"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…

Shows problems in the communication process between preparers and users of financial reports. Uses test techniques from linguistics and pedagogy (here, the cloze technique) to investigate two Swedish financial reports' understandability. Finds important parts of the reports were not understood by small investors. (PA)

The act of communicating is not complete until the message is received and understood by the audience. This paper focuses on formulating messages for comprehensibility, in a discussion that is fundamentally applicable to all media. The ability to understand a verbovisual message depends on its readability, legibility, and its reading value.…

Structural reading difficulty of argumentative prose (text with an underlying message or superordinate principle), is related to the reader's approach to reading and learning. Ninety Swedish teenagers and adults with varying levels of formal education, were divided into three groups, based on their own descriptions of reading and learning: deep…

The reading research studies presented in this volume address questions that incorporate more than one culture, language, or writing system, illustrate a broad conceptualization of the study of reading, and represent the expanding international consciousness and program of the International Reading Association. Part one offers the following…