San F ernando Va l ley State C o l l e ge
Readabi l i ty o f S e l e c ted Pr inted
'l
Hea l t h Education Mater ia l s for
the Intermediate Grade s
A
the s i s subm i t ted in partia l sat i s faction of the
requirement s f o r the degree of Ma s ter of Sc ience
in Health S c i en c e
by
Corr i ne Johanna B idwe l l
June ,
1969
The the s i s o f Cor r i ne Johanna Bidwe l l i s approved :
San F ernando Val ley State C o l lege
June , 1969
ii
DEDICATION
For l ove , pat i e nc e , encouragement , and
unde r s tand ing whi c h have been so
meaningfu l to me dur ing the
proc e s s of mak ing a dream
a real ity ,
I
proudly
ded icate thi s the s i s
to my husband ,
VERNON E. BIDWELL
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
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LIST OF TABLES .
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LIST OF FIGURES.
ix
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABSTRACT
xi
CHAPTER
I. THE PROBLEM.
DEFINITIONS OF TEP�S USED
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HYPOTHESIS" ,
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PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY........... . ........
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I I. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
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III. METHODOLOGY.
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THE TESTING INSTRUMENT
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THE TECHNIQUE OF APPLI CATION
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THE SAMPLlNG TECHNIQUE
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MATERIALS SELECTED.
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STATISTICAL TREATMENT OF THE DATA
IV. ANALYSIS OF THE FINDINGS
ANALYSIS OF HEALTH TEXTBOOKS
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ANALYSIS OF SUPPLEMENTARY HEALTH BOOKS
ANALYSIS OF HEALTH PAMPHLETS
1 17
MAJOR FINDINGS OF STUDY. . .
V. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
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iv
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119
TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
APPEND I X
LIST OF SELECTED
HEALTH
I. MATERIALS
ANALYZEDPRINTED
FOR THIS
STUDYEDUCATION
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J?age
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130
L I S T OF TABLE S
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TABLE
I.
II .
Page
Intercorre lations (rho ) for the f ive
f ormu la s appl i ed to twenty-seven
t e s t s and corre lation ( rho ) between
eac h f o rmu la and mean o f the f ive
f ormu l a s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
48
S i gn i f i cant d i f ference on the F l e sch
Hea l th Pas sage Comprehens i on Te s t at
the five per c ent leve l
S i gn i f i cant d i f ferenc e s on the Da l e­
Cha l l H ea l t h Pas sage Comprehens i on
Te s t a t the f ive per cent l eve l
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I I I.
VI .
VII .
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F le s c h Reading Ea s e Scale
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Analys i s o f textbook number f our
XI.
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Ana ly s i s o f t extbook number f ive data
in ranl<. order , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Ana ly s i s o f textbook number s ix
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Analy s i s o f t extbook number s ix data
in rank orde r . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Read ing d i f f i c u l ty l eve l s o f a l l
o b se rvati o n s f rom hea l th t extbook s
f our , f ive , and s ix
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XIII .
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Ana ly s i s o f t ex tbook number f ive
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XII .
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Ana l y s i s o f textbook number f our data
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i n rank order . . . .
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VII I .
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Re lat i on s h i p o f formu la s c o r e s to two
adu l t r eading te s t s (corre lations,
b e twee n f ormula scor e s and s c or e s on
adul t r eading t e s t s
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Ranked interc orre lat ions of readabi l ity
metho d s' ratings and s tudent s ' c ompre. . .
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hens i o n on ten books . .
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Ana l y s i s o f hea l th book s ixty-s even,
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L I S T OF TABLE S
(continued )
TABLE
XIV.
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Ana ly s i s o f hea lth book s ixtys even data in rank order
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Ana ly s i s of heal th book s eventeen
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Ana ly s i s of health book s eventeen
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XVI I.
Ana l y s i s o f hea l th book thirty -one
XVI I I .
Ana ly s i s o f hea l th book thirty -one
data i n rank order
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Ana ly s i s of hea l th book thirty- f our
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Ana l y s i s o f health book th irty - f ou r data
in rank order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Ana ly s i s o f h ea l th book forty - e ight
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Ana ly s i s o f hea l th book forty-e i gh t data
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X X I I I.
Ana ly s i s o f hea l t h book th irty�f ive
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Ana ly s i s o f hea l th book thirty - f ive
data in rank order
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Ana l y s i s o f hea lth book three
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Ana ly s i s o f hea lt h book three data
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XXVI I .
XXVI I I.
Ana ly s i s o f hea l th book f i f ty -three
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106
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C omputed F le sc h Read ing Ea s e scor e s o f
e i gh t supplementary hea lth books in
rank ord e r.,
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Read ing d i f f i c u l ty leve l s o f al l
observat i o n s o f e ight supp l ementary
heal t h books . . , . . , . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Ana l y s i s o f heal t h book f i f ty - three data
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in rank order
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v i i_
L I ST OF TABLE S
( c ontinue d )
TABLE
XXXI .
XXXII .
XXXIII .
Page
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Range o f var ia ti on in grade leve l s
o f d i f f i c u l ty f or e i ght supplementary
hea l t h book s
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Data from s e lec ted health pamph lets . . . . . . . . 1 14
Reading d i f f i cu lty leve l s o f f i fteen
pamphle t s
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116
ACKNOWLEDGMENT S
N o the s i s i s brought t o c omp l e t i on without the
wi l l ing a s s i s tance o f many peop l e .
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The wr iter wishes
to a cknowledge with apprec iation tho s e who a s s i s ted her
i n thi s s tudy:
Dr. Wi l f red c.
Sutton , her the s i s c ha i rman , f or
i nval uable c oun s e l and guidanc e ; Dr . Bernard Hane s for
a s s i s tance in s tat i s t i ca l treatmen t o f the data ; and
D r. John F odor who a l s o s e rved on the c ommittee .
Mr s. Margare t Hou s ec h i ld , teacher - l ibrar ian ;
; Mr s. Martha Penton and Mr s. C har i ty Quenon , l i brary
c l erks o f Val ley Oaks Uni on School D i s tr i c t , who s e
support and c ooperation were vita l i n s ecuring the
books for thi s s tudy f rom the l i brar i e s .
T o a l l who s howed inte r e s t and gave encouragement
from the s tart to the f i n i s h.
x.
ABSTRACT
The Readabi l i ty o f Se l e c ted Printed
Hea l th Educa t i on Mat e r ia l s for
the I nt ermediate Grade s
by
Corr ine Johanna B idwe l l
Ma s ter o f S c ience i n Heal th Sc ience
June , 1 9 6 9
The r eadabi l i ty o f printed mat e r ia l s can be
mea sured by u s ing var i ou s me thods.
Th i s s tu dy emp loyed
the F le sch Reading Ea s e formula a s a mea suring i n s tru: ment to pred i c t the readabi l i ty o f s e l ected printed hea lth
e ducat i on mat e r ia l s intended for u s e in the intermed iate
grad e s.
The printed mat e r ia l s con s i sted of
o f hea l th t extbook s ,
(2 )
( 1 ) a series
suppl ementary hea l th books
ava i labl e in e l ementary l ibrar i e s of one schoo l d i strict ,
and
(3 ) hea l th pamphl e t s which have been u s ed or are be i ng
c on s idered f o r u s e at the intermediate leve l .
The r eader i s r eminded o f the l imitation s o f
readabi l i ty formulas .
The formula only provides a rough
e s t imate o f the readabi l i ty o f a pas sage of printed
mat e r ia l .
xi
The ma j or f i nd i ng s and conc lus ions of the s tudy
apply only to the materia l s ana l y z ed in thi s s tudy .
The
f o llowing conc l u s ions were drawn:
1.
The hea l th t extbook s o f one s er i e s from the
Cal i f ornia S tate l i s t o f approved t extbook s
are too d i f f ic u l t for the grade level intended .
2.
A l l but one o f the suppl ementary hea l th books
wer e too d i f f i c u l t for students i n the
intermediate grade s .
3.
A wide var iati on o f read ing d i f f ic u l ty wa s
f ound within each textbook and supplementary
health book.
4.
Only one o f the e l even books provided for
r ead i ng growth .
5.
S entence l e ngth and vocabulary were c ontributing
factors t o read ing d i f f ic u l ty .
Neither one was
a more predominant fac tor .
6.
None of the pamp h l e t s te s ted wou ld be s u i tab l e
f or t h e average fourth-or f i f th -grade s tudent .
Le s s t han one-third would be suitab l e for u s e
by the average s ixth-grade student .
x i i:
C HAPTE R
I
THE PROBLEM
Hea l th educa to r s have attempted to d e f ine heal th
e ducat ion i n terms whi c h are meani ngful i n the direct ion ,
impl ementat i o n , and evaluation o f i t s goa l s .
Nyswander
. ha s d e f ined health educat i on as a proc e s s of c hange related to achieving goal s ; a c hanging proce s s o f deve l opment whi c h enab l e s the p e r s on to accept or re j e ct new
i n forma t i on , new a t t i tude s , and new prac t i c e s which are
concerned w i th the attaining of the obj e c tive s of
hea lthful l iving .
1
Recent technical deve l opments have brought demand s
f o r a broad s cope o f und e r s tandings o f ba s i c facts and
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cond itions in a l l areas of knowledge .
The c hanging proc e s s
require s a deve l opmen t o f broad perspective s , c lear think·
ing , and s ound judgment s .
The educa t iona l proc e s s mu s t
u t i l i z e tho s e i n s t ru c tional materia l s whi c h mee t the new
n e ed s and a l s o give due empha s i s to the pa s t .
Through a program o f p lanned i n s truction , organi zed
around c entra l ideas or c oncepts , i t i s h oped that c h i ldren
.wi l l be a ided in ac.•t i eving the above -menti oned goa l s at
1
o e l be r t Oberteuffer & Mary Beyer , School Health
Education .
(New York ; Harper & Row , 19 6 6 ) , p. 4 3 .
2
f-
:
th e i r respec tive l eve l s o f maturat i on .
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Johns c onc l uded
: f r om her s tudy that a guide for health ins truc tion i s
i impe r ative i n this p l anning and wou ld l i s t materi a l s
,
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t ruc t1on
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f o r 1ns
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2
Gray i nd icated the need for providing mate r i a l s
.whi c h enab l e a l l pupi l s to achieve c ommon goa l s , l ead to
further depth and bre adth of re spect ive intere s t s , deve lopmental ne eds, l earn i n g c ap a c i ty , and r e ading c ompetenc e .
3
The method s and t echniqu e s u s ed i n health education
s hould be var i ed .
Prob lem s olving , d i scu s s i on , dramat i z a-
t i on , i nd ependent i nve s t i gation , and the u s e o f aud i o-
: v i sual
a i d s are some o f the technique s u s ed to f o s ter s tu­
:de nt part i c ipati on i n the learning s i tuation whi c h hopef u l ly l e ad s to und e r s tanding of concept s and princ iple s
; invo lved i n attaining and ma intaining healthful l iv i ng .
Ba s ic to mos t m e thod s and techniqu e s i s the u s e o f the
: p rinted word .
Reading become s an e s s enti a l tool i n
e f f ec tive u s e o f the p r i nted word .
The bui l ding o f a c oncept i s not the teaching o f
fac t s but i s a ttained o n l y by bui ld ing o n facts and
2
Mary E l len John s , " An Evaluat i on o f Hea l th Instruct i on Program o f Whi t t i e r S choo l D i s t r i c t . "
(Unpub l i s hed
M a s t e r' s the s i s , The Unive r s i ty o f C a l i forn i a , Los Ange l e s ,
1 95 7 ) , p . 6 3 .
3 wi l l i am Gray , " Reading Mater i a l s Needed for the
Current Curr i c u lum , " Mater i a l s For Read ing , Proceedings o f
t h e Annua l C onference on Read1ng He ld a t the Univer s i ty o f
C h i c ago , Volume XIX ( C h i c ago :
T h e Univers ity o f C h i c ago
P re s s , 195 7 ) , pp . 1 2 - 1 8 .
3
r e l at i on s h ip s .
Exp e r i ence he l p s in thi s proce s s , but f i r s�
Read-
hand experience i s , more o f ten than not , impo s s ib l e .
. ing of the printed word then become s ind i spensable in the
deve l opmental proce s s .
Wide re ading of the ava i lab l e
mater i a l i n the c ontent a r e a furn i sh e s t h e detai l s , give s
various points o f v i ew , and sugge s t s que s tions for further
r e s e arch .
4
The printed word h a s become the s chool ' s pr inc ipal
means o f sharing experienc e .
One need s only to l ook at
the incre a s ed emph a s i s on r e ad ing i n s c hool systems to
r ea l i z e the importance the educa t i on a l s y s tem p l a c e s on
thi s me ans of c ommuni c a t i on .
We intraub and Hil l ind i c a ted that reading i n the
c o ntent are a s such a s health ,
s c i en c e , mathematic s , and
s o c i a l s tu d i e s mak e s certain d emand s on the r e ader .
The s e
demand s nec e s s i tate reading f o r informati on whi c h i s o f ten
highly conde n s e d , has l e s s appea l , and i nvolve s techn i c a l
t erms and symb o l s whic h c r e a t e s more o f a prob l em f o r the
s tudent i n c omprehe n s ion , interpre tation , reca l l , and the
u s e o f i d e a s pre s e nte d .
All of the s e require d i s t inct ive
s k i l l s and p r e s ent d i f f i cu lt i e s .
To me et the s e
4 Gertrude Whipple , " Sequence i n Re ad ing in Content
Are a s , " Sequent i a l Deve lopment o f Read i ng Abi l i t i e s .
Proceedi ng s o f the Annua l Conference on Re ading Held at
the Unive r s i ty o f Chicago , Vo lume XX I I (Chicago :
The
U n iver s ity o f C h i c ago P r e s s , 1 9 6 0 ) , p . 1 2 6.
4
r equirement s , i t i s e s s ential to f i t the reading to the
maturity l eve l of the pup i l and a l l ow for gradual deve l op­
ment in a s equential pattern . 5
Johnson h a s indicated i n
her s tudy t h a t s tudent s in t h e intermediate grad e s a r e not
. a lways equipped to perform the s e s k i l l s . 6
The problem o f prov iding l earning exper ienc e s by
u s e o f pr i nted mate r i a l to produc e a s ati s fy ing l e arning
experience i n k e ep ing with the intere s t s, purpo s e s, and
ab i l i ti e s of the s tudents a l l at one t ime become s an
important func tion of the teacher.
Thi s requ i r e s a teacher
who knows how t o teach with many mater i a l s and pos s e s s e s
the me ans o f determini ng what mater i a l s are readable for
t he range of abi l i t i e s i n a part icular group .
D ive r s i fy-
ing instr uc t i on become s of paramount importance i n e f f e c tive c ommunc ation by the printed word .
task .
