This paper summarizes the work to date on the revised Harris-Jacobson Readability Formulas. The contents include "The Criterion," which discusses the criterion used in the development of the formulas; "Variables Employed," which includes percent of uncommon words, average sentence length, percent of long words, mean number of letters per word, and…

Validates the college-level designation of the Fry Graph using comparative validity data. (AEA)

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.

The article examines the available means of determining the readability of written materials and reviews the empirical evidence that indicates consideration of syntactic complexity in determining readability. Problems with readability formulas are pointed out. Guidelines for using readability formulas that take syntactic complexity into account…

This booklet is comprised primarily of the summaries of computerized readability assessments of sample passages from each story or chapter in a reading textbook series for grades one through eight. Introductory chapters offer discussions of the computerized readability assessment program used, the various uses of readability information about a…

Determined the readability of large circulation, metropolitan newspapers in 11 different languages using the formula of sentence length plus word length. Swedish language newspapers were the most readable, Russian language newspapers the lease. (AEA)

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)

Ten introductory textbooks on mental retardation were analyzed with the Flesch formula for reading ease and interest. All texts fell in the "difficult, college level" category for complexity, but seven were classified as "dull" and three "mildly interesting." Most included adequate organizational aids, and agreement…

The purpose of the study was to determine the readability level and the level of involvement for selected science textbooks for grades 7-10. A review of related literature concerning readability scales and the Romey Index is included. Thirty secondary science texts were evaluated using the Fry Readability Graph and Romey's Involvement Index. The…

Reports on the development of a computer program that was used with five different readability formulas to assess levels of reading difficulty. (FL)

Examines the variables experienced teachers of deaf children use to make decisions about the difficulty of a text for use by their students and how effective teacher judgment actually is in determining text difficulty. (EKN)

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.…

Four readability formulas were analyzed to determine the reading grade equivalence of instructional materials at the middle grades and above: the Dale-Chall formula, the Gunning-Fog Index, the Flesch Reading Ease Formula, and the McLaughlin SMOG Grading. In addition, Spache and Wheeler/Smith formulas were analyzed for evaluating primary grade…

Readability estimates are usually based on measures of word difficulty and measures of sentence difficulty. Word difficulty is measured in two ways: by the structural size and complexity of words or by reference to phonomena of language use, such as word-list frequency or the regularity of spelling patterns. Sentence difficulty is measured only in…

Reviews the literature critical of readability formulas as used in second-language reading contexts. It is suggested that such formulas not be used as guides to text production/adaptation or as measures of the difficulty of naturally occurring texts. (Author/CB)