Effective communication depends on several ingredients including an appropriate readability level and thorough analysis of the audience. Readability levels and audience analysis are discussed, with implications for researchers and other technical personnel. (MLW)

Examines whether a discourse consistent with functional sentence perspective (FSP) theory, which predicts how units of information should be distributed in a sentence and how sentences should be related in a discourse, is more memorable and readable than one contradictory to FSP. (HOD)

Analysis of third-grade books in the New Macmillan Reading Program reveals that the books exceeded the publisher's designation of readability and did not progress in difficulty from easy to more difficult. Findings suggest the need for more complete and reliable information from publishers concerning textbook readability. (FL)

Discusses two computer applications to reading instruction: modification of a computer program that calculates readability and criteria for evaluating language arts software. (AEA)

Argues against the implicit use of readability formulas as guides to writing graded texts and urges experimental research to define the real factors constituting readability. (AEA)

Describes how to use a readability graph to determine the reading level of Biology textbooks. (MA)

Examines the relationship between the number of cohesive ties in a passage, as defined by M. Halliday and R. Hasan, and free and prompted recall scores. (HOD)

Suggests using readability formulas, a skills inventory, an introspective report, and diagnostic approaches based on models of comprehension as informal evaluations of students' content reading ability. (MKM)

Presents a checklist developed by the International Reading Association's Committee for Basic Education and Reading, which is designed to help teachers select materials to meet the special needs and interests of adult basic education learners and to make objective judgments based on a clear evaluation process. (MKM)

Reading grade levels were obtained for 11 commonly employed self-report assertion inventories by use of the Flesch Reading Ease Formula. Directions for the inventories ranged from the seventh-grade to college graduate reading grade level. Inventory items were more readable, with scores ranging from the seventh- to the twelfth-grade level. (Author)

Presents results of a study of two-level reading books; concludes that it seems worthwhile to use two-level readers experimentally in schools. (AEA)

Cites studies in which the reading level of workbooks designed to accompany basal readers has been found to be several years higher than the reading level of the basal text. (MKM)

Results of a study involving approximately 500 sixth and seventh graders suggest that a two-column layout with traditional paragraphing denotation is more readable than a single-column layout, but that an extreme line length does not place an undue strain on the reader. (Examples of the two formats are included.) (GT)

Discusses reading levels of books in the sciences, and explains the use of the Readability Graph. Also reported are reading levels of selected high school physics texts. (GA)

Reports on an investigation of the effect of syntax on the comprehension of written English by Thai college students who have studied English as a foreign language. (HOD)