This study attempted to determine whether the findings of psycholinguists to syntax and reading comprehension could be generalized to children of other English-speaking cultures. Specifically, the influence of material written at different levels of syntactic maturity (according to the T-unit analysis) upon the reading comprehension of selected…

This experiment attempted to provide some insight into the effect of three newspaper design complexity variables on the readership and comprehension of news stories and on judgments of the interestingness and pleasingness of the page designs using the three complexity variables: (1) horizontal and vertical headline pattern; (2) horizontal and…

Immediate and two-week retention were studied as a function of three levels of text readability and two levels of inserted post question (IPQ) difficulty. The IPQ treatment was modified to permit review of text after question answering. A traditional control group was required to read without marking lesson pages; and a second control was…

This study, conducted at a community college in mid-Missouri, compared the reading ability of students with the readability of the textbooks (aside from technical books) used in their classes. There were a total of 17 textbook/class comparisons. The reading level of students was determined by the Nelson-Denny Reading Test, revised edition, and…

This review of the literature related to the cloze procedure includes most of the studies reported from 1953 to 1971. One hundred ninety-eight documents are included and are divided into four categories, studies in which the cloze procedure has been applied (1) as a measure of readability, (2) as a measure of comprehension, (3) as a measure of…

Two college freshman required texts were chosen for analysis of readability and of cloze performance on selected passages. One cloze passage was administered to each of 218 students enrolled in General Psychology and Principles of Biology courses. Dale-Chall readability levels were separately calculated for the same passages. Reading levels of the…

This booklet is designed to help science teachers who would like to improve the reading skills of their students. The first section of the booklet has three purposes: to acquaint the science teacher with meanings of terms related to reading in science, to acquaint the teacher with reading skills which can be taught and/or reinforced through…

Undergraduates read a prose passage and were tested on its contents. Difficulty, permission to underline key phrases, and financial motivation were varied. Non-highly motivated subjects performed better on the easy version; underlining aided highly motivated subjects and those reading the difficult version. (Author/RD)

Basal readers are supposed to be easy for children to read, but sometimes their language is so unnatural that it's more confusing than helpful. (MKM)

Examines six science books in reference to their reading levels as determined by the Fry, SMOG, and Fog formulas. A disparity in calculated values is noted and explained to be the result of the use of different comprehension levels by the formulas. Suggestions concerning the selection of science reading materials for the classroom are provided.…

Assesses the qualities and drawbacks of high-interest easy reading books and lists the best of these books that are currently available. (SRT)

Investigates the degree to which potential users of language reading proficiency scales acquire the standard for accurately grading reading passages of foreign-language learners. A five-day workshop helped users of the guidelines rank reading passages for levels of difficulty and rate them accurate according to the ACTFL scales. (Author/CB)

Compares imaginatively written nonfiction children's books with textbook treatments of the same material. Finds that many nonfiction books are informational but also not excitingly written. (NKA)

Identifies problems in basal readers caused by writers' use of vocabulary control and readability formulas. Provides suggestions for more effective employment of the basal reader, including suggestions on how to teach students to construct meaning from less than perfect texts. (ARH)

Presents an evaluation of the Houghton Mifflin and Scott Foresman Reading Programs which reveals that stories in both of these series satisfy the requirements of a conventional story grammar. Suggests that such stories help children comprehend and remember the stories they process and serve as excellent models of narrative. (ARH)