This paper proposes law drafting techniques, especially in Chinese, that aim to enhance the fluency and readability of Hong Kong bilingual legislation. The study is based on the plain language guide published by the Department of Justice of Hong Kong in 2012, with the goal of helping the current legislation to comply with the guidelines. Using…

The National Eye Institute (2015) reports that by the year 2050, the number of individuals with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) will rise from 2.07 million to 5.44 million. AMD causes central vision loss, which can affect independence in activities such as medication management, meal preparation, and personal finances (Smallfield, Clem…

Background: In many classrooms, science textbooks remain a significant tool, functioning in some instances as the de facto curriculum and influencing pedagogical practices. Such conventions are more noticeable in the science classrooms of developing countries, like Jamaica, because of a chronic shortage of specialist science teachers and the…

Purpose: There is a lack of standardized Mandarin reading text material that could potentially elicit significant variations in fundamental frequency (F0) and in vocal intensity for clinical voice evaluation. In this study, a phonetically balanced "Three Bears Passage" was developed based on the classical "Goldilocks" story for…

This article reflects on the concept of meaningful literacy. It offers a classroom methodology, posting on a closed Facebook Group, that manifests this approach to English as a second language (ESL) or English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom meaningful literacy instruction. This study aims to produce empirically informed teaching materials…

As the number of international students attending U.S. higher education institutions has declined 2 consecutive years (Saul, 2018), several institutions are exploring ways to increase international student interest. In Texas, the sociopolitical climate has become increasingly anti-immigrant (Watkins, 2017), leading many international students to…

This study analyzes the length and readability of admissions and financial aid application instructions at a random sample of 341 four-year higher education institutions in the United States. Linguistic analyses indicate that financial aid application instructions are longer and more difficult to read than are admissions materials at the same…

Purpose: Leaders at higher education institutions (HEIs) in the USA experience substantial pressure to contain costs while advancing their educational missions. The purpose of this paper is to explore the association between publicly stated academic cost-containment objectives found in HEI's strategic plans and mission statements, which help to…

There is a dearth of appropriate reading material for adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDDs). Often, a book's content is relevant to younger audiences, or its reading level is inaccessible. In this pilot study, we determined which factors facilitate reading accuracy and comprehension for this population. We wrote and tested…

This paper discusses a poetry translation, Love & Misadventure by Lang Leav into Indonesian translated by Aan Mansyur. The purpose of this study is to determine how the translator considers the translation techniques used to translate the poem into the target language and its impact of the translation quality in terms of accuracy and…

English as a Second Language (ESL) students are often expected to read and use English translations of the Bible for academic and worship purposes. The purpose of this study was to explore the writing style of the King James Version and the New International Version in terms of each translation's formality, readability, and sentiment using…

Comparing language tests and test preparation materials holds important implications for the latter's validity and reliability. However, not enough studies compare such materials across a wide range of indices. Therefore, this study investigated the text complexity of IELTS academic reading tests (IRT) and IELTS reading practice tests (IRPrT).…

This study reports the perceptions and understanding of extensive reading (ER) of 259 ER practitioners in Japan, Thailand, Mongolia, and Vietnam. The majority of participants understood the core principles of ER, namely (a) the fluent reading of (b) a lot of (c) easy texts. However, about 25% of the participants in Thailand, Mongolia, and Vietnam…

This study investigates the extent to which microfeatures -- such as basic text features, readability, cohesion, and lexical diversity based on specific word lists -- affect Chinese EFL writing quality. Data analysis was conducted using natural language processing, correlation analysis and stepwise multiple regression analysis on a corpus of 268…

The present study investigates whether textual enhancement had any effects on grammar learning (tag questions) and reading comprehension, and whether the types of tag question contributed to the benefits of textual enhancement. The study employed a pretest--posttest design with three treatment sessions. The target forms were English tag questions,…