This article emphasizes the importance of providing students with materials on the appropriate level of challenge. Major readability formulas and leveling systems that might be used to assess the difficulty level of materials are reviewed. It recommends using both objective and subjective factors when estimating readability levels. (Contains…

Explains eight categories of friendly text features: text organization, signaling, discourse consistency, cohesion, explication, conceptual density, metadiscourse, and instructional devices. Extratext determinants of readability (reader, goal, teacher) are also examined. Within the context of two models of reading, the interaction of these…

This article presents a technique that builds linear equations to approximate Fry's readability graph. A BASIC program building the linear equations and providing the grade levels is provided. (Author/YP)

Some factors that should be considered when science teachers produce materials for their students are presented. Readability and the key aspects of language (vocabulary, sentence structure, textbook or examination style, and organization and presentation) are discussed. Directions and the graph needed for estimating the reading level of materials…

Compared the grade level difficulty obtained from seven readability formulas to student reading levels from two national standardized tests to determine which formulas best determined the readability of computer-based text. Found that the Flesch-Kincaid, FOG, and ARI formulas provided the best estimate of reading grade level of computer-based text…

This study analyzed the word-, sentence-, and passage-level demands of high-interest, low-level books in a manner consistent with an interactive model of reading comprehension. Cases consisted of three randomly selected passages from sixty different books. Cases were analyzed across five variables: high-frequency words, decodable words, sentences,…

A readability comparison of psychology, sociology, and physics introductory textbooks from the years 1860 to 1913 and 1963-1969 was made to discover if psychology has become as "difficult" ("scientific") as physics. (JH)

Reviews the research on readability formulas. (MKM)

Applied three readability formulas differing in criterion for comprehension (50-100 percent) to the Personality Inventory for Children (PIC), Revised Format, and to abbreviated forms of the inventory. Results showed that for each method of analysis, readability of abbreviated forms approximates readability of the entire inventory. (LLL)

Results of this survey show, among other things, that 23 percent of the Review readers are women, 24 percent are under 35, 24 percent have been readers over 9 years, 49 percent work in secondary schools, and 43 percent work at colleges and universities. (HS)

Three correlation matrices of readability variables were factor analyzed and the results compared to factor analyses of earlier matrices and to each other. (HOD)

Recounts a study that shows that political stories have a higher readability level than sports stories, the average wire-service story has a higher readability level than the average non-wire service story, and newspapers may be harder to read than is commonly assumed. (TJ)

Describes the concept of cohesion in text, discusses the distinction between cohesion and coherence, and discusses the relationship of cohesion and coherence to the comprehension of written discourse. (DD)

Discusses the concept of readability and examines readability formulae. Examines the linguistic criteria that from the basis for readability scores and argues that the criteria commonly used in readability do not constitute a satisfactory basis for assessing reading difficulty. (Author/VWL)

A study was conducted to determine whether there was any match between student perception of reading ease and the readability of three main line, first-year college composition texts (Daugherty; Kinneavy, McCleary, and Nakadate; Lauer, Montague, Lunsford, and Emig) as determined by five commonly used readability formulas. Two chapters (on…