Science curriculum standards were mapped onto various texts (literacy readers, trade books, online articles). Statistical analyses highlighted the inconsistencies among readability formulae for Grades 2-6 levels of the standards. There was a lack of correlation among the readability measures, and also when comparing different text sources. Online…

School science has been criticized for its lack of emphasis on the tentative, dynamic nature of science as a process of learning more about our world. This criticism is the guiding force for this present body of work, which focuses on the question: what are the educational benefits for middle school students of reading texts that highlight the…

The study reported in this paper was designed to describe the differences between the reading-difficulty levels of primary textbooks used in first-semester freshman general studies courses and the reading skills of the students enrolled in those courses, and to compare the Flesch Reading Ease Formula with the SMOG Grading Formula. Separate…

A study compared the average reading ability levels of freshmen enrolled at an open-door community college with the readability levels of eight content area textbooks used in courses at the institution. Subjects, 100 students enrolled in reading courses, were randomly selected and administered the Nelson-Denny Reading Test to determine reading…

Although the popular press has reported that college textbooks are becoming easier to read in response to the lowered reading skill level of entering freshmen, a recent study found that newer editions of college texts were more difficult to read than earlier editions of the same texts. A study was undertaken to determine which of the two views was…

Fifty fifth-grade students read passages at three readability levels from four content areas, then answered vocabulary, literal, and interpretive questions based on each passage. Significant differences in comprehension were found across ability levels and content areas. One sample passage is appended. (FL)

The effects of semantic and syntactic complexity on the reading comprehension of content-area prose were investigated among 92 adolescents with learning disabilities. Subjects who read passages that had been modified syntactically or both syntactically and semantically exhibited improved comprehension. Semantic modifications alone did not affect…

The validity of the Dale-Chall Readability ratings for sixth-grade science textbooks when compared to an independent criterion of language difficulty expressed in cloze units was examined. The Canadian Lorge-Thorndike IQ Test and the Canadian Test of Basic Skills, Vocabulary and Comprehension subtests, were administered to 366 sixth graders. Mean…

Written authorial commentary, or metadiscourse, in social studies texts helps students anticipate context, goals, text organization, and author perspective, and results in texts that readers find interesting and easy to remember. An analysis of informational and attitudinal metadiscourse instances in nine social studies textbooks and nine…

Reports on a study that compared the use of the cloze procedure with an oral reading test to assess students' reading abilities, concluding that teachers could use cloze to place students in content area textbooks.(HOD)

A study examined the general content and characteristics of elementary science textbooks and compared selected text segments from several content domains across publishers. The Merrill and Silver-Burdette science programs for grades 1-5 and one level of both the Holt and McGraw-Hill programs were evaluated. Results indicated substantial…

The vocational reading demands of the plumbing trade were investigated to compare the curricular reading demands encountered by apprentices in the educational setting and the occupational reading demands encountered by journeymen in the actual job situation. A secondary purpose of the study was to examine the role and treatment of reading, as both…

Three readability formulas were applied to chapters from six textbooks to determine (1) if there was a significant difference in readability of three consecutive textbook editions of a seventh grade and of an eighth grade text over a 12-year period (1968-1980), and (2) whether eighth grade students would perform equally to the same content from a…

Part of a continuing series intended for use by reading professionals interested in understanding and improving the reading of adolescents, this report contains five articles dealing with a variety of subjects. Specific topics discussed in the articles are (1) readability, (2) reading deficiencies and previous English instruction of land grant…