Thi s i s not a s impl e
Bond and T inker noted the i nc r e a s e in the r ange o f
r eading abi l i ty a s t h e c h i ldren progre s s through the
e lementary grade s .
7
F a i lure to ad j u s t the mater i a l s to
5samue l We i ntraub , " Re s earch , " Read ing Teacher ,
2 1 : 28 3 , December , 1 9 6 7 ; and Wa lter H i l l , " Content
T extbook :
Help or H i ndranc e ? , " Journ a l -o f Re ad ing ,
10: 4 10 , Marc h , 1 9 6 7 .
6
Mary Johns on , "The Voc abul ary D i f f i cu lty o f
Content Sub j e c t s i n Grade F ive . " , E l ementary Eng l i s h ,
2 9;2 12-21 , May, 1 952 .
7
Gary L . Bond a nd Mi l e s Tinker , Reading
D i f f ic u l ti e s, The ir D ia gno s i s and Correc t1on .
App leton-C r o f t s Inc . , 1 95 7 ) , p�5 .
(New York :
5
thi s increa s e i n range o f ab i l ity would l imit the e f f ect ive
u s e of the pr i nted word in c ommunic ation .
A teacher o f c h i ldren in the intermediate grade s ,
who knows the deve l opmental level o f thi s age group , may
uti l i z e the printed word to an even gre ater extent .
Rus s e l l s aid that chi l dr en between the age s o f e l even and
twelve years read mor e than at any other period .
He
b e l i eved that they are inte re s ted in non- f i ct ion material
and are eager to s at i s fy intere s t s through the use o f
r e f e rence book s . 8
The b a s i c s ource o f informat ion i s the textbook .
In Ca l i forn i a ,
s e l e c ti o n o f textbook s i s a funct ion o f
t h e local s chool d i s t r i c t from a l i s t approved b y a s tate
textbook committee .
Suppl ementary reading materia l s are
furn i s hed by the s chool l ibrary and agenc i e s furni shing
f r e e and inexpe ns ive printed mater i al .
The cho i c e o f
suppl ement ary mate r i a l i s a re spon s i b i l i ty o f the te acher
o r l ibrar ian and , more o ften than not , i s purely j ud gmental .
S tud i e s show that the j udgments o f teache r s , reading
experts , and l ibrarians we re incon s i stent in· e s t imat ing
the r e ad ing d i f f i cu lty of pr i nted mater i a l .
Among
i nd iyidua l s , j ud gments r anged from three to f our g rade.
8 navid Ru s s e l l , Children Le arn to Read .
B l a i sd e l l Pub lishing Company , 1 9 6 1 ) , p� 8 4 - 6 .
(New York :
6
leve l s for the s ame printed mater i a l .
9
What appears to be
needed is s ome ob j ec tive means of me asuring the readab i l ity
of ava i lab l e materi a l s thu s providing for more s k i l l and
accuracy in mak ing dec i s i on s about read ing mate r i a l s .
II .
Re a dab i l ity .
a s h andwr i t ing ,
(b)
DEF INIT I ONS OF TERMS U SED
Web s te r' s d e f i n i t i on is
(a)
legible ,
e a s y to read , bec aus e intere s t ing . 10
D aLe and Cha l l indicated that readab i l i ty is the s um total
( inc lud ing intera c t ions )
o f a l l tho s e e l ement s within a
given p ie c e o f pr i nted mate r i a l that a f fects the s uc c e s s a
g roup o f r e aders have with it .
The succe s s i s the extent
to wh i c h they unders tand it , read it at an optimum speed ,
9 Jeanne Cha l l , " Graded Re ad ing P aragraphs in He alth
Educ ation- - Re adab i l i ty by Example . "
( Unpub l i shed Ma ster ' s
the s i s , Oh i o S t a t e Unive r s ity , Columbu s , 1 9 4 7 ) , pp . 9 1 - 1 4 6 ;
David Rus s e l l and Anne Merri l l , " C h i ldrens' L ibrar i an s Rate
the D i f f i culty of We l l -Known Juve n i l e Book s , " E l ementary
Engl i s h , 2 8:2 6 3 - 6 8 , �1ay , 1 951; Leroy Wood , " Readab i l i ty of
Certain.Textbook s , " E l ementary Engli sh, 3 1:2 1 4 - 1 6, Apr i l,
1 95 4 ; Roma L . Herr ington and George G . Ma l linson , " An
Inve s t i ga t i on o f Two Method s o f Mea suring Readab i l i ty , "
S c i enc e Educ ation , 4 2:3 85- 9 0 , December , 1 95 8 ; Eme r a l d
Dechant , Improving the Teaching of Re ad ing . · (New York :
Prent i c e - Ha l l Inc . , -r9 6 4 ) , p . 4 6 4; and Lee S . Cronbock ,
Text Mater i a l s in Modern Educ at i on .
( Urbana :
Univer s i ty
o f I l l inoi s Pre s s , 1 955) , p . 7 6
l O web s ter' s C o l l egiate D i c t i onary , F i f th Edition .
( Spr ing f i e ld , Ma s s ac hu setts: G. & C . Merr iam Co . , 1 9 40 ) ,
p . 827 .
7
and f i nd it intere s ti ng .
11
Smith and De chant c ons ider
readab i l i ty as the perceptu a l prob l ems of unders tandab i l 12
i ty , the succ e s s the average individu a l h a s with a book .
F le s c h considers the aspects o f reading e a s e wh ich i s an
e s t imate of the e a s e with whi ch a reader is going to read
and unders tand what i s wr i tten and human intere s t wh ich i s
an e s t imate o f t h e human inte r e s t o f the pre sentation for
.:
13
the r eader .
Re adab i l i ty formu l a .
t i o n a l d e f i ni t i on .
Klare provide s a good opera-
He d e f ined readab i l ity f ormu l a s a s a
me thod o f mea surement i ntended a s a pred i c t ive devic e , the
d e s i gn of whi c h i s intended to provi de quantitat ive , ob j ec t ive e s timate s o f d i f f i cu l ty for piece s o f wr iting without
requ ir ing the reader s to read it or take te s t s on it .
Printed mate r i a l s.
14
P r i nted material s in t h i s study
i nc luded the currently u s ed C a l i fornia S tate approved
textbook , hard-bound book s avai lable in d i s tr i c t s c hool
l l Edgar Da l e and Jeanne S . Chal l , " The C oncept o f
Re adabi l i ty , " E l ementary Eng l i sh , 25 : 2 3 , January , 1 9 4 9 .
12
Henry P . Smith and Emerald Dechant , P s ychology in
(Englewood C l i f f , New Jer sey :
Prentice­
T e a c h i ng Read i ng .
Hal l Inc . , 1 9 6 1 ) , p. 2 4 3 .
13
Harper
&
( New York :
----
14
(Ame s :
Rud o l f F l e s c h , How to T e s t Re adab i l ity .
Brother s , 1 95 1 ) � . r .
Geor ge K l are , The Mea surement o f Re adab i l ity .
Unive r s i ty o f I owa Pre s s , 1 9 6 3 ) - , -pp . 3 3 - 4 .
l i br ary and s e l e c ted. sour c e s o f wide ly- u s e d approved health
pamphle t s and bu l le t in s .
Quantitat ive me a s urement s .
The attr ibute s o f voc ab ­
u l ary , d i f f iculty , and s entence length wh ich are c omb ined
i n to the d e s ignated formu l a a s r e l ated to the predetermined
c r i ter ion o f d i f f i culty d e s ignated by the rating s c al e .
Intermediate grade s .
The educational leve l o f groups
whi c h inc lude s the fourth , f i f th , and s ixth grade s .
Factor .
An e l ement o f wr i ting s ty l e whi c h inf lu­
enc e s the s uc c e s s the r eader w i l l have in comprehending
the mater i a l .
I I I.
HYPOTHE S I S
There i s n o r e l ationship between the pred icted grade
l eve l of d i f f i cu lty as mea sured by the F l e s c h·Reading E a s e
F ormu l a and t h e pub l i sher ' s grade leve l de s i gnation .
IV .
PURPOSE OF THE S TUDY
I t wa s the intent o f t h i s s tudy to mea s ure the read­
abi l ity o f s e le c ted pr i nted hea lth edu c ation ..mater i a l s in
an a ttempt to cl a s s ify the printed mater i a l more accurately
into grade l eve l s 0f readab i l i ty for intermediate grade s .
The F l e s c h Reading E a s e Formul a was employed to provide
obj e c tive mea surements and qua l i tative e st imate s of
d i f f iculty .
9
The spec i f ic purpo s e o f this study wa s to
( 1 ) deter-
mine the approximate level o f read ing ease o f the se lec ted
mater i a l s ,
(2 ) de termine the r ead ing e a s e range of the
s e l e c ted mater i al s ,
(3)
de termine any progre s s i on of read-
ing ease or range o f d i ff iculty within each s amp le item ,
(4 )
de termine the F l e s c h Read i ng E a s e s c o re o f each obs er-
vation in the s ample , and
( 5 ) determine the var iance o f
e a c h s amp l e .
V.
L IM I TATIONS OF THE STUDY
The l imitat ions of a l l readabi l i ty f ormu l a s apply to
the s tudy .
The s e l imitations are a s f o l lows :
(1)
formulas
me a sure only the s ty l e o f wri t ing and are not me asure s of
good style , or gan i z ation , word order , f ormat , imagery ,
topic head ings , e f fe c t ivene s s o f topic s entence s , enumera t ion , s ummar i e s , or que s t ions;
(2)
f ormu l a s mea sure on ly
the d i f f iculty of style and do not mea s ure c ontent , dramatic e f fec tivene s s , abi l i ty to create a mood , e f fectivene s s
i n sway ing opinions o r s a tiri z ing publ i c l i f e ;
(3)
formulas
do not me a sure f actor s o f conceptua l d i f f i culty , s emantic
variations in words , e f fe c t of i l lu s tra tion s on comprehens io n , the purpo s e , matu r i ty and inte l l i gence o f·the reader ;
(4 )
formu l a s are not accurate mea surements o f d i f f icu lty ,
t h e r e f ore the re s u l t s are on 1 y e st1mate s o f d 1. f f.1cu lty .
15
.
15
K lare , ££· c i t . , pp . 2 4 -5 ; and Jeanne S . Cha l l .
10
Thi s s tudy cons idered
r e adabi l i ty ,
(2 )
( 1 ) only two aspects o f
s entence l e ngth and s y l lables o f word s ;
the r e s u l t s apply on ly to tho s e mate r i a l s u s ed in
the s tudy and no attempt was made to general i z e to a l l
he a l th educ ation mat e r i a l s at t h e intermediate leve l ;
(3)
a l l part s o f books were not mea sured ;
summar ie s ,
que s tions , vocabulary l i s t s , and te s t s were omi tted ;
(4 )
the mea s urement wa s only a s r e l iable and v a l id a s
t he instrument u s ed , the F l e s c h Read ing E a s e Formula .
D isc u s s ion o f the val id i ty and re l iabi l i ty o f the Fle s c h
Reading E a s e Formu l a i s found in Chapter I I I .
Readabi l i tx :
An Appr a i s a l o f Re search and Appl ic ation .
(Co lumbu s :
ohiO State UnLver s i ty , 1 95 8 y;-pp . 12 , 25 , 35 ,
55 - 6 .
CHAP TE R I I
REVIEW O F THE L ITERATURE
The inve s t i gations reviewed wer e tho s e concerned
w i th the h i s tor ical deve l opment o f mea sur ing the readabi l�
i ty of mo s t wr itEen material and included the measurement
of wr i tten material prior to the deve lopme nt of readab i l ity
f ormu la s , the dev e lopment and revis ion o f readabi l ity for­
mula s , and current trend s in mea sur ing readab i l ity .
The
d i f f i cu lty o f wr i tten material i n the specia l content areas
of heal th educa tion material and s c ience wa s c o n s i dered to
be r e levant to the top i c of th i s s tudy ; therefor e , a review
wa s made o f the r eadab i l ity s tudi e s o f health educat ion
mate� i a l s i n the intermediate grade s , . genera l indications
of r ead ing d i f f i cu l ty o f hea l th education materia l at the
h i gh s c hool leve l and genera l c onc lus i on s drawn from
s tu di e s on the readab i l i ty o f educationa l materia l s in
s c i ence.
I nve s t i gations prior to deve l opment o f f ormula s .
T h e c oncern o f match ing the reader to the read ing materia l
i s not new .
When wr i tten c ommunicati on began with the u s e
o f s ymbo l s , t h e wr�ter wa s c oncerned that h i s me s sage b e
und e r s tood .
Klare indi cated that the f i r s t recorded attempt to
examine what man ha s c ome to c a l l readab i l ity wa s made by
12
the r e l igious teachers .
1
S ince the re l igiou s l eaders com-
p o s ed the l arge s t group of l i terate people o f the ir d ay ,
thi s i s not surpr i s ing .
Lorge noted that the T almud i s t s in 900 A . D . used
word c ounts i n d i s t i ngu i sh ing between usual and unusual
.
2
me an1.ng s .
Educ ator s bec ame inter e s ted in the f ac tors o f re adab i l i ty about 1 8 40 whe n und e r s t anding of the material was
a s s oc i ated wi th vocabu lary in the Mc Guf f ey Readers .
3
A word c ount cons tructed by F . W . Koed ing , a German ,
i n 1 8 9 8 e s tab l i shed a more s c ient i f ic b a s e f or r e l a t ing
vocabu l ary to reading d i f f icu lty . 4
In 1 8 8 9 ,
a
Ru s s i an , N . A . Rubok in , demon strated
that two f ac t o r s wer e r e l ated to r e ading d i f f i culty .
The s e were an unfami l i ar vocabulary and exce s s ive u s e o f
over-l ong s entenc e s .
5
Later , Sherman , Gerwig , Yul e , and
l Ge orge K lare, The Mea surement of Re adab i l i ty.
(Ame s , Iowa :
I owa S tate Un iver s i ty Pre s s , 1 9 6 3 ) , p . 3 0 .
2
I . Lorge , " Word L i s t s A Background for Commun i­
cat i on , " Teachers C o l lege Record , 4 5 : 5 4 3-52 , May , 1 9 4 4 .
3
w . s. Gr ay , " Progre s s in S tudy o f Readab i l i ty , "
Library Trend s (Chic ago:
Unive r s i ty of Chicago Pre s s ,
1 9 3 7 ) , pp . 3 7-5 4 , ( Lted by George K l are , Me asurement o f
Readabi l ity (Ame s , I owa :
I owa S t a t e Univer slty P re s s ,
1 9 6 3) , p . 3 0 .
4
5
Lorge , Loc . c i t .
I . Lorge , " Reading and Readab i l i ty " , Teache r s
C ollege Re searc h , 5 1 : 9 1 , Novembe r , 1 9 4 9 .
13
K i t son s tudi ed the e f f e c t s o f s entenc e l ength a s a
readab i l i ty f a c tor .
