A study examined 58 home economics education textbooks in terms of reading difficulty, writing style, and interest level for special population learners. The objective was to identify texts, using six different readability formulas that were significantly more difficult and provided educational obstacles to special populations in their preparation…

Provides step-by-step procedures for developing an index which uses the Gunning Fog technique to evaluate the level of reading difficulty of textbooks. Cites examples, illustrations, and several warnings in the discussion. (RT)

Twenty-five introductory college psychology textbooks are analyzed for terms most frequently used, the textbooks which employed the largest number of frequently used terms; similarity among textbooks; and the relationship between readability and technical thoroughness of the texts. (Author/JR)

Presents a checklist developed by the International Reading Association's Committee for Basic Education and Reading, which is designed to help teachers select materials to meet the special needs and interests of adult basic education learners and to make objective judgments based on a clear evaluation process. (MKM)

Twenty-seven social psychology textbooks were rated for Flesch readability, student readability, Flesch interest, student interest, and student recommendation. (ND)

Reports that introductory textbooks about special education used at the college level differ in readability and that the cloze procedure can be used as an objective measure to use in selecting these textbooks. (FL)

Focusing on what authors can do to facilitate learning from content area textbooks, this report labels authors as "considerate," providing text that readers can understand with a minimum of cognitive effort, or as "inconsiderate," creating text that requires a conscientious, highly skilled effort if readers are to comprehend…

Reported is a study designed to determine whether reading grade level (RGL) assessment techniques used for elementary and secondary education textbooks would discriminate among plant and soil science textbooks. The study was to select the RGL indices suited to quantify the readability of these sources, and to identify the factors affecting…