Research suggests that L2 students (English-language learners) do not access postsecondary education as the same level as L1 (native English-speaking) peers. Using a computational linguistics approach, this study analyzes financial aid application instructions from 341 randomly selected four-year, Title IV-participating U.S. institutions. Results…

This paper uses an action research intervention in an attempt to improve student engagement with summative feedback. The intervention delivered summative module feedback to the students as audio recordings, replacing the written method employed in previous years. The project found that students are keen on audio as an alternative to written…

The assessment of learning in large online courses requires tools that are valid, reliable, easy to administer, and can be automatically scored. We have evaluated an online assessment and learning tool called Knowledge Assembly, or Knowla. Knowla measures a student's knowledge in a particular subject by having the student assemble a set of…

Doubts the ability of formulas to predict readability and questions their use as aids in writing readable prose. Points out that formulas also hamper the teaching of business writing because they emphasize written products instead of the writing process. (PD)

The Gunning Fog Index of readability indicates both the average length of words and the difficult words (three or more syllables) in written material. This document describes a business communication course at Wayne State University in which students calculate the Gunning Fog Index of two of their writing assignments with the aid of the…

To elicit student interest, teachers must search out works that have manageable sentences, vocabulary, accessible plots, characters, dialogue, and relate to the current cultural values of their students. (CRH)

The author requires students to sample articles in two magazines and compare their readability levels. He also emphasizes the importance of writing directly--not up or down--to an audience. (RL)

Compares the writing of two students--a competent writer and a weak one--in a technical communication course before and after discussion of design principles. Finds that a basic understanding of design principles helped them improve document macrostructure but had little effect on document microstructure. Suggests that integrating document design…

Content area teachers should be aware of the five levels of vocabulary with which their students must cope. The five levels include standard words at the least complex level, transitional terms that have different meanings in the content area than in standard usage, technical terms specific to the subject area, changeable terms (similar to…

The purpose of this study was to compare the reading ability of university freshmen in two remedial track courses with the readability of the assigned texts and in light of the instructional methodology employed by the instructional staff of two courses. The investigations findings seemed to suggest that the reading ability of the students in the…

For much of this century, text linguists have recognized that various tokens called "metadiscourse" may help explain how texts function. In linguistics, metadiscourse has a more concrete meaning than it typically does in composition: it refers to specific words, phrases, and clauses which are primarily intended to help the reader…

College students can read, but they often lack the prereading and postreading skills needed to help them think about and respond to what they read. A three-step plan can help students read and understand the text more fully. The first step entails using measures of fitness to determine: (1) the grade level of the text being considered and how it…

Explains how education majors try to learn to recognize thought unit sentences (ThUS's) and to gauge their difficulty. Shows examples of simple writing and discusses the task of writing ThUS's to match style and level of author. Gives a rationale for doing a readability analysis in this way. (FL)

Addressed to teachers of composition and to other professional students of prose, this book develops a philosophy of composition based on the nature and history of writing. Chapters discuss distinctive features of written speech, the normative character of written speech, progressive tendencies in the history of language and prose, refinement of…

Reflecting the increasing complexity and sophistication in reading research, the papers in this collection represent a wide spectrum of approaches, philosophies, viewpoints, and techniques of scholarly endeavor in their treatment of reading research and instruction. The 52 articles selected from those presented at the 1979 meeting of the National…