6
The work o f E . L . Thornd ike i s cons idered to be the
mo s t important vocabulary study of the per i od prior to the
devel opment o f r e ad ab i l i ty f ormu l a s .
I n 1 921 , The Teachers
Word Book iden t i f i ed the frequency with wh ich words occurred and inf luenced the teaching of voc abu lary in schoo l s .
Thi s prov ided an ob j e c tive me ans o f expre s s ing voc abulary
Many s ub s equent s tud i e s were b a s ed on the
7
books o f Thornd ike .
d i f f i cu lty .
C ha l l noted that the search for ob j ec tive technique s
c ame with the r ea l i z at i on that j udgments o f teachers ,
l i brarians , and pub l i shers o ften re sulted i n giving
mater i a l whi c h was too d i f f ic ul t to read and c omprehend .
8
S e a rc h began f or f a ctors that woul d va l idly d i s tingu i s h
e a s y from hard materi a l s , a means o f mea s ur ing them , and
an expr e s s i on o f some c omb ination of the s e factor s in terms
of r e ad ing a b i l i ty e s s e nt i a l to comprehen s ion .
In 1 92 5 , McCa l l and Crabbs pub l i shed Standard T e s t
Le s sons i n Reading which l ater bec ame the mos t u s ed and
6 Klare , �cit . , p .
7
31 .
I b i d.
8 Jeanne C h a l l , Re adab i l i ty :
An Appr a i s a l o f
Re s e arch and App l i c at i on .
( Columbus:- Ohio S ta te-­
Un�ver s ity;-1 9 5 8) 1 p. 1 0 .
14
adequate ava i lable c r iteria for the construction o f
9
r e ad ab i l i ty formu l a s .
The r e ad ab i l i ty f ormu l a s .
A review o f the l i tera-
ture reve a l s that wha t c o n s t i tut e s a formu l a h a s never been
c le a r ly s tated .
I nve s tigato r s u s ed var i ou s terms to
d e s c r i be the ir work ; one may f ind such terms a s me thod ,
me a sure , te chnique , and quant i t at ive a s s o c iational s tudie s .
Klare give s a range o f twenty-nine to f i f ty- s ix " formu l a s "
having been repor ted .
Al l o f the s e have emp l oyed a certain
methodology i n the i r deve lopment whi c h c on s i sted o f an
ana ly s i s of potent i a l e l ements re l ated to reader succe s s ,
counting and c or r e l a t ion o f e lements with a cr iter ion o f
d i f f ic u l ty , a n d c ombinati on i n t o a r e gre s s ion equation
f ormu l a .
10
Bertha A. L ive l y and s. L, Pre s s ey pub l i shed a paper
on voc abu l ary burden i n 1 9 23 .
T h i s i s cons idered the
f i r s t quantitative s tudy whi c h approached the concept of
readab i l ity .
The i r s tudy c o n s i s ted o f tak ing 1000 word
s amp l e s s y s t emat i c a l ly s e le c ted f rom textbook s , c a l c u l ating
the number of d i f f e rent wor d s and a s s i gn ing an i ndex o f
d i f f i �ulty r ang ing from one t o ten , a s b a s ed o n T horndike ' s
A value o f z er o was given to word s
Teacher's Word Boo}:.
not on the l i s t , thus p rovid i ng an index of techn i c a l
9 K l are , op . c i t . , p .
10
.
32 .
K l are , ££· c 1 t . , p . 3 5 ; Cha 1 1 , op . c1t . , p . 1 6 .
.
15
vocabulary .
They a s s i gned leve l s o f d i f f iculty to s ixteen
p i e c e s of reading matter and r anked them from e a sy or least
techn i c a l to mos t technic a l which s erved a s the i r c r i ter ion
o f d i f f i c u l ty .
burden .
Thi s g ave an e s t imate o f voc abul ary
11
The Winnetka s tud i e s whi c h were c arried out i n the
Winnetka , I l l inoi s ,
s c ho o l s under the direc tion o f
C a r l e ton W . Wa s hburne a nd Mabe l Vog e l were pub l i s hed in
1 92 6 .
The ir purpo s e w a s to determine the d i f f icu lty o f
book s r e ad a n d l iked by chi ldren i n c e r t a i n grade s .
The
paragraph-mean ing s e c t i on o f the Stan£ord Achievement Test
was u s e d a s a c r i te r i on o f d i f f i cu l ty .
They s y s tematical ly
s ampled p a s s ag e s contained i n books chi ldren read i n grades
three through nine .
The pa s s age s wer e ana l y z ed for four
e l ement s of d i f f i c u l ty :
d i f ferent word s , number o f prep-
o s i tions , words not on Thornd ike' s l i s t , and number o f
s imp l e s entenc e s .
equat i on .
The s e they app l i ed i n a regre s s i on
Their work was important for s ever a l reason s :
f ir s t , i t was the in i t i a l va lidation study u s ing a
s t andard i z ed r eading a c hievement t e s t a s a criteri on of
11
B . A . Live�y and S . L . P re s sey , " A Me thod o f Mea s­
uring Voc abu l ary Burden o f Textbooks , " Educat ional Admin i s ­
tra t i on and Supervi s io n , 9 : 3 8 9 - 9 8 , Octobe r , 1 9 2 3 , c1ted by
I owa State
George K l are , Measurement o f Readab i l i ty ( Ame s :
Unive r s i ty P re s s , 1 963) , p- . -37 ; and Jeanne Chal l , Read­
An Appr a i s a l of Re search and Appl ic ation
abi l i ty :
(Co lumbu s : --Ohlo State Unive r s 1ty , 1 9 5 8 ) , pp . 1 7- 9 .
---­
16
d i f f i cu l ty ;
s ec ond , i t provided a b a s e upon wh ich authors
could c o n s truct the ir own readab i l i ty formu l a s ; third , its
s c o re s c orre l ated . 8 4 5 with r eading score s o f the c h i ldren
who had read and l iked the book s ; and f ourth ,
it wa s the
f i r s t f ormu l a to pred i c t d i f f icu lty by grade leve l s .
In
1 9 3 8 , the f ormu l a was s impl i f ied and c r i terion revi sed to
inc lude grade s one and two .
12
Though Edward D o l c h did not c ombine the i nd i c e s
s t a t i s t i c a l ly , h i s s tudie s o f vo cabul a ry burden suggest
the u s e o f more than one mea s ur ement a s an index .
He
d e s i gned his own word l i s t whi c h he c a l led the Dolch
C ombined Word S tudy L i s t .
Dolch uti l i z ed the mate r i a l s
d e s i gned pr ima r i ly for grade s one through four .
13
Several d i f f erent technique s were u s ed by A . s.
Lewerenz i n h i s stud i e s c onduc ted i n 1 92 9 , 1 9 30 , 1 9 35 ,
1 9 3 8 , and 1 9 3 9 whi c h cons i sted o f u s ing d i f ferent e l ements
in each s tudy .
I n the f i r s t , he u sed words beginn ing with
d i f ferent l e t t e r s in the alphabet whi c h he a s s i gned as
be i ng e a s y or hard ;
in the s e c ond , Ang l o- S axon words and
12M . Voge l and C . Wa s hburne , " An Obj ective Method o f
D etermining Grade P la c ement o f Chi ldren ' s Reading Materia l , "
E lementary School :�?urna l , 2 8 : 3 7 3 - 8 1 , January , 1 92 8 , c i ted
by George Klare , Meas urement of Readab i l i ty (Ame s :
I owa
State Unive r s i ty P re s s , 1 963 ) , -pp . 3 8- 9 and Jeanne Cha l l ,
Readabi l i ty :
An Appr a i s a l o f Re search and App l i c ation
( C o lumbus;
Ohio S tate Un iver s ity , 1 9 5 8- ) - , -pp . 1 9 -21 .
13
K l ar e , op . ci t . , p .
40 .
17
tho s e with Greek or Roman der iva t i on ;
in the th ird and
fourth , the e l ement of voc abulary intere s t ; and in the
l a s t , measures of pol y s y l l ab l e word s.and voc abu l ary ma s s .
Al l o f the s tud i e s were b a s ed on graded material in
s tandardized reading t e s t s but only the f i r s t two were
val idated .
14
George R . Johnson a l s o u s ed polysyl lable word s a s
an e l ement o f d i f f i c u l ty .
H i s method was s imp le , quick to
admi n i s ter and s howed evidenc e o f r e l iabil i ty .
There wa s
a r e l a t i o n s h ip b e tween the percentage o f polysyl l abic word s
and the c omprehe n s ion by s tudents , a decrea s e in Thornd ike
f r equency as polysyl l ab i c wor d s increased , an i ncr e a s e in
po l y s y l l a b i c wor d s in the c o n s e cut ive grade leve l s , and a
c lo s e re lationship b e tween polysyl labic word s and technical
words wa s found i n s even c h i ldrens' books .
15
Another formu l a was deve l oped in 1 9 3 1 by W . W . P atty
and W, I . P ainter in a s tudy o f the voc abul ary burden of
high school textbook s .
The ir s amp l i ng technique wa s d i f -
ferent from previ ou s s tud ie s .
I t cons i s ted o f l i sting a l l
the words located i n the third c omp l e te l ine o f every page .
An i ndex number wa s a s s igned to each word b a s e d on
Thornd ikel s Word L i s t.
A we i ghted va l ue wa s g iven from
index number and frequency and the average of the s e wa s
d e termined .
The se f a c t o r s were app l i ed to a formu l a .
value s indicated d i f f i c u l t voc abu l ary and high va lue s
1 4 Klare , ££· c i t . , pp . 4 0 -2 .
l Sib id.
Low
18
i nd i cated easy vocabu lary .
The r e su l t s o f the ir s tudy
s howed l i tt l e d i f ferenc e s in the textbook s by grade s with
the exception of the s op homore texts whic h had the
greate s t vocabu lary burden .
16
E . L . Thornd ike ana l y z ed read ing materia l s i n grad e s
four to n ine and conc luded that vocabu lary can be increa s ed
by the frequent introduc t i on and repe t i t i on o f new words
the approximate d i f f i cu l ty o f whi ch are e s tab l i shed by
Thornd ike's Word L i st and the norm f or each grade . 1 7
The s tud i e s f r om 1 9 3 4 t o 1 9 3 8 were ba s ed on the
princip l e s of readab i l i ty which inc luded deta i l s of
s entence fac tor s , vocabulary fac tor s , qua l i tat ive fac tors
of abs trac t i on , a l l o f whi c h ind i cated a broader s c ope to
r eadab i l i ty .
Prior to this t ime , vocabu lary wa s the only
factor u s ed a s ba s i s for pred i c t i ons .
The f i r s t s tudy ,
in 1 9 3 4 , wa s done by Ra lph O j emann
who examined s eventeen fac t or s , both quantitative and qua l i tative , t o s e e how c l o s e ly the s e var ied with d i f f i c u l ty o f
magazine pa s sage s intended f o r adu l t read ing .
H e could not
expre s s the qua l i ta tive fac tor s of abstractne s s , obs curi ty ,
and incoherence i n expr e s s ion i n quantitative terms but
1 5 Klare , ££· c i t . , pp .
16
Klare , op . c i t . , pp .
43 , 207 .
4 4 , 208-9 .
19
he c onc luded that they s hou ld not be ignored .
The d i f f i -
c u l ty o f t h e pa s s age s was determined b y te s t s c o r e s o f comprehen s ion of the s ub j ec t s u s ed .
Of the seventeen quanti-
tat ive facto r s , three o f t he s entence f ac tor s and a l l o f
the vocabulary factors h ad a corre l at i on o f . 6 w i t h the
c r i ter ion , s ixteen magaz i ne p a s s age s arranged in order o f
d i f f icu lty a s de termined by t e s ts o f c omprehe n s i on .
The
corre lation of c r i t e r i on and qua l i tative fac tor s could not
be c omputed .
He c o n c l uded that the d i f f i cu l t pa s s age s were
abs tract whi l e e a s y p a s s age s wer e a d i s c u s s ion o f c oncrete
expe r i e nc e s .
O j emann did not attempt to put f ac tor s into
an equation but arranged them a c cording t o d i f f i cu lty a s a
s ampl e whi c h could b e u sed i n c ompar ing other mat e r ia l s .
T h i s s tudy wa s s i gni f icant i n that i t u s ed only adul t
mater i a l s for a c r i te r i on and adu l t subj e ct s ; i t u s ed
comprehen s ion que s t i o n s on the s e l e c t i ons ; and , i t
attempted t o iden t i f y qua l i ta tive var i ab le s .
18
Sho r t l y a fter the r e s u l t s o f O j emann ' s s tudy were
I
publ i s hed , Edgar D a l e and Robert Tyl e r pub l i s hed thei r
f i ndings in whi c h they had ana l y z ed s imi lar f ac tor s i n
1 8 Ra l p h O j er:ann , " The Reading Ab i l i ty o f Parents and
F a c t o r s As s o c i at ed With Reading D i f f i cu lty o f Parent Educa­
t i o n Ivla te r ia l s , " Un iver s i ty o f Iowa Stud i e s in Chi ld
We l fare , 8:1 1 - 3 2 , 1 9 3 7 , c i tea-by George Kl are; Mea surement
An
of Readab i l i ty , pp . 44- 5 and Jeanne C h al l , Re adabi l i ty :
APp ra i sal of Re s e arch and App l ication , pp . 2 1 - 2 .
20
s e lec tions pertaining to per s onal he a l th .
They were
attemp t ing to f i nd s u i taple reading mate r i a l for adul t s
wi th l imi ted r e ading abi l i ty .
A total o f twenty-nine
f actors a s so c iated with vocabulary , s entence length , and
s tructure wer e c o n s idered.
A s e r i e s o f corre l ations were
run between the f a c tor s and i ndex o f d i f f i cu l ty .
Only ten
of the s e f a c tor s had a s i gn i fi c an t c orre l at i on with the
c r i te r i on and s ome of the ten were so c l o s e l y r e l ated they
d id not a l t e r the pred i c t i on .
In the r e gre s sion equation ,
only three f ac to r s were i n c l uded:
techn i c a l word s ; hard ,
but y e t not techn i c a l word s ; and the numbe r o f indeterminate c l au s e s .
The r e s u l t s gave an i ndication of the
perce n tage of adu l t s wi th third to f i fth grade reading
abi l i ty who wou ld be abl e to c omprehend the mat e r i a l in
the p a s s a ge s .
19
A l s o in 1 9 3 4 , Wi l l i am s. Gray and Berni c e E. Le ary
pub l i s hed the r e s u l t s of the i r r e adabi l i ty study.
They
were in s e a r c h of s u i table r e ading mate r i a l s for readers
with l imited abi l i ty .
T h i s s tudy i s recogn i z ed a s the
mo s t exten s ive in the h i s tory of readab i l i ty .
