At the end of high school in Chile, it is expected that students achieve a B1 English language proficiency level. In the present article, we measure the level of readability of the texts used in the new EFL Chilean textbook and compare it with the readability level of the texts used in the Cambridge B1 preliminary exam to check its appropriacy.…

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…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the continuity of reading passages of Korean high school English textbooks with the 2015 Revised National Curriculum using CohMetrix, a software that analyzes English texts in a range of linguistic features. Twentyone English textbooks were analyzed: 11 High School English, five High School English I,…

English education in Japan and Korea are similar in some respects. Although both countries are not completely but mostly monolingual societies, where citizens do not need English in their daily life, they have begun to realize the importance of English as a tool for international communication, and as a result their English education is becoming…

Undergraduate students enrolled in a Principles of Psychology II course were asked to rate selections from introductory psychology texts for reading ease. These student ratings were then compared with the ratings obtained using the Flesch readability formula. Student ratings did not agree very well with the Flesch scores. (RM)

A readability comparison of psychology, sociology, and physics introductory textbooks from the years 1860 to 1913 and 1963-1969 was made to discover if psychology has become as "difficult" ("scientific") as physics. (JH)

Fry's Readability Graph was used to determine the readability levels of the 1981 Scott, Foresman and Co. basal textbook series for grades one through six. The readability levels were then compared to those established for the 1978 edition. In the 1981 edition, all stories were handscored. Poems, skill lessons, and plays were not examined in order…

The revised Spache Readability Formula and the Fry Readability Formula were applied to 20 selected reading materials designed for adolescents reading at second grade level. Three samples from each text were examined. The results using the Spache formula corresponded to the publisher's stated readability levels, with no significant variability…

This study examined whether the design of textbook material affects comprehension and memory of textbook material under certain cognitive conditions for proficient and remedial readers. Using quantitative and qualitative research methods, format was found to significantly affect comprehension and memory. Proficient Male scored significantly…

The first phase of a study investigating textbook readability and students' reading levels used three traditional formulas to assess the readability levels of 51 primary textbooks from college introductory social science courses in 7 disciplines. The second phase investigated the relationship between the readability levels of students' texts,…

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)

Comparison of evaluation method and results of ten introductory psychology textbooks. They were evaluated according to both Flesch formulas and student opinions on both readability and interest levels. (ND)

The Raygor Readability Estimate, described in this article, is much like the widely used Fry Readability Graph, except that it determines vocabulary difficulty by counting words of six or more letters, rather than by counting syllables. An evaluation found that Raygor was faster and easier to use and more objective than the Fry method. (RM)

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…

A study examined the first grade materials in five new basal programs submitted for the 1993 Texas state adoption. (The programs were those of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich; Houghton Mifflin; Scott Foresman; Macmillan/McGraw-Hill; and Silver Burdett Ginn). These series are compared with program materials currently in use in the state. The analysis…