then taught conventionally.

The experimental group used task-based activities in three stages: before reading, during reading, and post reading. The activities at the pre-reading stage included providing vocabulary stimulus to raise students' interest in the activity, building context based on the material to be achieved and studied, assigning similar tasks to help students understand the actual meaning, and providing prior knowledge about what will be carried out in the next stage. During the activity at this stage in the reading process, the activities focused on the content and meaning of the recount text, form groups during the reading process, and encouraged each student to contribute to reading recount text comprehension so that students can present the results of reading by re-elaborating in their own language. Then, at the post-reading stage, the students reported their reading results in discussions with friends and shared your perspectives on understanding the recount text that was read, explicitly focusing on grammar and language structure.

The students in the control group were taught using traditional asynchronous and synchronous methods of teaching and learning. The activities were divided into three stages: opening, whilst, and closing. The opening activity aroused the students' interest in participating in the teaching-learning process. The students were then given the recount text and asked to read and answer questions based on it. The students were then asked to discuss the outcome of their answers to the questions. The experimental and control groups were then given a post-test using the asynchronous Google form. A post test was performed to determine whether the two groups' mean reading scores significant difference.

Data collection was used to determine the students' learning outcomes. The researchers collected data using a reading test as the instrument. Reading tests were given to students to assess their reading abilities, and they should be graded using the reading scoring rubric. The reading test in this study was a short answer based on the recount text used in the experimental and control classes. The reading test was administered using a Google Form during the pre-test and post-test so that students could immediately access and work on the questions on the Google Form, which were then scored using a rubric

In this research, the researchers used descriptive and inferential statistics with the aim of analyzing sample data, and the results were applied to subjects using the t-test, which requires a homogeneity and normality test. Irfan (2017) states that the types of statistical analysis that were used during the experimental are: descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. The researchers used an independent t-test in SPSS 21.0 version to analyze data. SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) is a data management and statistical analysis tool that has a very versatile and informative data processing capability and it was used in statistical analysis of data.

The results are described based on descriptive and inferential statistics. The descriptive statistics describe the different means by which the students who are taught by using task-based activities and those who are taught by using conventional teaching. The descriptive statistics can be seen in Table 1, and the detailed results are in the appendix 1.

The use of task-based activities in reading skill for the students indicates that the students who are taught by using task-based activities are more effective than the students who taught by using conventional teaching. It means that reading activities by using task-based (in experimental group) gives a better influence on students’ reading skill. Task-based activities indicate that the students who asked to do the task can improve the reading skill. Through the students’ interaction when doing the tasks provide the opportunities for them to get new vocabulary and to monitor the language they used. During the tasks, the students can exchange ideas with other students. It shows that in reading by using task-based activities make the students better understanding about the material and get better results in reading test. Furthermore, task-based provides opportunities for students to involve in sharing ideas.

Otherwise, the study has limitation on the process of the use of task activities. In task based activities still lack of topic to be given to the students. This means that the kinds of the topics are limited. The use of the topic and kinds of the text are not graded and varied. The materials are too easy to be figured out so there is no challenging for the students to explore more about the text. The text provided is also to short. The situation isn’t interactive during the teaching learning process because the students only read the task and answer the questions. Thus, the future researchers are suggested to provide the students with the various kinds of the text to improve the reading activity in teaching learning process. This needs to improve the students’ mastery on reading in order to reach the goal of skill.

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Conflict of Interest Statement: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Copyright © 2022 Erlik Widiyani Styati and Robingatun Khasanah . This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic prac - tice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

Appendix1