19
The i r f i r s t
Edgar D ale and Ral ph Tyle r , " A Study of the Factors
I n f luencing the D iffi c u l ty o f Re ad i ng Mater i a l s f or Adu lts
o f L imi ted Re ad ing Ab i l i ty , " Library Quarterly , 4:3 8 4 - 4 1 2 ,
Ju ly , 1 9 3 4 , c i ted by Geor ge Klare , Measu rement of Re ada ­
b i l i t� , pp . 4 6 - 7 and Jeanne Cha l l , Re adabi l ity:--An
Appr a 1 s a l o f Re s e ar c h and App l i c at ion , pp . 2 2 - 3 .
21
s tep was an opinion survey among l ibrar ians , pub l i sher s ,
and l e ader s in adu l t education which a sked for the f actors
whi ch inf luence readab i l ity for the s pe c i f i ed group ;
l ate r ,
they a s k ed f o r an evaluat ion o f the given factors by thi s
s ame group.
The re s u l t s of the prel iminary inqu iry we re
u s ed i n s e t t ing up the ob j e c tive s for the rema inder o f the
inv e s t igati on.
The i r o b j ectiv e s
were to a s certain what
f a c t o r s of expr e s s ion make read ing mater i a l e a s y o r d i f f i c u l t and then t o u s e the s e factors i n pred i c t ing d i f f iculty
o f the mater i a l by g iv ing a nume r i c al expre s s ion.
The c r i -
t e rion o f d i f f i culty w a s a comprehens ion t e s t de s igned t o
t e s t t h e reader' s ab i l ity to get the m a i n idea o f p a s s age s
s e l e c ted from wide l y - r e ad mater i a l .
Of the forty- four
f a c tor s , f iv e gave the h ighe s t mu l t ip l e corre l ation of
. 6 4 3 5 with the c r i t e r i on whi c h was the s core on the adu l t
reading te s t .
E lemen t s o f vo c abu la ry , l e ngth o f s entenc e s ,
and prepo s it iona l phr a s e s were u s ed in the i r formul a .
By
emp loying the formul a, mater ial s c ou ld be d iv ided into f ive
l ev e l s of d i f f iculty r anging f rom very e a sy to very d i f f icu l t .
A gr ade a s s i gnmen t wa s then g ive n t o each l eve l o f
d�' f f'�cu 1 ty.
20
2 0 wi l l i am S . Gray and Bernice E. Lea ry , " What Makes
A Book Readab l e ? " , Journal of Adul t Educ ation , 6 : 4 0 8 - 1 1 ,
October , 1 9 34 .
22
E l izab eth C . Mor ri s s and Dorothy Halve r s on s ought
s ome way of app r a i s ing the d i f f e rentia l meanings of word s
t o provide a mor e val id e�timate o f d i f f i culty .
They de-
v e lo ped what they termed " idea ana l y s i s technique " by
c l a s s i fying word s i nto content o r non-content words .
The
c ontent words were then further c l a s s i f ied into four ma j or
g roups whi c h they cons idered to fo l l ow the pattern o f
l e arning .
Rul e s were formu lated f or ana lyzing book s by
t h i s method .
The t e chnique had shortcomings wh ich hinder-
ed its u s age , the chief o f wh i c h was lack o f su f f i c ient
i n s truct ion i n interpretation and no c r i terion .
The i r
work wa s never pub l i shed , ye t i n s p i te o f i t s s hortcomings i t did contribute by giving another e l ement for
21
c on s1. d erat1on
1. n r e ad a b'1'
1 1ty .
.
At the pre sent t ime ,
r e ad i ng spec i a l i s t s are a ttempting to examine the
importanc e of words in c ontext .
Becau s e the f ormu l a s wer e de tai l ed and therefore
not too pr act i c a l f or c ommon u sage , r e s e archers began to
l ook for method s by whi c h to s impl i fy the formu l a s and
improve upon the i r e f f ic ienc y .
One might cons ider the
f i f teen y e a r s f rom 1 9 3 8 t o 1 9 5 3 a per i od o f revi s ion and
s imp l i f ic a t i on .
21
s,)me o f the formula s developed during
E . C . Morr i s s and Dorothy Halve r s on , " Ide a Ana l ­
y s i s Te chn ique . "
Unpub l i s hed ( di ttoed ) , o n f i le Co lumb i a
Univer s ity L ibrary , 1 9 3 8 , c i ted by George Klare , Me asure­
men t of Readabi l i ty , pp . 5 0 - 1 and Je anne Cha l l , Re adab i l i ty:
An Ap praiSall o f Re s earch and App l i c at ion , pp . 2 5 - 7 .
23
the per iod have become the mo s t wide ly-u s ed by tho s e
inter e s ted i n getting the r i ght mater i a l into the hand s
o f the reader .
The f i r s t revi s ion was o f the Wa s hburne -Voge l f ormu l a .
They redu c ed the number o f factors f rom f our to
three , changed the word count to number of word s not in
Thornd ike ' s 1 5 0 0 C ommon e s t , and the c r i te r i on wa s expanded
to include grade s one and two .
The new formu l a had a mul -
t i p l e corr e l a t i on o f . 8 6 with i t s c r iter ion and was e a s ie r
The auth or s gave a probabl� error o f + 0 . 8 for
t o app l y .
the i r r ev i s ed formu l a .
The r ev i s ed mu l t i p l e corr e l at ional
formu l a i s :
x
1
=
. 0 0 2 5 5X
2
+ . 04 58X
3
- . 03 07X
4
+ 1 . 294
where:
=
grade p l a c ement
x2
=
numb e r o f d i f ferent words
x
=
numb e r o f d i f f erent uncommon words
x
l
3
( not in
Thorndike ' s 1 5 0 0 C ommone s t )
x4
=
numb e r o f s impl e s entenc e s in s eventy-f ive
s ampl e s entence s .
T h i s rev i s ed formu l a b e c ame known a s the Wa s hburne -Morph e tt
formu l a .
22
Later s tudi e s on c omparat ive val id ity showed
2 2 car l e to n Wa s hburne and Mab e l V . Morphett , " Gr ade
P l ac ement o f Chi ldr e n ' s Boo k s , " E l ementary Schoo l Journal ,
3 8:3 5 5 - 6 4 , January , 1 9 3 8 , c i ted by George Klare ,
Me a surement of Readab i l i ty , pp . 5 2 , 1 1 6 .
24
t he formu l a t o p l a c e books a t a highe r grade lev e l than do
other forrnu l a s . 2 3
Irving Lorge f e l t that too muc h t ime and l abor were
i nvo lved in u s i ng de tai led f o rmu l a s .
The e f fort s invo lved
Hi s
d id not incre a s e the pred i c t i on to any great degree .
work was d i r e c ted t oward s impl i fying mea surement s .
He
e s ta b l i s hed h i s c r i ter ion from 3 7 6 s e l e c t ions in the
McCa l l-Crabbs S tandard Te s t L e s s ons in Reading .
The
f ac to r s o f the Gray-Le ary formu l a s e rved as a s tart ing
p o int .
A s e r i e s o f mul t i p le correlat ions u s ing var i ou s
c omb inations o f the f ive factors to whi c h he a s s igned a
we i ghted i ndex o f d i f f icu lty wer e c omputed with h i s c riteLater he u s ed s ome e l ements o f the Morr i s s -Ha lverson
r ion .
c la s s i f ic at ion.
The f i n a l ver s i on o f h i s formu l a u s ed
three factor s , the number o f d i f f erent hard word s , the
average s entence l ength , and the numbe r of prepo s it i onal
phra s e s.
H i s f ormu l a is a s f o l l ows:
whe r e:
x
x
l
2
=
gr ade p l acement
=
average s e ntence le ngth in word s
2 3 navid Ru s s e l l and Henry F e a , " Va l id i ty S tud i e s o f
S i x Readab i l i ty Formu l a s a s Me a sure s o f Juven i le F i c t ion , "
E l ementary Schoo l Journa l , 5 2:1 3 6 -44 , November , 1 9 5 1 and
C yr 1 l la Wal ther , " The Reading D i f f iculty of Maga z ine s , "
School Review , 5 1:1 0 0 - 5 , February , 1 9 4 3 , c i ted by Jeanne
C h a l l , Readab i l i ty: An Appr a i s a l of Re s e arch and
App l ication , pp . 7 2 - 8-.-
25
x3
=
number o f prepo s i t i onal phr a s e s per 1 0 0 word s
x4
=
number o f d ifferent hard words per 1 0 0 words
not on the D a l e 7 6 9 Word L i s t .
H i s formu l a had a c o r r e lation o f . 7 6 6 9 with the c r i t e r ion .
H i s work i s s i gni f i cant not only for s impl ification but
a l so for e s tab l i s h ing the be s t c r i te r i on devi s ed up to that
t ime .
24
Later , many s tud i e s wer e made o f val idi ty by c omThe re s u l t s o f the s e var ied but indic at ed
par i ng formul a s .
a c lo s e compar i son , with intercorre lations from . 5 4 to . 9 0 ,
w i th the Was hburne - Morphe tt formul a and l ater the D a l e C ha l l formu l a .
I t gave a better pred i c t i on for primary
grade s than for upper grad e s even though Lorge sugge s ted
the f ormu l a be u s ed for grade range f rom three to twe lve . 2 5
The f i r s t formu l a u s ing only one factor o f d i f f i cu lty , a we i ghted index o f vocabu l ary , was dev i s ed by G . A .
Yoakum at the Univer s ity o f Pit t sburgh in 1 9 3 9 .
not pub l i s hed unti l 1 9 4 8 .
I t was
The we i ghted index was obtained
by a s s i gning values of four t o twenty to each 1 0 0 0 words of
Thorndike ' s word l i s t s t a r t i ng above 3 0 0 0 and continuing
to 2 0 , 0 0 0 .
Word coun t s were made by page s , a total o f ten
p ag e s wa s c ounted .
The grade p lacement r anging f rom two
2 4 Irving Lorge , " Wo rd L i s t s A Background for
C ommunicat ion , " Teacher s C o l lege Rec ord , 4 5 : 5 4 3 - 5 2 , May ,
1944 .
2 5 Je anne Cha l l , Readab i l i ty :
An Appra i s a l o f
Re s earch and App l i c a t ion , pp . 8 4 - 7 .
26
t o f ourteen wa s made by consult ing a reading di f f i culty
scale b a s ed on the c omputed average page index numbe r .
H i s f ormu l a wa s appl i ed to r epre sentative books pub l i shed
t e n years apar t .
The later publ ications wer e found to be
e a s i e r than publ isher ' s grade pla cement .
26
Later , the
The
formu l a was u s ed i n c omparat ive val idity s tudie s .
r e s u l t s of the s e are not con s i s tent , w i th a var i at ion a s
much a s two grade leve l s , howeve r the f ormu l a compare s
c on s i s tently with the Dale-Cha l l formu l a .
27
The concept o f readabi l i ty bec ame mor e wide ly known
and u s ed i n the a r e a s of j ourna l i sm , b u s ine s s , and governmen t through the e f forts of Rudo lph F le s ch .
Becau s e
F le s ch wrote many art i c l e s and books on readab i l ity , h i s
formu l a became wide l y known .
had many s hortcomings .
He f e l t the e x i s ti ng formu l as
The s e he l i s ted a s not b e i ng suit-
abl e for adul t materi a l , empha s i s on voc abul ary at the expen s e o f other factor s , and too l it t l e attention to abstract word s .
He s e t out t o t e s t h i s hypothe s i s .
The
r e s u l t s o f h i s s tud i e s were pub l i s hed in h i s books The Art
of P l ain T alk and The Art o f Readable Wr i t ing . 2 8
2 6 G . A . Yoakum , B a s a l Reading In stru c t i on .
York: Mc -Graw-Hil� , 1 9 5 5 ) , pp . 3 29- 4 3 .
The
( New
2 7 Je anne C ha l l , Readabi l i ty :
An Appr a i s a l o f
Re s e arch and Ap p l ic a t i on , pp . 8 3 - 4 .
2 8 rbid . , pp .
2 9 -3 0 .
27
revi s ed f ormu l a was pub l i shed i n h i s book How To T e s t
Readab i l i ty . 2 9
The F lesch formu l a i s cons idered more
fu l ly in C hapter I I I .
I n 1 9 4 8 , Edgar D a le and Jeanne Cha l l de s i gned a formu l a which was intended to correct the d e f i c ienc i e s o f the
original F l e s ch formu l a.
They po s tu l a ted that a larger
word l i s t wou ld pred i c t better than the Dale l i s t of 7 6 9
word s or c ounts o f a f f ixe s , personal re ferenc e s were unnec e s s ary , and a mor e e f f i c ient f ormu l a c ould be deve loped
u s ing the word f actor and sentence factor .
They deve l oped
the ir formu l a w i th the s e fac tor s and u s ed the McC a l l -Crabbs
c r iter ion of d i f f i cu lt y .
w i th the c r i te r i on .
The formu l a s cores corr e la ted . 7 0
I t w a s i ntended pr imar i ly for adult
mater i a l s; however, a fter exper imenting w i th the formula , a
t ab l e for corr e c t i ng grade l eve l s g ave i t a range f rom
t h i rd grade to twe l ft h .
X
c
50
=
. 1 5 7 9X
l
30
The i r f ormu l a i s a s fo l l ow s :
+ . 0 4 9 6X2 + 3 . 6 3 6 5
where :
xc
50
=
r e ad in g s core o f pup i l who can answer cor­
r e c t ly one-ha l f the McC a l l -Crabbs te s t
que s t i o n s o n a pa s s age
2 9 Rudo lph F l e s c h , How T o Te s t Readab i l i ty , ( New York :
Harper & Brothe r s , 1 9 5 1 ) ; Rud olph F l e s c h , The Art o f P l a in
Harper & Brother s , 1 9 5 6 ) ; Rudolp�F le sch ,
T a lk , (New York :
o f App l i ed
�ew Re adabi l i ty Yard s t i ck , " Journal -P s ychol ogy , 3 2:2 2 1- 3 3 , June , 1 948 .
30
cha1 1 , op . c i t . , pp .
31-4 .
28
x
1
=
percentage o f word s out s ide the D a le l i st o f
3000
x
2
=
(Da l e score )
average s entence length i n word s .
Evidence o f v a l i d i ty was o f fered by the author s by show i ng
evidence o f h igh correlation o f j ud gments o f teache r s ,
readab i l i ty spec i a l i s t s , and reading grad e s o f c h i ldren and
adu lts who were able to answer c orrectly 7 5 percent of the
que s tions on the pas sages s e le c ted. 3 1
Many s tudie s o f
c ompar ative va l i d i ty w ith other f ormu l a s have been done.
