This study was done to see if readability levels printed on recreational reading books were as accurate as when the Fry formula and the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level were applied to them. Three descriptive passages from each of 60 recreational reading books were analyzed using the Fry formula and the Flesch-Kincaid formula. The data was compared to…

Edward Fry's Graph for Estimating Readability (Extended) was used to determine the approximate readability levels of books within the Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, and "Little House" series. The findings indicated that the levels of readability did not remain the same throughout each series, with the Nancy Drew series ranging in reading levels from…

The study analyzes, for readability and difficulty, the language of 50 commonly used application forms. The forms were compared with respect to length, readability, t-unit density, and word-length variables. Forms were also compared against two word-frequency lists. Results show that many of the words appearing often on forms do not appear on the…

The Fry Graph for Estimating Readability (Extended) and George Magginnis' formula for passages shorter than 100 words were used in an investigation of the reading levels of 18 mathematics textbooks produced for grades one through six by three major publishers. The results indicated that the readability levels of the textbooks were inaccurate. Few…

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…

A study was designed to validate the Navy Readability Indices (NRIs) in an individualized instructional system using the criteria of comprehension and learning time. Two hundred Navy enlisted personnel enrolled in a computer-managed technical training course were tested for both comprehension and learning-time-to-criterion on four programmed…

This study evaluates the readability levels of frequently used literacy materials, the power builder component of the SRA Reading Laboratory IIIB. A review of the readability literature reveals numerous studies performed on content area textbooks but relatively few studies performed on literacy materials. Three questions are asked: (1) What is the…

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…

This research thesis, written in Hebrew, tries to apply various methods of measuring readability to ranking the readability of two mathematics textbooks widely used in the seventh grade. The readability was measured by formula, by expert judgment, by cloze procedure, and by comprehension tests. High correlations were obtained between the rankings…

This paper contains a historical review of the literature pertaining to American popular literature and analysis of two different samples of adult fiction on best sellers, one an analysis of readability levels and one an analysis of the portrayal of female characters. In the first analysis the Fry Readability Formula was applied to each of 60…

This study explored the validation of a criterion or reference score for determining the adequacy of any individual's cloze score. The hypothesis tested in this research was that a cloze preformance of 40 percent on materials ranging in difficulty from grades 4 to 8 will predict a 75 percent criterion level of reading comprehension based on a…

In three series of state-adopted parallel English and Spanish basal readers, comprehension questions most frequently assessed literal comprehension, followed by inference, evaluation, and appreciation. Readability level was higher than stated for second and third grade English texts and higher for Spanish than English texts. Contains 24…

Young adults read not only to experience real-life problems, but also to "escape" from those problems. The two most popular types of novels available to teens are the contemporary realistic problem novel and the formula romance novel. A study examined the incidence of specific adolescent developmental tasks (adolescent problems/concerns)…

This study examined the relationships between the reading achievement of college students, the readability of the textbooks they used, and college achievement. Measures included reading-grade levels from the Nelson-Denny Reading Test, functional reading levels as measured by cloze scores, Dale-Chall readability estimates for textbooks used by the…

Samples of government publications, legal documents, newspapers, paperback novels, and instruction manuals were among the items used in a study to determine the degree to which the readability levels of materials used by adults reflect an awareness of and adjustment to the average reading ability of the adult population. The readability levels of…