Readability has been gauged by such means as determining the length of individual words in a passage, analyzing types of sentences, and assessing numbers of subordinate clauses, prepositional phrases, modifiers, and so on. Probably the most successful formula has been the Dale-Chall method, which measures readability by determining the percentage of words which are not included on a basic word list. One criticism of this technique is that the readability index of a book and the assessed reading level of a child may not be analogous. A new readability formula, subtested by Wilson Taylor, utilizes the concept of the cloze procedure. Students demonstrate comprehension by filling in every deleted fifth word in a given passage. Although the use of the cloze test bypasses the need for standardized testing, the danger of choosing a passage which is not reflective of the whole work must be noted. The question still remains whether any one readability formula may be applied to the various genres of literature. (KS)