A computer program has been designed to analyze the reading difficulty of English text. It is, essentially, an automation of the widely used Dale-Chall formula for the estimation of reading difficulty. Text samples of up to 5000 words are input, with only minor punctuation restrictions being applied. Output from the program consists of sample…

Reported are results of a survey in which 13 series of secondary level geography textbooks were tested to determine readability. Findings indicate that there is little difference in the readability level of geography texts published for grade six and those published for the secondary level. References are included. (Author/DB)

Concludes that there is a need for a broader-based compensatory reading program at the college freshman and sophomore levels. (FL)

This report compares a typical newspaper account of an event with other possible ways of narrating the event. It argues that journlists' beliefs about the appropriate format, style, and content for a news story work in concert to obscure the structure of the story and the relations among subparts, and thus serve to thwart their presumed goal in…