In summar i z i ng the s e , one need s to c on s ider that d i f fere nt
mater i a l s were u se d by each inve s t i gator ; d i f ferent for�
mu la s were c ompared , s ome y i e lded grade leve l s c or e s
d i r e c t ly whi le other s requ i red correc t i on s ; d i f ferent cri ter i a of d i f f icu lty have been u s e d ; and d i f ferent me thod s o f
corre lation have b e e n emp loyed.
In terms o f c orre lational
data and grade p l ac ement , the f indings show that the D a l e C h a l l and F l e s ch Reading E a s e f ormu l a s t o be the mo s t
32
c o n s1. s tent .
Whi l e the s e ar c h for a means o f me a suring adul t
r e ad ing mate r i a l s w a s tak ing place , E . W. D o l c h and Lester
and Viola Whe e ler were concentrating the ir e f f orts on
mate r i a l s f or c h i ldren.
3 1 I b id . , p .
91 .
3 2 Klare , op . c i t . , pp .
1 1 8-2 0 .
29
Dolch s tudied textbook s .
He u s ed s entence length ,
D o l c h ' s The F i r s t Thous and Words for Chi ldren ' s Re ad ing ,
and po lysyl labic word s .
Each f ac tor.w a s u s ed independ-
ently and c ompared with s tandard s given .
H i s progr e s s ion
in c ounts of s e t s of r e ader s at d i f ferent grade leve l s provided the s tandard s for eacp grade and a l s o evidence of
va l i d i ty .
The formu l a is intended for use on material s
f o r grad e s one through f our . 3 3
Whee ler a nd Whee ler tabu l ated word count s u s ing
Thorndike ' s r a t ings for grade placement .
The r e s u l t s o f
count s in each grade leve l w e r e then ba sed on perc entage s .
The Thornd ike word l i s t s were u s ed a s the c r i terion and to
e s t ab l i s h v a l i d i ty . 3 4
In 1 9 5 0 , F l e s c h c o n s idered a new f actor o f reada b i l ity , wh i c h he termed leve l o f abs trac ti on .
formu l a i s impra c t i c a l for common u s age .
The
S i xteen c a te-
gori e s of w ord s and th irteen l imitations of qua l i f ications
a r e needed i n making the word count .
A tab le was devi sed
t o determine the r e l a t i on s hi p o f d e f inite word s and the
3 3 E . w . D o l c h , " Graded Reading D i f f ic u l ty , " ( Ch . XX I )
Problems i n Reading , ( Ch ampa i gn , I l l inoi s :
The Garrard
P re s s , 1 948) , pp . 2 2 9- 5 5 , c ited by Klare , The Measurement
of Re ad ab i l ity , pp . 6 0- 1 .
3 4 L . R . Whe e ler a nd V . D . Whe e ler , " Se lecting
Appropriate Reading Mater i a l s , '' E lementary Eng l i sh ,
2 5 : 4 7 8 - 8 9 , D ecember , 1 9 4 8 , c i ted by Klare , The Me asurement
of Readab i l i ty , pp . 6 1- 2 .
30
leve l o f ab s tr a c t i on.
The McCa l l -Crabbs t e s t l e s sons were
again used as a c r i ter ion, 3 5
Jenk i n s and Jone s c r i t i c i zed
the formu l a bec au s e of its c omplexity.
The correl ation of
the syl l a b l e c ount w i th the McC a l l -Crabbs te s t was
. 6 9 and
w i th the added mea s u r e s of a b s traction and d e f i ni te word s ,
i t gave a mu ltiple correlation o f
s t a t i s t i c a l gain of
. 72 .
They f e l t that the
. 0 3 was not practi c a l ly s igni f i cant. 3 6
Paul G i l l i e f e l t the d e gree o f abs traction w a s o f importance but recogn i z e d it s impra c t ic a l i ty.· He made an ana ly s i s of the cate gor i e s of d e f inite words and arr ived at
two factors which he termed d e f in i t e a r t i c l e s and finite
verbs .
He va l idated h i s f ormu l a w i th the F l e s c h Leve l o f
·Ab s t r ac tion formu l a and a l s o s ta ted t h e r e was no obj e c t ive
method for v a l i da t i ng a mea sure o f ab s tr a c t i on. 3 7
Jame s F arr , Jame s Jenkin s , and Donald Pater s on s tudi ed the r e l i a b i lity c oe f f i c i ents of var i ous stud i e s by d i ff erent ana l y s t s a nd attempted to improve the e f f ic iency by
s impl i fying the F le sc h Readi ng Ea s e Formu l a.
They
3 5 Rud olph F le sc h , " Me a s ur i ng the Leve l o f Ab s tr ac·­
t i on , " Journ a l o f App l i ed P sycho logy , 3 4 : 3 8 4 - 9 0 , December ,
1950 .
3 6 Jame s J . Jenk i n s and Robert L . Jone s , " F le s c h ' s
'Me a s ur i ng the Leve l o f Ab s tract ion ' , " Journ a l of App l i ed
P sycho logy , 3 5 : 6 8 , February , 1 9 5 1 .
3 7 P au l J . Gi l l i e , " A S imp l i f i ed Formu l a for Measur­
i n g Abs traction i n Wr i ti ng , " Journ a l of App l i ed P sychol ogy ,
4 1 : 2 1 4 - 1 7 , Augus t , 1 9 5 7 .
31
p o s tu lated that c ount i ng one s y l l ab l e word s wou ld be more
rapid and equal l y as prec i s e .
One hundred word s amp l e s
w e r e s cored us i ng the o ld formul a wh ich u s ed s y l l ab l e
c ounts and the ir formu l a w h i c h u s ed the count o f o n e
s y l l ab l e word s .
The mea n a nd s tandard deviation were
c omputed f or the var iable s of one syl lable word c ount s ,
syl lable coun t s , r e ad i ng e a s e score o f old formu l a , and
reading e a s e s c o re of the ir new formula .
The var iabi l i ty
o f the o ld r e ad ing e a s e score was 1 5 . 7 a s against 1 4 . 2
w i t h the new s c or e .
The number o f one s y l l able words and
the s yl l abl e count c o r r e lation was found to be - . 9 1 .
This
provided the regre s s io n needed f o r t h e subs titut ions i n
t h e new formula .
(1 }
The two regre s s ion f ormu l a s are :
Old Read ing E a s e Index
=
2 0 6 . 8 3 5 - . 8 4 6 wl - 1 . 0 1 5 s l
(2 } New Reading E a s e I ndex
=
1 . 5 9 9 n o sw - 1 . 0 1 5 s l - 3 1 . 5 1 7
where :
wl
=
number o f syl l ab l e s per one hundred word s
sl
=
aver age s e ntence l ength
n o sw
=
number o f one s y llable words per one hundred
words
The new f ormu l a gave a corr e lation c o e f f i c i ent o f . 9 3 .
They concluded f r om thi s that the s impl i f i ed ver s ion could
be s ub s t i tuted for the original f ormu la .
In add i t ion , a
..:S L
table was c o n s truc t e d wh ich wou l d be used for both
f ormu l a s . 3 8
Recent ly , bus ine s s and indu s t r y have become inter e s ted in produc i ng t r a i ning ma ter i a l s and report s for
emp loye e s .
The work o f Robert Gunning and John McE lroy ,
r e s e archers in the area o f r e ad ab i l i ty , have brought the
importance of read ab i l i ty t o the attention o f tho s e who
a r e r e spons i b l e for w r i tten c ommuni c a t i on in indus try .
Gunni ng devi s ed a s impl e formu l a wh ich h a s been used by
the S tand ard O i l C ompany o f N ew Jer s ey .
T h i s f ormu l a has
two f a c tor s , numb e r s o f word s in s entenc e s and number o f
p o l y s y l lab i c words .
By applying the se to a s imp l i f ied
f o rmu la , a Fog I ndex is obtained .
Thi s index is the grade
leve l required for u nd e r s tand ing the mater i a l .
C r iter i a
wer e based on Ame r i c a n mag a z i ne s o f var ious c l a s s e s and
p a s sages in the McCa l l -Crabb s t e s t . 3 9 The McE l roy f ormu l a
i s very s im i l a r t o Gunning ' s .
He u s e s c ounts o f phonetic
s ound s and wor d s i n s entenc e s a s factors and arr ive s at
a Fog Index .
A r e ad ing l eve l i s obtained by u s i ng a
3 8 Jame s N . F ar r , Jame s J . Jenkins , and Donald G .
P ater s on , " S imp l i f i c a t i on o f F l e s c h Read ing E a s e Formula , "
Journal o f App l ie d P s ychology , 3 5 : 3 3 3 - 3 7 , Octobe r , 1 9 5 1 .
3 9 Raymond P e t e r s , Commun i c a t i on Within Indus try .
(New York :
Harper & Brothe r s , 1 9 5 0 ) , pp . 1 4 8 - 5 0 ; Roger
Be l low s , P sycho l ogy o f P e r s onne l and Indu stry .
(Englewood
C l i f f s r New Jer s ey : -prenti c e -Hal l I nc . , 1 9 5 4 ) , pp . 3 3 2 - 4 9 .
33
f ormul a very s imi l ar t o Gunning ' s .
He o f f ers no
i nf orma t i on on the adequacy of the formula . 4 0
.
Re s earch during the years f rom 1 9 5 3 up unt i l the
present t ime has bee n direc ted toward the deve lopment of
spec i a l i z ed f ormu l a s on read ing te s t s , pr imary read ing
ma ter i a l s , and other d imen s ions o f w r i ting .
Wr itten te s t i n s t ruments have become a tool for me asuring variou s apt i tude s and c apac i t i e s o f individual s or
groups .
The u s e fu l ne s s o f the se instruments is d ependent ,
t o a l arge extent , on the l eve l o f reading d i f f iculty .
F r i t z Forb e s and Wi l l i am Cottle s tud i ed the read ing d i f f i culty o f te s t s c ommonly u s e d i n c oun s e l i ng a t var iou s educ a t i on a l l eve l s .
F ive of the mo s t popular formulas , tho s e
o f D a l e - Cha l l , F l e s c h , Lorge , Yoakum , and Lewerenz , were
app l ied to twenty- s even s e lected s t andard i z ed te s t s u s ed
in c oun s e l i ng .
A me an grade level o f reading was obtained
by the app li c a t ion of the f ormu l a s .
Becau s e of the t ime
f ac tor s i nvolved i n the appl i c ation of the formu l a s to a
s ingl e te s t , the author s s e arched for a more s imp le
t echnique .
T h i s re s u l t ed i n the Forbe s formula which was
i n tended t o be u s ed i n mea su r i ng readab i lity o f pr inted
matter in s t andard i zed t e st s .
voc abulary .
Thi s ha s only one factor ,
A we i ghted i ndex b a s ed on the 1 9 4 2 Thornd ike
4 0 Guide for Air Force Wr i t ing .
Air Force Manu a l
11-3 .
Maxw e l l �l ab ama ; Department o f Air Force , Maxwe l l
A i r Force Ba s e , Air Univer s i ty , June , 1 9 5 3 , c i ted b y Klare ,
Mea surement o f Readab i l i ty , pp . 65- 6 .
34
Jun ior Century D i c t i onary word s above mos t common 4 0 0 0 was
u s ed .
words.
The w e i ghts were total e d and d ivided by number o f
A table was devi sed t o arr iv� a t the corre spond ing
grade leve 1 .
41
George Spache ' s inte r e s t in read ing mate r i a l s at the
primary l eve l r e su lted in a formu l a to mea sure readab i l ity
at thi s leve l .
The f ac tors o f sentence l ength and precent-
age of hard words b a s ed on words out s ide the Dale Easy Word
L i s t were u s ed.
The formul a c orre l ated we l l w i th the Dale-
C ha l l mul t i p l e c oe f f ic ient o f . 7 0 , the F l e s c h Read ing E a s e
mul tiple c oe f f i c ient o f . 7 0 4 7 , and a l s o w i th observed read­
ing performan c e . 4 2
L e s ter Whee l e r and Edwin Smith d evi s ed
another formu l a for pr imary grade ma ter i a l s wh ich emp loys
the s ame techn i que which Gunning used .
Criterion of d i f f i -
c u l t y was the publ i sher ' s grade d e s i gnation.
A table w a s
d ev i s e d f o r grade placement o f materi a l . 4 3
4 1 F r i t z F orbe s and Wi l l iam Cott l e , " A New Method
For De termining Readabi l i ty of S tandardi zed Te s ts , " Journal
of App l ied P sycho l ogy , 3 7 : 1 8 5 - 9 0 , June , 1 9 5 3 .
4 2 Ge orge Spache , " A New Re ad ab i l i ty Formu l a for
P r imary Grade Reading Mate r i a l s , '' E l ementary Schoo l Journa l ,
5 3 : 4 1 0 - 1 3 , March , 1 9 5 3 .
4 3 L e ster Whe e l e r and Edwin Smith , " A Prac t i c a l
Readab i l i ty Formu l a f or the C l a s s room Teacher in the P r i ­
mary Grade s , " E lementary Engl i sh , 3 1 : 3 9 7 - 9 9 , November ,
1 9 5 4 , c i ted by K l are , The Mea s urement of Re adabil ity ,
p. 6 8 .
35
In 1 9 5 4 and 1 9 5 8 , Rudo lph F l e sch devi sed two new
f ormu l a s d e s i gned pr imar i ly for writer s ,
The s e are
t e rmed exper imenta l f ormu l a and forma l i ty-popularity
f o rmu l a and me a sure pre c i s i on i n writing .
a r e c omp lex ,
Both f ormu l a s
invo lving coun t s o f w ord s having r e f erence
to rea l i sm , c oncretene s s , spec i f i c i ty , force fulne s s in
de l ivery , and vividne s s ,
preting the s c ore .
che cking the s c or e s .
A tab le was provided f or inter-
N o d e f i n i te c r i te r i a was provided for
44
Me a s uring the l eve l o f ab s tract ion was the purpo s e
o f a s tudy by Rich ard B l o omer .
He hypothe s i z ed that the
pr e c i s ion of wr iting i s incre a sed by the u s e of mod i f i er s .
S ound and shape c omp l e x i ty and number o f le tter s were c ons idered in de termin i n g the mod i f i e r load.
d e s i gnation w a s cr i ter ion leve l .
Publ i s her ' s
Modi f i er s tend to in-
crease and become more d i f f i cult t o d i s c r iminate a s grade
1 eve 1 1nc r e a s e s.
.
45
Rec e ntly , Edward Fry , a t Rut ger s Univer s ity , has
d ev i sed a f ormu l a whi ch he expr e s s e s in graphic form .
Voc abu l ary l oad and gramma ti c a l complexity are the two
f a c to r s u s ed.
The number o f words in sentence s and
syl l a b l e s are p l otted on a graph to de termine readabi l i ty
4 4 K 1 are ,
' t · r pp . 6 9 , 7 2
�· �
.
4 5 R i chard Bloomer , " Leve l o f Ab s traction as Function
Mod
i f i e r Load , " Journa l o f Educational Re search ,
of
5 2 ; 2 6 9 - 7 2 , March , 1 9 5 9.
