Suggests that the popular and simple readability formulas may not be accurate enough to predict the instructional materials best suited to the reading abilities of secondary school students. (FL)

Lists the dangers of readability formulas and concludes that while they may be a necessary evil, they should not be used as the underlying structure of a reading program. (FL)

Evaluates the practicability of the Singer Eyeball Estimate of Readability (SEER) techniques with 32 college students. Reveals that only two of the students met SEER's criterion for being considered acceptable judges. Concludes that the criterion is overly stringent and proposes a revised criterion designed to make the SEER technique more…

Describes the Luiten, Ames, Bradley Readability Variation Method for estimating the variation within a text. Concludes that it is practical and relatively accurate. (HOD)

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)

Describes recent Austrian research concerning readability formulas, especially the Swedish Lix formula. Describes a prototype for a system of evaluating the individual variables that contribute to the difficulty of student reading materials. (FL)

Reports findings of a study that examined the extent to which the variability observed in reading levels of common junior high textbooks was also present in four popular high school social studies texts. (FL)

Two studies investigated the relationships between readability, prior knowledge, and interest in the material being read. In the first study, 169 college freshmen read cloze passages of materials from the Nelson-Denny Reading Tests, then one week later read the whole passages and completed the related multiple choice questions. A control group…

Describes an adjustment factor which makes readability formulas more accurate. (RB)

Describes a revised readability formula for Vietnamese that differentiates between Vietnamese and Sino-Vietnamese compound words and discusses its validity and reliability. (HOD)

The distinguishing characteristics and relationships found among the "Analytical Reading Inventory," the "Durrell Analysis of Reading Difficulty," and the Spache "Diagnostic Reading Scales" in terms of readability levels, oral and silent reading results, and independent and instructional reading levels were examined in a study involving 117 first,…

Defining readability in both the narrow sense of formula use and refinement and the broader sense of the processing and comprehension of language, this paper argues for the need for more research focusing on readability as a way of improving the match between reader and text. Following a brief introduction, the paper reviews current readability…

A three-part correlational study examined the explanatory power of the Lexile theory of reading comprehension, which was based on the semantic and syntactic components of prose. Correlations were performed between the item difficulties of nine nationally normed reading comprehension tests and computer generated difficulties which were reported in…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 15 titles include studies of an informal reading inventory; an item-type to test phonic and context skills; reliability of residual gain scores based on means for a standardized reading achievement measure; alternatives to…