The purpose of this study was to determine: (1) how frequently each of 32 parenting books was totally or partially read by mothers in a parent education program, (2) which of the 32 titles were most popular, (3) whether the readability level of the books was associated with the reading competency of the readers who chose them, and (4) whether…

The Flesch readability formula was used to analyze 192 100-word samples from selected matching issues of "Time" and "Newsweek." It was hypothesized that "immediate-reward" types of news, such as sports, social, and human interest events, would be significantly more readable (fewer syllables per 100 words and fewer…

TO ASCERTAIN HOW READABLE HIGH SCHOOL NEWSPAPERS ARE, 100 PAPERS RANDOMLY SELECTED FROM THOSE SUBMITTED TO THE 1965 QUILL AND SCROLL CRITICAL SERVICE WERE ANALYZED BY THE FLESCH "READING EASE" FORMULA. FIFTY OF THESE NEWSPAPERS HAD RECEIVED AN "A" (THE HIGHEST CRITICAL SERVICE RATING) AND 50 HAD RECEIVED A "C" (THE…

This comprehensive, 300-item bibliography on the cloze procedure lists a significant proportion of the cloze literature. It is comprised of books, articles, and papers in which there is at least a substantial and/or significant cloze component. The references are arranged in alphabetical order by authors. Those citations that have been published…

Since mathematical English (ME) differs from ordinary English (OE) in the number of symbols used, this research investigated sequential constraint (constraints on symbol choice attributed to preceding textual material) of excerpts from 18 mathematics books, both traditional and modern, to determine its relationship to readability. Findings…

Determined was whether the Dale-Chall formula may be revised by supplementing the Dale list of 3,000 words with scientific terms and recalculating the formula to provide for a more valid evaluation of the readability of high school science materials. Procedures were that (1) terms similar in difficulty to those included in Dale's list of 3,000…

The studies reported here are part of a research program whose purpose is to increase the effectiveness with which students acquire knowledge from written instructional materials. The studies had both a basic and an applied objective. The basic objective was to obtain evidence upon which to base a theory of the processes involved in language…

The use of readability principles in the ERIC guidelines for abstracting suggests that abstracts should be more readable than source documents. However, information theory suggests that the compression of information would result in less readable abstracts. Abstracts and their source documents were selected randomly from each of four…

Readability of Air Force logistics procedural manuals is generally too high for their readers. The readers, from different Air Force Specialties (AFS), are faced with a readability/reading ability gap when using the procedural manuals. This 'gap' was found to correlate directly with the frequency of discrepancies actually found over a two-year…

AN INVESTIGATION WAS MADE OF THE READABILITY LEVELS OF NINE CONTINUOUS SERIES OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SCIENCE TEXTBOOKS, GRADES 1-6. THE FOLLOWING SCIENCE SERIES WERE EVALUATED--ALLYN AND BACON, AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY, GINN, HARPER AND ROW, HEATH, LYONS AND CARNAHAN, MACMILLAN, SINGER, AND WINSTON. THE SPACHE FORMULA (SAFIER METHOD) WAS APPLIED TO…

Notes several factors which affect the readability of a printed message and contends that current typographical devices and styles are contrary to the fundamentals of eye physiology and detrimental to established reading habits. Available from: The Journal of Biocommunication, D. Raney, 3215 Haddon Road, Durham, NC 27705. (MH)

This study explored the hypothesis that task variables account for previous findings that reading rate is unaffected by readability. The findings suggest that when appropriate reading tasks are chosen, reading rate can be used to infer underlying processes in reading. (Author/DEP)

Offers step-by-step instructions for rewriting reading material which is too difficult for secondary students who are reading at a second or third grade level. (JM)

This study was designed to assess the readability levels of ten personal health textbooks written for college health education courses, and to compare the readability levels with the reading levels of students at one university. Findings are discussed.(MT)