..:J O
Though rather vague a s a c r i ter i on o f d i f f iculty ,
l evel .
i t appears that the pub l i s her ' s de s i gnation wa s used .
Grade l eve l s were de termined by plott ing c lu s te r s o f book s .
T hough the graph i s only an e s t imate , Fry fee l s that i t s
s imp l i c i ty enhanc e s i t s prac t i c a l i ty .
The c omparat ive
va l i d i ty s tud i e s by K i stulent z , in 1 9 6 7 , c omparing it with
f ive f ormu l a s s howed corr e l ations ranging from . 7 8 to . 9 6
and . 9 3 with s tudent compr ehe n s ion o f tenth grader s .
Another c omparat ive val idation h a s been done by F ry on
pr imary leve l mat e r i a l s u s in g c l o z e proc edure , Spache
f ormula , and o r a l r e ading te s t s .
C orre lat ion ranged from
. 9 0 to . 9 6 . 4 6
Current trend s in read ab i l i ty .
Current l i terature
ind i c a t e s that s tudie s are c onduc ted u s ing c omprehens ion
t e s t s , c l o z e procedur e , d i f f erent word me aning s , and
ampl i f i c a t i on of pa s s age s as a me asurement of re adab i l i ty .
The s e do not u s e formu l a s and a l l invo lve t e s t ing the
reader .
A few o f the s e stud i e s are c i ted .
Me lvin Howard s tud i ed c ommon me aning words , h i ghf requency of mono syl l ab i c word s , and mu l t iple me aning
words a s u nde r s t ood by c h i ldren in i nterme d i ate grad e s .
4 6 Edward Fry , Teaching Re ading F a ster .
( C ambr idge
Unive r s i ty Pre s s , 1 9 6 3 ) , pp . 1 2 2 - 3 8 : Edward Fry�
E n g l a nd ;
'' A Readabi l i ty Formu l a That Save s T ime , " Journal o f
Read ing , 1 1 : 5 1 3 - 1 6 , 5 7 5 - 7 8 , Apr i l , 1 9 5 8 ; and Techni c a l
Report No . 2 , CAI Laboratory , Harvard Univer s i ty , Augu s t ,
1968 .
37
He conc luded that frequency and monosyl lable words are not
a guarantee of fami l i a r i ty to the reader and some me ans o f
we i gh t i ng var iou s me anings i s ne c e s s ary . 4 7
Taylor ,
Ander son , Barmuth , Kingston , and We aver have conduc ted
s tud i e s on c lo z e procedure wh i c h they f e e l i s a mea sure
of comprehens ion . 4 8
The proc edur e involve s de leting word s
s y s temati c a l ly f r om written mater i a l and subj e c t s are then
a s ked to f i l l in the mi s s i ng word s .
Tay l or f ound thi s
me thod would y i e ld r e su l t s c lo s ely related t o readab i l i ty
f ormu l a s core s . 4 9
The e ffec t o f rewr i ting mater i a l wa s me a sured by
McTaggart in s tudying h i gh s chool health texts .
D i ffer-
enc e s were noted whe n mate r i a l wa s rewr i tten to incre a s e
c omp l e x i ty and whe n i t wa s rewr i tten to s imp l i fy .
Lower
s co r e s were obtained when mater i a l s we re more c omp lex and
4 7 .He lvin Howard , " How E a s y are E a s y Word s , " Journal
o f Exper imental Educ a t i on , 3 2 : 3 7 7 - 8 2 , Summer , 1 9 6 4 .
4 8.w . L . Taylor , " A New Tool f o r Measuring Re adab i l ­
i ty , " Journa l i sm Quarterly , 3 0 : 4 1 5 - 3 3 , F a l l , 1 9 5 3 ;
Jonathon Ande r s on , " Re s earch i n Readab i l i ty for the C l a s s ­
room Teacher , " Journal o f Read i ng , 8 : 4 0 2 - 3 , 4 0 5 , May , 1 9 6 5 ;
Albert Kings ton and Wenda l l Weaver , " Re c ent D eve l opments in
Readabi l i ty App r a i s a l , " Journal o f Read ing , 1 1 : 4 4 - 7 ,
October , 1 9 6 7 ; and Albert K i n g s ton and Wenda l l Weaver ,
" C omparab le C l o z e a nd Mul t i p le Cho i c e Comprehe n s i on Te s t
S c o r e s , " Journa l o f Reading , 1 0 : 2 9 1 - 9 9 , February , 1 9 6 7 .
4 9 w . L . Taylor , " A New Tool for Me asuring
Re adab i l i ty , " Journa l i sm Quarterly , 3 0 : 4 1 5 - 3 3 , F a l l , 1 9 5 3 .
38
h i gher s c or e s we re noted on tho s e t e s ted over s impl i f ied
materia l . 5 0
Read ab i l i ty s tud i e s o f health e duc at ion mater i a l s in
intermediate grade leve l .
When D a l e and Ty ler made the ir
s tudy of hea l th pamphlets i n 1 9 3 4 , this was the f i r s t pub l i s hed s tudy ind ic ating techn i c a l terms were a contributing
f a c tor in the c omprehens i on o f the material . 5 1
A s a r e s u l t o f an educational survey by the National
Tubercu l o s i s As s oc iation dur ing 1 9 4 4 - 4 9 , c onducted by
Edgar Dale and Jeanne Cha l l , the extent of the c onfus ion
whi c h exi s ted among pup i l s about d e f i n i tions o f health
terms bec ame evident .
A table o f frequency o f f ami l i ar i ty
o f hea lth terms was c on s tructed which writers c ou l d refer
t o when wri t ing h e a l t h ma ter i a l s . 5 2
Herman Berger was concerned about l o s s o f inte r e s t
i n reading wh i c h s e emed t o occur s tarting at the third
grade leve l .
He hypothe s i z ed that one c au s a l fac tor may be
50
Aubrey McTaggar t , " Me a sur ing the Readabi l i ty o f
H i g h School Hea l th Tex t s , '' Journal o f S chool Hea lth ,
3 4 : 4 3 4 - 4 3 , November , 1 9 6 4 .
5 1 Edgar Dale and Ra lph Tyler , " A S tudy o f Fac tor s
I n f luenc i ng the D i f f i cu l ty o f Read i ng Mater i a l s for Adu l t s
o f Limited Re ading Abi l i ty , " L ibrary Quarter ly , 4 : 3 8 4 - 4 1 2 ,
Ju l y , 1 9 3 4 , c i ted by Jeanne C ha l l and Edgar Dale , '' F ami l ­
i a r ity o f S e l e c ted H e a l t h T erms , " Educ ational Re search
Bul letin , 2 9 : 1 9 7 � 2 0 6 , November , 1 9 5 0 .
5 2 Jeanne Cha l l and Edgar D a le , " Fami l i ar i ty of
S e l e c ted H e a l t h T e rms , " Educational Re se arch Bu l le t in
2 9 : 1 9 7 -2 0 6 , Novembe r , 1 9 5 0 .
39
i ncrea s ed voc abul ary l oad a t thi s grade leve l .
For h i s
s tudy , h e c h o s e to compare voc abul ary in nine th ird-grade
hea lth r e ader s .
He found by actual word count that mo s t o f
t h e words were uncommon a s c ompared to Thornd ike ' s c l a s s i f ic at i on and Rins land ' s l i st o f ba s ic vocabulary o f e l e mentary s c h o o l c h i ldren .
He concluded the vocabulary
burden wa s too d i f f i c u l t t o expec t adequate word mas tery . 5 3
The above-mentioned stud i e s were not nece s s ar i ly on
i ntermediate leve l , but they ind i c ate the voc abu lary fac tor
of d i f f iculty f ound in a wide range o f printed hea lth
mater i a l .
A word-me aning te s t wa s devi sed by Mary John s on in
an attempt to de termine f a c to r s wh i c h may inf luence f a i l u r e to c omprehend mater i a l i n the f ifth grade .
Words
ba s ed on content subj e ct s , o f wh ich health was inc luded ,
wer e s tud i ed .
A mul t ip l e c h o i c e te s t was admi n i s tered to
f i fth grade pupi l s .
By u s ing thi s type o f t e s t , John son
could also c on s ider d i f ferential meanings o f word s .
In
the area o f h e a l th , o n ly 5 6 percent were corre ctly
de f ined .
From the r e s u l t s , Johnson concluded that a
word e nr i c hmen t program was needed i n the c ontent areas . 5 4
5 3 Herman Berge r , " The D i f f i c u l ty o f Third -Grade
Hea lth Re aders , '' E l ementary School Journa l , 4 7 : 3 9 1 - 9 5 ,
Marc h , 1 9 4 7 .
5 4 Mary E . John s on , " The Voc abul ary D i f f i culty o f
C ontent Sub j e c t s i n Grade F ive , '' E l ementary Eng l i s h ,
2 9 : 2 7 7 - 8 0 , May , 1 9 5 2 .
40
The Yoakum and D a l e -Cha l l formu l a s , teacher j udgment and teacher experience were u s ed to determine the
r eadabi l i ty of twe lve intermediate grade textbook s , three
o f the s e were heal th books .
Teacher s expr e s sed approval
o f a l l t he hea l th book s , the f ormu l a s agreed on two out
o f the three , and teache r experience had no e f f e c t on
cho i c e .
Wood conc luded that teacher j ud gment and read-
abi l ity f ormu l a s s hould be u s ed in s e lec t ing mater i a l s .
Thi s author noted that te acher j udgment may have been
inf luenced by other factors o f readabi l i ty a s c ompared to
the fac tor s u s ed i n the f ormu l a s . 5 5
The Yoakum f ormu l a wa s a l s o app l ied by Jone s i n
d e termining t h e d i f f icu l ty o f thirty-two health textbooks
u s e d in gr ade s four through e ight .
Jon e s found the mater-
i a l var i ed i n d i f f icu l ty throughout the book s , 5 0 �er cent
we r e i n the pub l i s her ' s d e s i gn ated grade range .
The
techn i c a l vocabu l a r i e s f ound i n the books gave them a
more d i f f i c u l t rating by the formu l a s than the ind i c at ions
of the pub l i s her s . 5 6
5 5 Leroy Wood , " Re ad ab i l ity o f Certain Textbook s , "
E l ementary Engl i s h , 3 1 : 2 1 4 - 1 6 , Apr i l , 1 9 5 4 .
5 6 H . Jone s , " Re adab i l i ty and the Re s u l t s o f
App lying A Readab i l i ty F ormu l a t o He a l th T extbook s , "
The T enth Annual C onf erenc e on Re ad ing (Edi ted by
Unive r s i ty o f P i ttsburgh
Gerald A . Yoakum ) , (P i t t sburgh :
Pre s s , 1 9 5 4 ) , pp . 5 5 - 6 6 , c i ted by Aubrey Mc Taggart , " The
Readab i l ity of Hea l th Textbook s , " Synthe s i s of Re s earch in
S e l e cted Are a s o f Hea l th I n s truction (C . H . Veenker , Ed . ) ,
(Wa shington :
Nat i o n a l Educ at1on A s s o c i at ion , 1 9 6 3 ) , p . 1 3 L
41
The gre a te s t number o f readab i l i ty s tud i e s on he a l th
text s o f var i o u s grade l eve l s have been done at the Univers i ty o f I l l inoi s , und er the directio � of H .
s.
Hoyman .
Tho s e s tud i e s by Wi l l i am Bock and Robert We st cons idered
h e a l th text s at the intermediate grade leve l .
Wi l l i am Bock mea sured the readab i l i ty o f n ine s ixth
grade h e a l t h texts by applying Gunn ing ' s f ormul a and
arr ived at the Fog Index .
He found s ix texts t o be ninth
grad e leve l , two text s to be s eventh grade leve l , and only
one t o be s ixth grade l eve l .
f ound within individual tex t s .
A var i ation o f d i f f iculty was
E i ghty- e ight percent of
the 1 3 5 s amp l e s were above s ixth grade .
The great e s t
conc entration o f s cores
( 4 4 percen t ) were at the e i ghth
and n inth grade leve l .
In every text he f ound an i rregu l ar
order o f re ading progre s s io n .
From h i s s tudy , he conc luded
that the vocabu l ary fac tor contribu ted to the readab i l ity .
The Fog Index rated the books too d i f f i cult to be u s ed a s
texts f or s ixth grade .
57
Robert We s t app l i ed the F l e s c h Human Inter e s t
f ormu l a t o t h e s ame texts whi c h Bock ha s stud ied .
He
f ound thre e texts to be dramat i c , three h i ghly intere s ting ,
two intere s t ing ,
and one mi ldly intere s t ing .
None o f the
5 7 wi l l i am Bock , " The Re ading D i f f i c u l ty Leve l s o f
S ixth Grade Health Text s , " (unpubl i shed Ma s ter ' s the s i s ,
Unive r s i ty o f I l l inoi s , Urbana , 1 9 5 9 .
42
book s received a du l l rating score ,
He then c orre lated
h i s f indings with tho s e . o f Bock and f ound a negat ive
c orre l at i on o f - . 7 1 wh i c h indica ted low index of d i f f iculty
r e su lted i n more intere s ting mate r i a 1 . 5 8
Genera l i nd ic a t i on s o f d i f f icul ty o f health educa­
tion mater i a l s a t high s chool leve l and i n the are a of
s c i en c e .
No attempt wa s made to cons ider individual
s tud i e s i n the s e area s .
However , thi s author wa s inter-
e s ted in f inding out if the stud i e s revealed s imi l ar or
d i f f e re nt r e s u l t s from tho s e pertainin g to the
intermediate l eve l .
McTaggart revi ewed the s tud i e s made on j unior h i gh
s c hool health text s .
The s e s tudie s i nd i c ated the text-
books were too d i f f i cu l t for s eventh and e i ghth grade s and
s howed n e gat ive c orre lat ion between Human Intere s t and Fog
Index .
The Fog Index , F l e s ch Read ing E a s e , D a l e -Cha l l ,
and Human Inter e s t formu l a s when app l i ed to h i gh s chool
h e a l th text s i nd i c a ted a wi de range o f d i f f icu l ty and
human intere s t .
No provi s i on for progre s s ion o f
59
d i f f i c u lty w a s evident i n any o f the s t � d i e s .
5 8 Robert R . We s t , " The Human Intere s t Readabi l i ty
o f S ixth Grade Hea l t h Texts , " (unpub l i s hed Master ' s the s i s ,
Unive r s ity o f I l l inoi s , Urbana , 1 9 5 9 ) .
59
Aubrey McT aggart , " The Readabi l i ty o f He alth
Textbooks , " i n Synthe s i s o f Re s earch in Selec ted Are a s o f
H e a l t h Ins tru c t i on (C . H . Veenker , Ed -;) , pp . 1 3 3 - 3 8 ; H . S .
