Examines the variables experienced teachers of deaf children use to make decisions about the difficulty of a text for use by their students and how effective teacher judgment actually is in determining text difficulty. (EKN)

Discusses the meaning of readability, and describes several popular methods of assessing it. Gives the results of the application of one particular method to a selection of elementary astronomy and physics texts. (Author/GA)

Presents a readability formula suitable for passages from 40 to 99 words (provided they contain at least 3 sentences). (RS)

Rescales DRP-Difficulty (Degrees of Reading Power) into grade equivalent (GE) units using the estimated difficulty level values obtained from the Rauding Scale. Finds the revised scale is accurate to within one graded level for lower grade materials and to within two grade levels for upper grade materials. (MM)

Describes the FORECAST readability formula for adults working with job materials, which was developed in the early 1970s. Suggests that it is a better measure of who wants and needs basic skills than the International Adult Literacy Survey. (JOW)

Intended to address the problems associated with functionally illiterate students, this manual provides vocational educators with strategies for incorporating reading skills into specific content area instruction. The exercises stress the skills necessary to assess vocational classroom reading materials, develop content specific vocabulary, and…

Medical Assisting Reading Strategies is one of five instructional guides in the Reading Strategies in Vocational Education Series. Developed to assist teachers working with students considered disadvantaged because of reading deficiency, the guide contains several strategies, suitable for adaptation, specifically related to medical assisting…

Noting that four of the six most common readability formulas use the McCall-Crabbs Standard Test Lessons in Reading as the independent criterion of difficulty to establish validity, while the other two often site their correlation with the first four to determine validity, a study examined whether these lessons consisted of passage selections…

Research on schema theory and the psycholinguistic perspectives of reading suggest that the measures of readability currently used on second language tests be reconsidered. Because foreign language readers, especially in the early stages of language learning, often do not have the necessary schema or background knowledge, teachers should include…

Reviews the literature critical of readability formulas as used in second-language reading contexts. It is suggested that such formulas not be used as guides to text production/adaptation or as measures of the difficulty of naturally occurring texts. (Author/CB)

Investigated whether the use of a computer and the desire to increase readability levels of their writing would encourage student writers to revise. Results indicated an increase in the readability grade level from original drafts to revisions. (SRT)

Suggests that common sense be applied when calculating text readability using a microcomputer. (CRH)

Offers a case study of how one teacher used readability formulas to select the most appropriate materials for her students. Presents 10 suggestions that the teacher followed to avoid being tyrannized by the formulas. (FL)

Although the cloze procedure was shown to be satisfactorily reliable with deaf Ss, cloze scores did not relate to the predicted passage difficulty; therefore, the validity of the cloze procedure as a readability measure was not confirmed. (Author/DLS)

The Cloze Procedure can be a useful instrument in matching student reading levels to appropriate reading selections. Additional research on ways to match students to readings at appropriate levels is needed. (Author/CJ)