Keeping the content of two paragraphs identical, the author varied their forms using the Functional Sentence Perspectivists' Rule (FSPR) for relating old and new information within the sentences. In subjective readability decisions, a significant number of 272 high school subjects found the rule-governed paragraph more readable than the variant.…

Media education specialist John Culkin talks with editor John Drexel about learning to read in the television age--and discusses a new alphabet, UNIFON, that may help solve the literacy crisis. (Editor)

The increased literary sophistication of the adolescent novel and the care taken in presenting them make more defensible than ever the claim that adolescent novels can serve learning purposes. (CJ)

Describes a phrase analysis system called PHAN that can be used to assess the degree and nature of potential stumbling blocks to comprehension within a passage or book. (FL)

The author requires students to sample articles in two magazines and compare their readability levels. He also emphasizes the importance of writing directly--not up or down--to an audience. (RL)

Discusses a study to evaluate student understanding of and interest in general psychology textbooks in college level introductory psychology course. Findings indicate that students generally found a high correlation between readability and human interest. (DB)

Reports four new readability formulas which account for a higher percentage of variance than the Coleman formulas and which can also be used for readers below college level.

Investigates how individual and situational interest factors contribute to topic interest and text learning. Results reveal that both individual interest variables and specific text titles influenced topic interest. Examination of processes predictive of text learning indicated that topic interest was related to affective response, affect to…

Defines good expository text and reviews studies on two text features--structure and interestingness--that affect readers' comprehension. Discusses implications for further inquiry. (JAD)

Using cloze tests on 13 home appliance manuals with 477 children aged 8-17 resulted in mean scores clustered in the 30-40% range. Low comprehension was attributed to either unfamiliarity with technical information, poor reading skills, or poorly written manuals. Recommendations for improving readability to ensure children's safety were made. (SK)

Suggests that editors resist the common urge to squeeze paragraphs together to save space. Discusses the difference between writing and editing paragraphs, topic sentences, connectives, levels of discourse, what paragraphs do for the writer, how long paragraphs should be, and the flexibility of paragraph structure. (RS)

Suggests that, in the rush to make programs literature-based and to privilege the child's book choices, reading teachers have undervalued both the contribution of easy-to-read books and the expertise of teachers who would judiciously suggest books for children to help move their literacy development along. (RS)

Presents four principles for archive-based language research: maximum readability and minimum bias; consistent encoding for exhaustive computer search; systematic contrastiveness; and data comparability in elicitation, transcription and coding. Examples from existing computer archives illustrate these and other principles, and strategies are…

Discusses the plain language movement and its origins. Reviews past and current resources related to plain language writing. Examines criticism of the movement while examining past and current plain language literature, with particular attention to the information design field. (SR)

Examines each Newbery-award-winning book from 1922 to 1997, reporting readability grade level and readability grade range. Finds that the Newbery award books are for children ages 9 to 16, and recommends that a separate category be established to recognize books of quality for emergent readers. Suggests ways Newbery books can be read in elementary…