Hoyrnan , "Are High School Health Text s Too D i ff icul t ? . "
Journ a l of School Health , 2 5 : 2 7 4 - 8 2 , Dec ember , 1 9 5 5 ; H . S .
Hoyrnan and Aubr ey McTaggar t , " The Readabi l i ty of Modern
43
Textbook s i n s c ience o f ten inc lude concepts of
h e a l th , there fore some o f the s ame f ac tor s attr ibuted to
d i f f ic u l t r e ading may be evid ent in sc ienc e book s .
George
Ma l l i n s on has made a number of s tud i e s in the area o f
s c ience a t a l l grade s .
s tud i e s ind ic ate
C onc l u s ions drawn from the se
( 1 ) r e ad ing leve l s are too d i f f i cult
f o r grade leve l i ntended ,
(2)
s i gni f i c ant d i f ference
b e tween leve l s o f reading d i f f i cu l ty ,
(3)
s ome p a s sages
wou ld be d i f f i c u l t for c o l le g e leve l , and ( 4 ) no prov i s ion
for r e ad i ng progre s s i on had been made .
A great number o f
books were con s idered unsui tab l e for s tudents f o r who s e
60
u s e they wer e i ntended .
High Scho o l Hea l th Texts , " Ame r ican Journal o f Pub l i c
He a l th and Nation t s Health , 5 0 : 1 8 8 2 - 9 , De cember , · 1 9 6 0 ;
and Aubrey McTaggar t , " The Human Intere s t Readab i l i ty o f
E ighth Grade He a l th Texts , '' (unpub l i s hed Ma ster ' s the s i s ,
Univer s i ty o f I l l inoi s , Urbana , 1 9 5 6 ) .
60
Roma Herr i ngton and Geor ge Ma l l inson , " An
Inve s t i ga t i on o f Two Method s o f Mea suring Readabi l i ty , "
S c i ence Educ a t i on , 4 2 : 3 8 5 - 9 0 , December , 1 9 5 8 .
C HAPTER I I I
METHODOLOGY
A review of the l i terature indicated that some
f o rmul a s are mor e widely u s e d in pred ic ting readab i l ity
than other s .
One o f the mo s t widely used , the Fle sch
Reading Ease f ormu l a was empl oyed i n thi s study to pre­
d i c t the r e ad ab i l i ty o f s e lected printed health educ ation
mater i a l s i n the intermed i ate grad e s .
I.
THE TE S T ING ' INSTRUMENT
Two regre s s ion readab i l ity formu l a s were devised by
Rudo lph F l e s c h , o f Columb i a Univer s i ty , in 1 9 4 3 .
F ormu la A
was a mea s ur ing device for predi c ting " re ad ing e a s e " and
F o rmu la B was a mea sur ing ins trument for pred i c ting " human
i ntere s t . "
F l e s ch f e l t that too much empha s i s had been
p l aced on factors of vocabulary at the expense o f too
l i ttle attention b e i ng given to abstract words and s entenc e
l ength .
The two r egre s s i on formu l a s were b a s ed upon three
variabl e s :
a f f i xe s , and
(1)
(3)
s e ntence length in wo rd s ,
( 2 ) number of
number o f re ferenc e s to people .
Both
regre s s i on f ormu l a s were revi sed in 1 9 5 1· becau s e of short­
comings in the s tructure o f the or i g inal f ormu l a s and d i f ­
f i culty in app l i c a t i on .
In the read i ng e a s e formu l a , the
a f f i x count in one hundred word s wa s f ound to have a
45
c orre l ation o f . 8 7 w i th the syl lable count o f one hundred
word s , thu s the syl l ab l e c ount wa s sub s ti tuted for the
count o f a f f i xe s .
The sy l lable c ount was cons idered a s a
mea s ur ement o f c omp lexity and a l s o ind irectly a s a mea sure­
men t o f ab s trac t io n a s the correlation b e twe en a f f ixes and
that of ab s tr a c t word s was found t o be . 7 8 .
The aver age
s entence length in words , as u s ed in the original formula ,
wa s r e ta ined a s a mea surement o f s entence c omplex i ty .
The
f in a l formu l a i s :
RE
=
2 0 6 . 8 3 5 - . 8 4 6 wl
-
1 . 015 sl
where :
RE
=
predicted reading e a s e
wl
=
number o f s y l l a b l e s p e r one hundred words
sl
=
average s entence l e ngth .
S ince the two r egre s s ion f ormu l a s may b e u s ed independent­
ly t o pred i c t r e ad ing e a s e and human inte r e s t of a given
pa s s age , only the reading e a s e formu l a was employed in t h i s
s tudy .
The s c ore c omputed from the f ormu l a may have a range
from z ero to one hundred .
A s c or e o f one hundred on read­
ing ease i nd icate s that a per son who h a s comp le ted the
fourth grade c ou l d be pred icted as b e i ng ab le to answer
c orrectly thre e - fourths of the te s t que st i ons to be a sked
about the pa s s age rated , whi l e a score o f f i fty to s ixty
wou ld ind i cate that a person h aving compl eted the n inth
through e leventh grade s would be able to an swer correctly
46
three- fourths o f the t e s t que s tions a sked about the pas sage r a te d .
The points were s o arranged that one point on
the formu l a s c a l e wou l d corre spond to one- tenth o f a grade .
F l e sc h indi c a t e s t h i s re lat i on s h i p i s t rue up to about the
s eventh grade , beyond th i s the formu l a underrat e s the grade
l eve l .
The c r i te r ion o f d i f f icu lty u s ed for the original
formul a was reta ined i n the rev i s ed f ormula .
Thi s c r ite-
r ion c on s i sted o f the aver age s chool grade o f per son s
a nswer ing c orrectly 7 5 percent o f the que s t ions on pas s ages
o f graded d i f f icu lty i n the McC a l l -Crabb ' s S tandard Te s t
Le s s ons i n Read ing .
A correl ation o f . 7 0 wa s f ound b e tween
the pred i c t ed grade leve l by the formu l a and the average
s chool grade de s ignated by the McCa l l -Crabb te s t .
Va l id i ty o f t e s t ing i n s trumen t .
1
Va l id i ty i s d e f i ned
a s the extent to wh i c h the me a suring device actua l l y
me a s ur e s what i t i s i ntended t o measure .
The v a l id ity o f readab i l i ty formu l a s c an be e s tab l i s hed in three ways .
The f i r s t i s i nd i c ated by the ex-
tent to whi ch . the f ormu l a s c o r e s are re lated to the original c i iterion s c o re s used in the deve lopme nt o f the
formu l a .
The s e c ond i s the e xtent to wh ich the s core s
l Rudolph F l e s c h , " A New Re adab i l ity Yard s t i c k , "
Journa l o f App l ied P sychology , 3 2 : 2 2 1 - 3 3 , June , 1 9 4 8 .
47
d e r ived from two o r mor e formu l a s agree wi th· each other .
The third i s concerned with the degree o f relationship
b e tween formu la scores and e s t imate s o f readab i l i ty
obtained in s ome other way . 2
The McC a l l -C r abb s S tandard T e s t Le s son s in Reading
s erved a s the c r i te r ion for e s tabl i s h i ng on e s ource o f
v a l i d i ty data .
The va l id ity correlation c o e f f i c i ent of
the F l e s c h f ormu l a is . 7 0 with this cr iterion .
3
Cha l l
e s t imated that pred i c t ions b a s ed o n r e adabi l i ty formu l a s
c an b e exp e c t ed to be within approximately one grade leve l
o f d i f f i cu lty . 4
The s tudy by Power s ,
Summer ,
and Kearl
r e c a l c u lated the F le sc h Read i ng Ease formul a with the 1 9 5 0
v e r s ion o f the McC a l l -Crabb s te s t l e s s on s .
The recalculat-
ed f ormu l a s howed a s l i ght decrease i n val idity c o e f f i c ient
f rom . 7 0 to . 6 4 whi c h wa s c l o s e to the orig ina l
c o e f f 1. c 1ent
.
.
5
The F le s c h f ormu l a ha s been i nvo lved in c omparat ive
v a l i di ty s tud ie s .
I owa :
Forb e s and C ot t l e app l ied the D a l e -Cha l l,
2 George Klare , The Mea suremen t of Readab i l i ty . (Ame s,
I owa State Universi ty Pre s s , 1 9 63 , pp . 1 0 9 - 1 1 0 .
3 F l e s c h , ££ · c i t . , p .
222 .
4
Jean � e C ha l l , Readab i l i ty :
An Appra i s al o f
-­
( Co lumbu s :
Ohio State
Re s e arch and App l i c at ion .
Univer s i ty , 1 9 5 8 ) , pp . 8 7 - 9 1 , 1 0 3 - 1 2 .
5
R . D . Power s , W . A . Summer , and B . E . Kear l , " A
Re c a lculation o f Four Readab i l i ty Formu l a s , " Journal o f
Educ ational P sychol ogy , 4 9 : 9 9 - 1 0 5 , February , 1 9 5 8 .
48
F l e s c h , Lorge , Lewerenz , and Yoakum f ormu l a s to twentys even s tandard i zed te s t i .
The rank order interc orre lat ions
s how a c lo s e re l at i on s h i p b e twee n the D a l e -Cha l l and F le s ch
f o rmul a s as shown i n Table I . 6
TABLE I
INTERCORRELAT IONS ( RHO ) FOR THE F IVE FORMULAS APPLIED
TO TWENTY- SEVEN TESTS AND CORRELAT I ON ( RHO ) BETWEEN
EACH FORMULA AND MEAN OF THE F IVE FORMULAS
DaleC ha l l
F ormu la
D a l e-Cha l l
Flesch
Lorge
Lewere n z
Flesch
Lorge
Lewerenz
Yoakum
Mean
of
F ive
. 91
. 90
. 65
. 75
. 95
. 81
. 66
. 66
. 90
. 60
. 69
. 89
. 59
. 77
. 89
Yoakum
Mean o f F ive
McTaggart eva luated the F l e s c h and D a l e -Cha l l formul a s a s obj e c t ive a id s in s e lect ing high school health text s.
He c ompared s tudent s o f known good and poor health knowl edge wi th the i r c omprehen s i on on s e lected health p a s sages
o f reading d i f f i c ulty l eve l s a s e s t imated by the two
formu la s .
McT aggart conc luded from the r e s u l t s o f h i s
6 F r i t z Forbe s and Wi l l iam C ottle , " A New Me thod o f
Deter�ining Readab i l ity o f Standard Te s t s , " Journal o f
App l i e d P sycho l ogy , 3 7 : 1 8 5 - 9 0 , June , 1 9 5 3 .
49
s tudy , a s s hown in Tab l e I I , that the F l e s c h and the
.
. D a l e-Cha l l f ormu l a s had ·e s s en t i a l ly equal va l idity in
d e t ermin ing reading d i f f i cul ty o f c omprehn s ion t e s t s .
7
TABLE I I
S I GN I F ICANT D IF FERENCES ON T HE FLE SCH HEALTH PAS SAGE
COMPREHENS ION TE ST AT THE F IVE PERCENT LEVEL
Group
Reading
D i f f icu lty
Leve l s
12
9
7
A
B
c
C o l umn
Me ans
Hea l th Knowledge
r267 .. 1741
Good
Poor
28 . 97 1
27 . 44
19 . 68
21 . 26
22 . 55
21 . 11
r233 .. 3294
Row Means
25 . 69 1
S IGN I F I CANT D IFFERENC E S ON THE DALE -CHALL
HEALTH PAS SAGE COMPREHENS I ON TEST
AT T HE F IVE PER CENT LEVEL
Group
A
B
c
Reading
D i ff i c u l ty
Leve l s
12
9
7
Co lumn
Me ans
Note :
Eea lt h Knowledge
Good
26 . 00
24 . 97
27 . 18
26 . 05
1
Poor
Row Means
15 . 61 20 . 59
18 .69 1 1 21 . 74
21 . 00 24 . 131
18 . 31
Arrows connect group s b e tween whi c h s igni f i cant
d i f fe rence s exi s t .
7 Aubrey Mc'raggart , "Mea sur i ng the Readab i l i ty
High Schoo l Hea l th Texts , " Journal of School Health ,
34 : 513-16 , 575-78 , Apr i l , 1968 .
of
50
In 1968 , Kistulentz compared the intercorrelations
of readability formulas ·and some of the more recent readability rating methods with the scores on comprehension
tests on high school literature books . His findings , as
shown in Table III , are comparable to those of Forbes and
Cottle when the same formulas were used . 8
TABLE III
RANKED AND
INTERCORRELATIONS
OF READABILITY
STUDENTS ' COMPREHENSION
ON TENMETHODS
BOOKS ' RATINGS
Student
Fry SRA Botel Chall Flesch Comprehension
Score
. 98 . 78 . 94
. 96
. 93
Fry
. 90
. 98
. 81 � 95
SRA
. 82
. 64
Botel
. 73
. 90
. 95
Dale-Chall
. 94
Flesch
Student Comprehension
Score
Klare summarized the validity studies by
generalizing that the highest incorrelations have been
8 Andrew Kistulentz , "Five Readability Ratings Com­
pared
to' (unpublished
ComprehensionMaster
Score' s inthesis
Ten High
School
Literature
Books
,
,
State
University
,
Rutgers
,
New
Jersey,
1967)
cited
by
Edward
Fry,
"
A
Reada­
bility
Formula
That, April
Saves, Time
11 : 513-16
, 575-78
1968 ,. " Journal of Reading,
51
found with the Dale-Chall scores and the grade placements
are most comparable with the Flesch Reading Ease formula . 9
The Flesch formula has also been validated in studies of readability using an outside criterion. Klare
studied the relationship of formula scores to reading
scores on the Ojemann Adult Reading test and the GrayLeary Adult Reading test, as shown in Table IV, and found
that none of the differences between the intercorrelations
was significant . 10
TABLE IV
RELATIONSHIP OF FORMULA SCORES TO TvvO ADULT READING TESTS
(CORRELATIONS BETWEEN FORMULA SCORES
AND SCORES ON ADULT READING TESTS)
Reading Test
Ojemann
Adult
Reading' s Test
Gray-Leary
Adult
Reading Test
Dale-Chall
Formula Gray-Leary
Formula Flesch
Formula
. 98±. 06
. 82±. 09
. 82±. 08
. 61_ . 09
. 64_ . 09
. 55_ . 10
Margaret Peterson compared the Flesch readability
scores with a test of reading comprehension. She found
that comprehension s c ores from six of the ten passages
having a range of Flesch Reading Ease difficulty levels
+
+
+
9 George Klare , Measurement of Readability, p. 118 .
lO ibid . , pp . 126-7 .
52
were significant at the one percent confidence level . One
comprehension score was significant at the five percent
level of confidence . She concluded that Flesch Reading
Ease scores do adequately estimate reading difficulty. 11
The studies reviewed here indicate that the Flesch
Formula is a valid measurement as compared to other readability formulas . One must keep in mind that at best these
formulas provide only rough estimates of readability.
