In 2012 the Leyte Normal University developed a computer software--modelled after the Spache Readability Formula (1953) made for English--made to help rank texts that can is used by teachers or research groups on selecting appropriate reading materials to support the DepEd's MTB-MLE program in Region VIII, in the Philippines. However,…

Special education elementary students (N=271) were tested on three reading passages; six readability formulas were applied to the passages. Rank orderings of the passages based on readability formulas failed to agree with those based on students' actual performance. Implications for measuring students' reading proficiency and for selecting…

This paper describes the Harris-Jacobson Readability Formula A, a revision of a readability formula based on word lists from "Basic Elementary Reading Vocabularies." Section one of the paper discusses procedures for using the formula, including the selection of samples, scoring the variables, and applying the formula. The next section…

Takes issue with E. Fry's widely accepted claim that the average readability of a book is ascertainable on the basis of only three samples; reports that numerous samples were needed to estimate readability means of 36 basal workbooks. (MKM)

This study examined the McCall-Crabbs Standard Test Lessons in Reading to determine whether selections of passages covered a sufficiently wide range of difficulty to warrant their use in developing readability formulas. The results, which find several readability formulas suspect, are discussed. (Author/MT)

Noting that research indicating Newbery Medal books are not popular with elementary students in spite of their unquestioned superiority in plot, characterization, and style, a study examined the readability level of Newbery Medal winners from 1974 to 1986. Three readability formulas were used to assess readability: Gunning's Fog Index, Fry…

Edward Fry's Graph for Estimating Readability (Extended) was used to determine the approximate readability levels of books within the Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, and "Little House" series. The findings indicated that the levels of readability did not remain the same throughout each series, with the Nancy Drew series ranging in reading levels from…

Assesses readability levels of selected elementary level microcomputer courseware by using the readability formulas of Dale-Chall and Spache; describes these established formulas; compares assessments with publishers' statements of courseware suitability; and compares results of the manually calculated Dale-Chall and Spache formulas with results…

The Fry Readability Formula was used to investigate the readability levels of stories contained in basal readers of the 1979 edition of the "Open Court" series for grades one through six. The average readability levels of the stories were then compared to those found in the 1976 edition of the same series. The purposes of the study were…

Reports two investigations, one related to the readability of certain basal readers and the other related to teacher knowledge of varying levels of readability of textbooks.

Reveals that the Rauding Scale of Prose Difficulty provides results closer to Spache and Dale-Chall values than does the Singer Eyeball Estimate of Readability (SEER) technique. (FL)

In the past 30 or 40 years there has been much discussion about what factors contribute to readability in texts. In an attempt to characterize factors not measurable by current objective readability formulas, four texts that were adapted for younger readers were compared with their originals to see what kinds of changes adaptors had made and to…

The development of a readability formula designed to determine the readability level of German instructional materials at the elementary level is discussed in this paper. The readability formula which was developed is called the German Readability Graph and is similar to the Fry Readability Graph. Syllables and number of sentences are counted per…

A structured analysis of three basal readers written for grades 2-5 was conducted using the T-unit (any independent clause) as the primary unit of analysis. The number of T-units per 100 words, the number of words per T-unit, the number of clauses per T-unit, and the number of morphemes per T-unit (a new index of linguistic maturity) are reported.…

A study examined basal readers and trade books in terms of reading ease as estimated by readability formulas and the incidence of figurative language. Based on an earlier study, the study had three major goals: to (1) assess and compare two reading series ("A" and "B") at each of two grade levels; (2) assess and compare…