According to the RAND model framework, reading comprehension test performance is influenced by readers' reading skills or reader characteristics, test properties, and their interactions. However, little empirical research has systematically compared the impacts of reader characteristics, test properties, and reader-test interactions across…

A recent Educational Testing Services report (2016) found that international graduate students with a TOEFL score of 80--the minimum average TOEFL score for graduate admission in the United States--usually possess reading subscores of 20, equating to a 12th-grade reading comprehension level. However, one public flagship university's international…

Identifies and describes major factors interacting with readability measures in 36 experimental studies analyzing the validity of such measures. (RB)

Discusses the accuracy of the Fog Index and the SMOG grade (two readability formulas) as predicators of readability. (MAI)

Found that standard readability indexes by themselves are not useful in measuring readability and comprehensibility of income tax material. Also casts doubt on the use of only readability indexes to measure insurance, labor, and real estate contracts. (PD)

Provides guidelines for analyzing and evaluating textbooks based on their comprehensibility rather than their readability. (MKM)

A survey of the current research on readability formulas is presented in this paper, which distinguishes this research from research on the more general questions that surround formulas: What features of a text, particularly the language it is written in, make the text easy or difficult to read? and, What will predict that readers with particular…

Although research on readability is still in its infancy, studies have been conducted concerning typographical features, semantic and pragmatic facets, linguistic factors, and orthographic dimensions. This paper discusses readability formulas, pointing out their limitations and listing 13 generalizations about them. The paper also outlines…

Readability formulas estimate how difficult text is to read. The resulting "readability level" helps teachers and school librarians match students to appropriate books. Guiding students to appropriate-level books is now easier and more accurate with the ATOS (Advantage-TASA Open Standard) Readability Formula for Books, the new…

This article describes readability assessment methods used in science education, summarizes reported readability estimates of science textbooks, and recommends strategies for reducing the readability load of such materials. (JMF)

Lists the dangers of readability formulas and concludes that while they may be a necessary evil, they should not be used as the underlying structure of a reading program. (FL)

Describes a computer formula which measures readability according to how well high school seniors comprehend reading passages. (RB)

A new approach to measuring readability is proposed based on the analysis of texts as causally connected chains of actions, physical states, and mental states. Using the inference load formula reflecting the difficulty readers have in inferring causal connections, the difficulty of texts can be adjusted for readers differing in skill or knowledge.…

Presents a readability formula suitable for passages from 40 to 99 words (provided they contain at least 3 sentences). (RS)

Proposes that readability formulas cannot predict text difficulty. Presents results of an experiment designed to demonstrate that "text difficulty" is determined by individual differences (perception) and not by the objective qualities of a text. (NH)