Although whole language teachers say they no longer consider readability evaluation (in the sense of measuring word and sentence length) in the selection of literature for their classrooms, they do have criteria for matching the readers or prospective readers in their classroom to literary materials. Teachers in whole language classrooms see the…

Emphasizing the need for realistic tasks in studying the interaction of readers with text, this report first suggests current problems with research on interactive reading and pedagogical prescriptions on comprehension. It then presents a checklist of reader, text, and task characteristics that should be considered in reader-text studies,…

Designed to assess the cognitive requirement expected or implied in beginning reading materials and in their instructional suggestions and to determine whether these materials are appropriate to the cognitive development of the children who will use them, this instrument is for use by evaluators with the first reader in a basal series. It directs…

The principles and skills of reading instruction must be expanded upon to improve student competence in social studies content. Two methods (Fry's Readability graph and the Diagnostic Survey) for determining readability and evaluation are presented as an aid to accomplishing reading skills. (JR)

Provides a preliminary look at the syntactic complexity of primary grade reading materials commonly used for initial reading instruction. (RB)

Provides an assessment of the linguistic variables which affect the way in which children comprehend verbal data when they read. (RB)

A recent study on the free selection of library books for recreational silent reading periods focused on the difficulty of material chosen and on the relationship between the students' reading ability and the readability of a book. Three groups of 24 students completed an interest inventory form, and their reading ability, sex, and reading…

This paper presents a theory of instructional text design that takes into account the process of reading comprehension and the variables in both the reader and the text which can affect that process. Three areas of design concern--legibility and readability, visual illustration, and structure and organization--are discussed. Each area design…

To ensure that the essential job-related reading materials for nonrated United States Navy personnel were not beyond their reading capabilities, a study was undertaken to determine the readability levels of a representative sample of essential Navy job-related materials. The criteria for selecting material were that it be narrative text and that…

Milton's style of pronominal reference in his essay, "Areopagitica," leads to a lack of comprehension at times and to slow processing. His use of demonstrative pronouns makes it difficult to identify antecedents precisely and quickly. For example, in one case a reader must go back over 400 words to find an antecedent. His use of relative…

Intended to improve the quality of public documents by making them clearer to the people who use them, this book contains document design principles concerned with writing documents that are visually distinct, attractive, and easily understood. Following an introduction, the major portion of the book presents the 25 principles, each of which…

Concludes that the Associated Press and United Press International, the two major wire services for newspapers, are writing over the reading levels of junior high school students, and in doing so are destroying the effectiveness of the newspaper as a learning tool. (RB)

Describes a method for measuring syntactic complexity and applies it to 20 Newbery Award winning books. (RB)

Practitioners can readily use the Readability Rater to estimate reading level of career materials. (Author)