George R. Klare

A Second Look at the Validityl of Readability Formulas

In this paper major factors interacting with readability measures in validity studies are identified and described. The basis for the analysis presented are thirty-six experimental studies of the effect of readability variables upon reader comprehension and/or retention. Emphasis is placed on the interacting nature of the factors involved.

Readable computer documentation

A retrospective look shows earlier advice still relevant to both predicting and producing readable writing. For prediction, refined readability formulas with stronger criterion passages and updated familiar -word lists have appeared, although the computerization of readability tests sometimes encourages misapplying or misinterpreting them when screening text. For production, attention to sentence construction, wordcharacteristics, and information density remains relevant to both drafting and revising computer documentation for readability, especially since reading speed and reader preference often interact with comprehension in practical settings.

Re-Opening the Cloze Blank Issue:

One aspect of cloze methodology that has received little systematic attention concerns the blanks that remain when the passage is mutilated. Taylor (1953) stated that the deleted word should be replaced by a line of a standard length. The standard length was recommended to avoid giving the subjects information on word length, i.e., the number of letters on the deleted words. The standard length line has since been general practice in cloze research, as shown by many studies. Anderson (1971), however, compared standard-length blanks and exact-length blanks (same length as the deleted words) on three English language passages of differing levels of difficulty. Spooncer (1974) compared a standard-length blank and a blank the size of the deleted word. No significant differences were found between scores when using the two variations. This experiment was designed to examine more closely the effects of word length cues on cloze scores.

Cognitive Processes in Journalistic Genres Extending Writing Models

The research on the cognitive processes in writing has led to models of the writing process such as that of Flower and Hayes. The work underlying these models has been carried out on relatively unconstrained writing genres. The purpose of this study was to investigate the types of processes used by journalistic writers when producing texts of varying constraints. A three tier methodology was used to offset certain methodological difficulties. Journalism students wrote either a news story or an editorial under either a pausal procedure, a pausal interview, or a protocol. It was found that news story writers paused more often and carried out more activities per writing session than did editorial writers suggesting greater monitoring activity by news story writers. In addition, news story writers were extensively concerned with accuracy and appeared to use a preorganized structure to guide writing and a priorities list to determine order of mention. Editorial writers paused less often and somewhat longer indicating a more open ended task. They appeared to adopt one of two strategies—treat the editorial as a news story with an opinion paragraph or search for a personal viewpoint. The results indicated that the Flower and Hayes model is applicable in a limited manner to journalistic writing.

Factor Analyses of Three Correlation Matrices of Readability Variables

Three correlation matrices of readability variables were factor analyzed and the results compared to factor analyses of earlier matrices and to each other. The three new analyses, based upon a wide variety of written materials and of readability index variables, produced data highly consistent with the earlier studies. The same two components, word difficulty and sentence difficulty, accounted for more than half the variance in each analysis. In one of the new analyses for which data are reported, however, as well as one of the previous studies, the relative contribution of the two factors was reversed. Also the percentage of total variance accounted for varied over a considerable range. Hypotheses were offered to account for the results and some implications for research were identified.

Readability and behavior modification texts: Cross-comparisons and comments

Recent studies have appeared which contain readability analyses on various behavior modification texts. The present paper provides comparisons between the studies and points out the methodological considerations in the determination of readability. Brief instructive comments are also given to assist those who might be making similar readability analyses in the future.