The purpose of this study was to examine factors influencing the utilization of readingrntasks in grade seven English teaching in four selected primary schools in KombolcharnWoreda. To this end, a descriptive survey method was employed to conduct the researchrnin four second cycle primary schools from eleven schools in the Woreda . Within thesernschools, all English language teachers of grade seven who are five in numbers, a total ofrn138 students were taken as actual sources of information. Teachers selected usingrnavailable sampling technique, where as students that filled the questionnaire and thosernwho participated in the focus group discussion selected using simple random andrnpurposive sampling techniques. Questionnaire, interview, focus group discussion andrnclassroom observation were the data collection instruments used to obtain informationrnfrom the sources . The data were analyzed using percentage and descriptive statements.rnThe result of the study revealed that most of the reading tasks indicated in the curricularrnmaterials not utilized as properly as they intended to practice. Teachers and studentsrnextent of the utilization of the reading tasks found to be not more than "sometimes level"rnon most of the tasks. As a result, the tasks like introducing the reading title, predicting therncontent of the passage, understanding the purpose of reading, student-silent independentrnreading, skimming/scanning reading, guessing meaning ji-om the context, discussing thernpassage related with other issues and integrating the other language skills with readingrntasks were not utilized effectively to practice reading skills. Among the variousrntechniques presented in reading tasks, individual work dominated both at pre and at postrnreading phases. Teachers utilized different teaching techniques for a single reading taskrnThe finding of the study showed that teachers did not use the appropriate readingrntechniques to help students at each reading phase. Respondents also revealed that thernmajor factors that very greatly influence the utilization of reading tasks. They were lackrnof motivation of teachers and students, poor teaching strategy, students limited.rnvocabulary knowledge, lack of habit to read in leisure time, lack of reading skills,rnunfamiliar topics and complex sentences. Based on the result of the study, somernrecommendations were suggested to increase the awareness of teachers to utilize the pre,rnwhile and post reading tasks effectively to help students practice reading and tornminimize the effect of influencing factors that were thought to have discouragingrninfluence on the effective utilization of reading tasks.