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)

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory was analyzed by readability formulas which represent varying criterion of comprehension from 50 to 90 percent. If an examiner wishes to ensure 90 percent comprehension of the inventory items, nine years of successful schooling seem necessary. (Author/SJL)

Determines from empirical information on the application of four readability formulas to a group of widely used college economics textbooks that there is no consistency in the absolute reading levels or the rank orderings of these books. (AEA)

A study analyzed the readability of seven central Florida newspapers (one of which is a college newspaper) and "USA Today.""Rightwriter," a grammar checker and readability computer program, was used to evaluate front page articles for each of the eight newspapers. The readability formulas invoked in the readability program…

Readability formulas were originally conceived of as being evaluative measures. However, if a text is being rewritten or revised so that it matches a particular level of ability in its intended readers, it is rather inescapable that readability formulas will influence the changes made. Tacitly or not, formulas now are used to diagnose what causes…

A study examined basal readers and trade books in terms of reading ease as estimated by readability formulas and the incidence of figurative language. Based on an earlier study, the study had three major goals: to (1) assess and compare two reading series ("A" and "B") at each of two grade levels; (2) assess and compare…

Four readability formulas were analyzed to determine the reading grade equivalence of instructional materials at the middle grades and above: the Dale-Chall formula, the Gunning-Fog Index, the Flesch Reading Ease Formula, and the McLaughlin SMOG Grading. In addition, Spache and Wheeler/Smith formulas were analyzed for evaluating primary grade…

"Lasbarhetsindex" ("Lix") is a readability formula developed in Sweden that holds promise for assessing text difficulty in other languages, including English. So far three separate studies have been conducted to test Lix with French and English texts, with German and English texts, and with Greek and English texts. In all three…

Describes the Luiten, Ames, Bradley Readability Variation Method for estimating the variation within a text. Concludes that it is practical and relatively accurate. (HOD)

Explains eight categories of friendly text features: text organization, signaling, discourse consistency, cohesion, explication, conceptual density, metadiscourse, and instructional devices. Extratext determinants of readability (reader, goal, teacher) are also examined. Within the context of two models of reading, the interaction of these…

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…

Investigates whether novelistic prose can be dated by considering marked stylistic changes that occurred over the past 240 years. Finds a positive correlation between publication date and stylistic markers of sentence length, word length, rare punctuation, and word shortening or informality. Argues that this process can form the basis for new…

Indicates that for the most part, the vocabulary in workbook exercises at the third through sixth grade levels lacks adequate control and questions the practice of allowing students to complete the exercises independently of teacher assistance. (FL)

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…

The course units which form the core of the four foundation courses at the Open University were sampled for readability, using an electronic version of R. Flesch's (1951) Reading Ease Score. The textload (reading workload) of the courses was predicted by estimating the total length in words of all text components of these courses. Large variations…