One of the major objectives of this study was to obtain an estimate of the reading skill level an individual would need in order to be able to read and understand the training and job materials in his Air Force career ladder. A methodology developed by Mockovak (1974) for comparing training and job reading requirements was used to calculate the…

The utility and precision of scaling 200 relatively short reading passages were analyzed using a Rasch-based measurement technique as compared to readability estimates using the Spache or Dale-Chall formulas. In addition, a regression model was specified for predicting the grade level of a text a student could literally comprehend based on…

Because both adults and children have claimed Newbery books are difficult, this study sought to determine minimum reading level of 20 Newbery award winners by testing reading comprehension of fifth and sixth graders on each book. Only two books exceeded fifth- and sixth-grade reading levels. Book ratings are listed. (DS)

A Missouri study was conducted to investigate the reading abilities of the average vocational technical student to determine if this reading ability was commensurate with the material the student was assigned to read, and to compare the effectiveness of the reading ability to success in completing a vocational course of study. In order to secure…

The study reported in this paper was designed to describe the differences between the reading-difficulty levels of primary textbooks used in first-semester freshman general studies courses and the reading skills of the students enrolled in those courses, and to compare the Flesch Reading Ease Formula with the SMOG Grading Formula. Separate…

To aid in the construction of effective task analysis inventories, this technical report discusses: (1) an optimum questionnaire length that adequately covers Marine tasks without unduly fatiguing respondents; (2) procedures for the phrasing of task statements to avoid ambiguities and be understandable to as broad a range of Marines as is…

The reading abilities of low achieving high school students at two schools were compared to the readability levels of the magazines in which they showed interest. The median tested reading ability of these students was reported as third/fourth grade by their reading teachers. The reading specialist at one high school reported that boys had an…

The relationship between the reading abilities of 215 freshman composition students and the readability of their college textbooks was studied. Measures from the Nelson-Denny Reading Test and the Dale-Chall Readability Formula were used to assess the relationship between reading ability and the readability of the textbooks. Results indicated that…

The variables used in most readability formulas consist of counts of language elements which highly relate to comprehension scores on passages of a wide range of difficulty. The variables most often used are some measure of word difficulty and yield an index score representing the style difficulty of the passages to which they are applied…

A summary of a Human Resources Research Organization report, on the level of reading, listing, and arithmetic skills needed in four military occupational specialities and width of the gap between skills possessed and skills needed, emphasized the need for remedial literacy training and more learning-by-listening opportunities. (AG)

Teachers can match content reading materials with student needs and abilities in a number of ways. If textbooks are the main or only source, teachers can group students according to textbook difficulty, conduct student surveys of specific topics in the textbook, and use the textbook as a sampler or starting point for more in-depth studies of…

One of the problems found in present readability formulas is the lack of control for syntax, other than sentence length. Judging the complexity of a sentence based on word count alone does not allow for such circumstances as: coordinate clauses joined by "and"; deletions; passive forms; and coordinate clauses, dependent clauses, and…