This paper presents a novel methodology to determine textbook readability. The method mainly relies on students' lexical coverage to determine the readability level of textbooks, taking into consideration that readability depends primarily on vocabulary knowledge and that it is a function of lexical coverage in teaching English as a Foreign…

The study of teaching translation has always been influenced by the theory of foreign language teaching, regardless of the theoretical or practical approaches the researchers used. In the classroom, students are frequently bored with translating grammar because they are seldom taught how grammar works. In view of this teaching gap, this study…

The Flesch readability formula was used to analyze 192 100-word samples from selected matching issues of "Time" and "Newsweek." It was hypothesized that "immediate-reward" types of news, such as sports, social, and human interest events, would be significantly more readable (fewer syllables per 100 words and fewer…

Reports on a study that examined 15 randomly selected issues of a newspaper to determine if the readability scores for stories written in different writing styles are consistent when assessed by different tests. (HOD)

Compares passages from two weekly newsmagazines and finds differences in readability according to type of content, but not along lines of the delayed reward/immediate reward typology. (FL)

Compares nine basic reporting texts with regard to such items as chapter length, presence or absence of a glossary, reading ease, human interest, and treatment of sexism in language. (GW)

In a collaborative effort, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Document Design Project conducted an evaluation of marine radio rules for recreational boaters that had been rewritten in plain English by FCC personnel. The revised rules were evaluated by 53 experienced boaters and 52 inexperienced boaters, who were given either the…

Finds that in the areas of readability, interest level, and thoroughness, the news in community daily newspapers was not significantly better than that produced by students. (RS)

Young adults read not only to experience real-life problems, but also to "escape" from those problems. The two most popular types of novels available to teens are the contemporary realistic problem novel and the formula romance novel. A study examined the incidence of specific adolescent developmental tasks (adolescent problems/concerns)…

Concludes that nominal writing style, substituting nouns for verbs, adversely affects reader interest and reading speed. (FL)

A study examined the general structure of children's information books and their use of language. A corpus of over 110 information books was examined for (1) obligatory elements of the genre, (2) optional elements, (3) iterative or repeating elements, (4) elements with fixed orders of occurrence in relation to other elements, and (5) elements with…

When readability formulas are used to review workbooks and textbooks their value is limited because application techniques have failed to take into consideration the exercises and examples in these books. The O'Hear and Ramsey (OR) Corrective technique has been developed to alleviate this problem. It allows readability data to be used accurately…

As part of the evaluation of four different versions of a patient package insert (PPI) for diazepam (Valium) created by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the content, organization, language, and design of the PPIs were compared. One PPI was a short prose piece with clear organization that did not particularly highlight warnings or, indeed,…

Twenty-seven social psychology textbooks were rated for Flesch readability, student readability, Flesch interest, student interest, and student recommendation. (ND)

A study compared six midwestern United States campus newspapers with their respective general circulation newspapers. A content analysis of these publications was designed to determine whether local news stories in daily student newspapers are as readable, interesting, and thorough as those found in general circulation daily newspapers. The daily…