Purpose: Complex features of science texts present idiosyncratic challenges for middle grade readers, especially in a post-Common Core educational world where students' learning is dependent on understanding informational text. The primary aim of this study was to explore how middle school readers process science texts and whether such…

A study examined the relation between formula ratings and student perception of both readability and interest in developmental reading/study skills and intermediate composition texts. Subjects, 200 composition students and 96 study skills students, responded to the statements "this text was easy to read" and "the text chapters were…

It is exciting to have a beautiful new science textbook--if students can read it! Unfortunately, many students can not read their science textbooks unassisted. This may be because students are reading below grade level, or because the material, like that of many science texts, has a readability one or more grade levels above the grade in which it…

Offers an analogy between passing a written driving test and actually driving a vehicle, and evaluating textbooks by the number of syllables in words and by sentence length and the students' ability to actually read the textbook. Provides an open textbook inventory to evaluate how well students interact with the book. (JC)

A contrastive textlinguistic study of rhetorical differences between texts written by academics with different cultural backgrounds is described. The results indicate that Anglo-American writers use more metatext or text about text than Finnish writers, suggesting a more reader-oriented attitude among Anglo-American writers. (27 references)…

Examines the nature and prevalence of author-provided cues to effective processing of introductory college textbooks in psychology and biology. Concludes that the authors of the texts chose cues that would be effective even with relatively passive learners and rarely chose cues that demanded much activity from readers. (SKC)

Uses a cognitive processing perspective to revise fifth grade social studies texts, to describe those revisions, and to demonstrate their effects empirically. Finds that students reading the revised text recalled more material and answered more questions correctly than did those reading the original text. Concludes that a text-processing approach…