Suggests readability formulas might have some worth even though they do not take into account all the aspects of the child's oral language skills. (MM)

Six of the most widely used readability scales are briefly reviewed and their original source cited: the Dale-Chall Readability Formula, the Flesch "Reading Ease" Formula, the Fog Index, the Fry Readability Graph, the SMOG Grading Plan, and the Spache Readability Formula. (SJL)

Analysis of variance applied to measured working times indicated that the Flesch takes significantly longer to use than Automated Readability Index and the Fog Count. (RB)

Describes Fry's Readability Graph for determing the variations in difficulty throughout textbooks. (RB)

Compares the Fry, Dale-Chall, and SMOG readability formulas and cautions users about their limitations. (RB)

Reviews formulas and related predictive devices that tell whether a particular piece of writing is likely to be readable to a particular group of readers. (RB)

Acknowledging widely recognized shortcomings of readability formulas, the authors propose a technique for analyzing syntactic complexity. (RB)

The development of a readability formula designed to determine the readability level of German instructional materials at the elementary level is discussed in this paper. The readability formula which was developed is called the German Readability Graph and is similar to the Fry Readability Graph. Syllables and number of sentences are counted per…

Raises doubts about the validity of readability formulas. (RB)

In this study, a test of syntactic complexity was developed to be administered to adult beginning readers. The purpose of the test was to determine syntactic competence in the reading of these adults as compared with literate adults. The test was developed on the basis of a review of the literature related to acquisition of syntax, complexity of…