The concept of readability has had a variable history, moving from a position where it was considered as a very important topic for those responsible for producing texts and matching those texts to the abilities and needs of learners, to its current declining visibility in the education literature. Some important work has been coming from the USA…

Examines the relationship of readability to usage of main idea clues in introductory texts in sociology and in English composition texts. Concludes that use of main idea clues provides a useful supplement to readability formulas in evaluating college textbooks. (SR)

Shows how a number of readability measures developed in English were applied to a textbook written in Hindi. Emphasizes that the more recent approaches to readability that focus on syntax, conceptual difficulty, and organization are a teacher's best help in selecting materials for students. (SR)

Reports findings of a study that examined the extent to which the variability observed in reading levels of common junior high textbooks was also present in four popular high school social studies texts. (FL)

Norms for Air Force technical training materials were developed for seven previously developed structure-of-intellect and seven psycholinguistically oriented variables which have been used to assess the readability/comprehensibility of textual materials. Separate norms are presented for Air Force study guides, manuals, career development course…

Discusses findings from a questionnaire survey of 622 biology teachers on: (1) how accurately they can judge readability of instructional materials; (2) what factors they consider when judging readability levels; and (3) if they considered differences in students' reading ability when selecting reading materials for them to use. (JN)

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…

After reviewing criticisms of the exclusive use of readability formulas to evaluate text difficulty and describing successful efforts to broaden the traditional readability formula approach, this report presents a 20 item checklist for determining text comprehensibility based on four criteria: (1) specific objectives or outcomes expected from the…

The Flesch readability scores for six kinds of newspaper content in 21 daily newspapers showed that newspaper content was generally difficult to read, that international news stories were most difficult to read, and that sports/women's news stories were least difficult to read. (RL)

Two readability formulas were applied to two math and two reading series textbooks at the fourth, fifth, and sixth grade levels to see whether the publishers' suggested reading levels were accurate. Five samples were taken from each text and compared to the publishers' suggested usage according to grade level. Results showed that although formulas…

Even when the readability levels of content passages are equal, cloze shows some content areas make easier reading. (RB)

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…

Reports the results of a study conducted to see if rewriting content material for greater readability would help students reading below grade level. Sees possible value to such an approach. (JL)

Results of three experiments designed to teach sixth grade students to modify difficult formats of math word problems indicated that treatment effects were effective. Large differences in successful problem solution rates were observed in favor of the easier format word problems. (MKM)