Outlines the current uses of readability measures in education, business, and government. (SRT)

Discusses the importance of determining the reading difficulty of vocational materials. Explains how to determine the readability of materials, using the FORECAST Readability Formula, presenting guidelines on how to select sample passages, apply the Formula, and analyze the data. An example showing the Formula's use is provided. (LRA)

The Cloze Procedure can be a useful instrument in matching student reading levels to appropriate reading selections. Additional research on ways to match students to readings at appropriate levels is needed. (Author/CJ)

Argues that readability formulas accurately predict how easily a passage will be understood by considering sentence length and word difficulty. Claims that the misuse of readability formulas as writing guides is responsible for much of the criticism. Challenges the critics to come up with something better. (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)

A previous report defined a series of 14 novel measures for determining the comprehensibility of English text on the basis of current psycholinguistic and Structure-of-Intellect concepts. That report not only suggested the potential usefulness of the measures but also conjectured about the feasibility of automating the calculation of these…

The Fry Graph for Estimating Readability (Extended) and George Magginnis' formula for passages shorter than 100 words were used in an investigation of the reading levels of 18 mathematics textbooks produced for grades one through six by three major publishers. The results indicated that the readability levels of the textbooks were inaccurate. Few…

This literature review documents the state-of-the-art of readability assessment and indicates directions for future research in readability measurement. The period since 1953 is emphasized, although there is some consideration of earlier work. Primary emphasis within the review is based on readability measurement; however, a final section is…

Raises doubts about the validity of readability formulas. (RB)

Investigates the degree to which potential users of language reading proficiency scales acquire the standard for accurately grading reading passages of foreign-language learners. A five-day workshop helped users of the guidelines rank reading passages for levels of difficulty and rate them accurate according to the ACTFL scales. (Author/CB)

Describes two modifications to the SMOG Readability Formula designed to make it more useful for primary and intermediate grade materials. (FL)

Explains why applying a readability formula to a content text is not enough to determine whether a student can read and understand the book. (MKM)

A study examined 20 New Jersey daily newspapers to assess the impact of readability on circulation. It was hypothesized that the circulation of a newspaper would be inversely related to the readability level of its contents; that is to say, as reading material becomes harder to read, fewer people will read it. News pieces (divided into hard news,…

The failure of readability formulas can be attributed to three weaknesses in the formulas. First, they ignore or violate current knowledge about the reading process. Most formulas affect only sentence length and word difficulty while ignoring factors that influence text comprehensibility, such as cohesion, the number of inferences required, the…

According to studies using the Degrees of Reading Power system for estimating readability, most high school graduates cannot read at a level enabling them to understand much of what they read in newspapers, periodicals, work-related documents, or many high school texts or tests. (PGD)