Reliability of testing instrument. Reliability is
defined as the consistency or accuracy with which the formula measures whatever it measures when repeated
measurements are used on the same material .
Analyst reliability studies have been made using the
Flesch Reading Ease formula. The studies of Hayes , Jenkins,
and Walker showed very close agreement on word length and
sentence length . Ten of twelve correlations were in the
. 90 ' s between experienced and inexperienced analysts . 12
England, Thomas , and Paterson also indicated that the
Flesch Reading Ease formula has a high reliability with
11Margaret Peterson , "Comparison of Flesch Readabil­
ityApplied
Scores with
a Test of
Comprehension,
of
Psychology,
40 : Reading
35-6 , February,
1956 . " Journal
12 Patricia Hayes , James Jenkins , and Bradley Walker ,
"Reliability
of Flesch
Formulas
Applied
Psychology
, 34 : Readability
22-6 , February,
1950 ,. " Journal of
53
both experienced and inexperienced analysts . The reliability coefficients for an analyst to analyst study of
the same material ranged from . 90 to · . 97 . The reliability
coefficients on a test-retest study by one analyst ranged
from . 95 to . 97 . 13
II . TECHNIQUE OF APPLICATION
Two factors of readability involved in the application of the Flesch Reading Ease formula were sentence
length and word length . To arrive at a readability score ,
the average sentence length and syllables per one hundred
words were applied to the formula . Each observation in a
sample consisted of one hundred words when the formula was
applied to an entire book .
To obtain the average sentence length , each word in
the observation was counted . All letters , numbers , symbols,
groups of letters or symbols which were surrounded by a
white space equivalent to one printed letter were counted
as words . All contractions and hyphenated words were
counted as one word . Sentences in each observation were
counted . Each unit of thought that was grammatically
independent of another sentence or clause was considered
13 George England , Margaret Thomas , and Donald
"Reliability
of
the
Original
and
Simplified
Paterson,
Flesch
Reading
Journal
of Applied
37 : Ease
111-13Formulas
, April ,, ' 1953
. -Psychologx,
54
a sentence if it was marked by a period, colon, question
mark , exclamation point, or semicolon .
The average word length in sy i lables per one hun­
dred words was found by the following procedure : ( 1 ) a
count was made of all syllables in the observations . The
number of syllables in symbols and numerals was counted
according to the way they were normally read aloud . ( 2 ) The
total number of syllables for each observation was found .
( 3 ) The total number of syllables in the sample was found .
( 4 ) The total number of syllables in the sample was divid­
ed by the number of words in the sample . This computation
gave the average word length in syllables .
In the formula , word complexity is expressed as the
number of syllables per one hundred words , therefore the
average word length was multiplied by one hundred . When
one hundred word observations were used, the number of
syllables in all observations was divided by the number
of samples .
After the average sentence length in words and the
number of syllables per one hundred words were computed ,
the Flesch Reading Ease score was obtained by the following procedure : ( 1 ) the average sentence length was
multiplied by 1 . 0 1 5 . ( 2 ) The number of syllables per one
hundred words was multiplied by . 8 4 6 . ( 3 ) The products
found in steps ( 1 } and ( 2 ) were added . ( 4 ) The resulting
55
sum was subtracted from 206 . 835 . Expressed as a formula,
this is : Reading Ease Index 206 . 835 - . 846 wl - 1 . 015 sL
After the average sentence length and the number of
syllables per one hundred words were computed , the Parr­
Jenkins tables 14 were used to determine the Reading Ease
score for each observation . The tables simplified the
computation for each observation by providing the Flesch
scores directly from the average sentence length and the
number of syllables per one hundred words .
The reading ease score was then interpreted by using
. 1n. Table V . 15
t e Flesch Read1ng Ease Sea 1 e, as outl1ned
III . SAMPLING TECHNIQUE
Reading ease scores were obtained for books and
pamphlets . When the application was made to books , fifteen random one hundred word samples were used . The
random numbers identifying the page were obtained from the
use of a random table . 1 6 Klare , Burk, and Zaharko
=
h
.
14 James N . Farr and James J. Jenkins , "Tables for
Use withPsychology,
the Flesch Readability
Formulas
Applied
33 : 276-77 , April
, 1949, " . Journal of
15 Rudolph Flesch, How To Test Readability . (New
York : Harper and Brothers;-195lr;-pp . 2-6 .
16 olive Jean Dunn, Basic Statistics : A Primer For
The
Inc . Biomedical
, 1964) , pp Sciences
. 163-66 .. (New York : John Wiley Sons;&
Reading
Ease
Score
90 to 100
80 to 90
70 to 80
60 to 70
50 to 60
30 to 50
0 to 30
TABLE V
FLESCH READING EASE SCALE
Description
of S.t yle
Very easy
Easy
Fairly easy
Standard
Fairly difficult
Difficult
Very difficult
Syllables
per
100
words
123
131
139
147
155
167
192
Average
Sentence
Length
8
11
14
17
21
25
29
Grade
5th
6th
7th
8th and 9th
lOth
'12th
(hightoschool)
13th
to 16th
(college)
College
Graduate
U1
0'1
indicated from their studies that this procedure would
provide an adequate number of samples . 17 The count of
words began at the second paragraph of each randomly
selected page , except where only one paragraph was contained on the entire page . Topic headings , summaries ,
questions , vocabulary lists , tables , indexes , appendixes ,
and tests were omitted from the sampling . When the application was made to pamphlets , the size of the pamphlet
determined the size of the sample counted . If the pamphlet
contained less than five pages , the entire piece of writing
was counted 18 i if the pamphlet contained more than five
. paragraph was counted . 19
, pages , every th1rd
IV, MATERIALS SELECTED
The study was conducted to predict the reading difficulty levels of selected printed health education
materials in the intermediate grades . The materials
17 George Klare and Byron Burk , Know Your Reader .
(New York "Reading
: Hermitage
House , of
1945).r-1odern
, p. High
192 andSchool
D . S Health
.
Zaharko,
Difficulty
Texts
, Urbana
(unpublished
Masterby' sAubrey
thesisMcTaggart
, University
of Reada­
Illi­
nois
,
,
1955)
cited
,
"The
bility
ofAreas
Healthof Textbooks
, " Synthesis(C-of. -HResearch
in, -Ed . ) ,
.
VeenkerSelected
Health
Instruction
(Washington: National Education Association , 1963) , p . 132.
18 George Klare , Measurement of Readability, p. 101 .
19 Rudolph Flesch, "A New Readability Yardstick, "
Journal of Applied Psychology, 32 : 228, June , 1948 .
1'
57
58
·
included the textbooks and supplementary materials avail­
able in an elementary school district in Ventura County .
One series of textbooks is provided by the school district
from the California State-approved text list. This series
designated for grades four , five , and six was used in this
study.
Supplementary health books were available through
the libraries in individual schools . The level of diffi­
culty in an elementary school library is designated as
either primary or intermediate . Primary books are given
a letter assignment of E . The health books not listed as
E books in the card catalogues were considered for the
study and given a number assignment. Eight books were
randomly selected from this numbered list .
Another source of printed health education material
is the free and inexpensive pamphlets furnished by various
companies or agencies . The selection of these materials
was based on (l) the availability for student distribution,
( 2 ) frequency of usage , ( 3 ) grade level intended for or
used by, ( 4 ) publisher , and ( 5 ) publication date . Fifteen
pamphlets were selected for this study .
V . STNi'ISTICAL TREATMENT OF THE DATA
The Flesch Reading Ease score was computed for each
observation and for the entire sample and translated into
grade level of difficulty . The range of scores of each
59
sample was found to provide an indication of the highest
to the lowest scores throughout the � ample . The average
level of difficulty for the sample was determined by
computing the mean . To find the mid-point in the series
of fifteen observations in the sample , the median was
determined . The standard deviation of the reading ease
score of each sample was computed in order to interpret
the reading ease score within each sample in respect to
the mean or the variability of the distribution .
The above-mentioned statistical treatment of the
data was followed when books were analyzed. The brevity
of printed materials found in pamphlets did not lend
itself to the random sampling of the printed pages . Only
the reading ease score of the entire pamphlet was computed .
Progression of difficulty was determined by the
sequential arrangement of the page numbers throughout an
entire textbook sample along with the corresponding
reading ease scores for the individual observations .
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS OF THE FINDINGS
Each textbook, supplementary health book , and pam­
phlet was analyzed individually to obtain the Flesch Read­
ing Ease score . The Flesch Reading Ease Scale , Table V on
page 5fi[ was used in interpreting the Flesch Reading Ease
score to the grade level of difficulty.
I . ANALYSIS OF HEALTH TEXTBOOKS
The number of syllables , number of sentences , number
of words per sentence , Flesch Reading Ease score , and cor­
responding grade level for each of the fifteen one-hundred­
word observations of the samples (the textbooks) are found
in Tables VI , VII , and X . The rank order of the readabil­
ity factors , the Flesch Reading Ease scores , and corre­
sponding grade level are found in Tables VII , IX, and XI .
The reading difficulty levels of the fifteen randomly
selected observations of the samples have been arranged in
sequence in Figures 1 , 2 , and 3 to show the progression of
. reading difficulty.
Table VI shows the computed Flesch Reading Ease
score for textbook number four to be 82 . 177 which has a
61
TABLE V I
ANALYS I S O F TEXTBOOK NUMBER FOUR
Random
P age
Number
50
194
44
59
40
71
145
86
139
80
157
135
92
108
87
Number
of
Syl lab l e s
139
124
125
129
12 2
138
134
130
159
137
144
14 2
136
13 3
119
Number
of
Sentenc e s
8
9
9
8
9
12
9
14
9
7
6
9
10
8
10
Number of
Word s Per
S e ntence
14
11
11
12 . 5
11
8
11
7
11
14
17
11
10
12. 5
10
100 11 82. 46, 177 , 133 . 6 .
F le s c h
Score
76
91
90
85
92
89
82
90
61
77
68
76
82
81
96
Grade
Level
7
5
5
6
5
6
6
5
8-9
7
8-9
7
6
6
5
Average s e ntence l e ngth =
word s .
Aver age word
l ength ( s y l l ab l e s per
word s ) =
C omputed
F le s c h Re ading E a s e score =
or s ixth grade leve l .
(20% )
(13%)
(33% )
(33% )
Two ob s ervat ions
we re at e i ghth-ninth grade leve l ;
thr e e
at s eventh grade l eve l ; f ive
a t s ixth
at f i f th grade l eve l .
grade leve l ; and f ive
62
predic ted grade leve l o f s ixth grade .
ignation for thi s book i s fourth grade .
obs ervation s ,
The pub l i s her ' s de s ­
O f the f i fteen
13 per c ent were found to have a pred ict-
ed grade leve l o f d i f f i cu lty o f e i ghth to ninth grade , 2 0
per cent were f ound to have a predicted grade l eve l o f
d i f f icu l ty o f s eventh grade ,
2 0 p e r cent were f ound t o have
a pred i ct ed grad e l ev e l of d i f f icul ty of s ixth grade , and
3 3 per cent were f ound to have a predic ted grade l evel o f
d i f f icu lty o f f i f th g r ade .
The ob s ervatio n s , a s found in T ab l e VI I , show text­
book number four to have a med ian F l e s ch Reading E a s e s core
of e i ghty-two , median s y l l ab l e s per one hundred words as
1 3 4 , a nd the med ian s e ntence l e ngth as be ing e l even words .
A l l the s e med ian scor e s ind icate a predicted s ixth grade
l eve l of d i f f i cu l ty .
The pa s s ag e s ob s erved in textbook
four s hows the l owe s t F l e s c h Re ading E a s e score to be s ixty­
one and the h i ghe s t to be n inety- s ix .
T h i s g ives a F le sc h
Reading E a s e score r a n g e of th irty-f ive and an e s timated
s tandard dev i a t i on of ten .
Two - thirds o f the f i fteen
o b s ervations were pred icted to b e b e tween the f i f th and
s eventh grade l ev e l s o f r e ad ing d i f f icu lty .
F le s c h Read ing E a s
The range o f
s c or e s indic a t 0 s a probab l e d i f f erence
in readi ng d i f f i cu l ty o f f o�r grade s .
F igure 1 shows no provi s ion for read ing growth .
Read ing progre s s ion would be indic ated by the h igh e s t s core
63
TABLE VI I
ANALYS I S OF TEXTBOOK NUMBE R FOUR DATA IN RANK ORDER
100
119
122
124
125
129
130
133
134
136
137
138
139
142
144
159
S y l l a b l e s Per
Words
Word s Per
S entence
7
8
10
10
11
11
11
11
11
11
12 . 5
12 . 5
14
14
17
5
5
5
5
5
6
6
6
6
6
6
7
7
8-9
8-9
100 11 . 13482. .
10 . 008 .
Med ian F l e s c h Read " ng E a s e Score
Med ian syl l ab l e s per
word s =
Med i an word s per s entence =
Range =
S t andard deviation =
35 .
Grade
=
F le sc h
Score
61
68
76
76
77
81
82
82
85
89
90
90
91
92
96
Grade
Leve l
8-9
8-9
7
7
6
6
6
6
6
6
5
5
5
5
5
Co l lege
Graduate
....:�
13-16
( Co l lege )
�
0
C)
(J)
I'Ll
(J)
r::r:
I'Ll
0
10
20
30
<*0
50
� High School
60
8-9
70
7
80
6
� - - L - � - - - � -""-- - - - - �i
90 L /
"/
Average Grade Level
5
100
Random Page Number
40 44 50 59 71 80 . 86 87 92 108 135 139 145 157 194
F IGURE 1
�
I'Ll
....:!
I'Ll
Q
c.?
10-12
c.?
:z;
H
Q
�
;:il
- - - - - - - - - - - - p::;
::r:
C)
(J)
I'Ll
....:!
Iii
-......;-
I
READ ING D IFF I CULTY LEVELS OF F IFTEEN RANDOM SAMPLES
FROM TEXTBOOK FOUR , ARRANGED IN SEQUENCE
m
..,.
65
be ing toward the f i r s t portion o f the book and more d i f f i ­
c u l t mater i a l o r l owe s t s c ores near the end o f the book .
Thi s data indicate , that a c c ord ing t o the F l e s c h Read ing
E a s e S c a l e , every observation in textbook four wou ld be too
d i f f ic u l t for the average or b e l ow average read ing abi l i ty
o f a s tudent i n the fourth grade .
Tab l e V I I I s hows the computed F l e s c h Reading E a s e
s c ore f or textbook f ive t o be 7 5 . 6 4 which ha s a predic ted
grade l eve l of s eventh grade .
Of the f i f teen observation s ,
1 3 per cent were found to have a predicted grade l eve l o f
d i f f iculty o f t enth through twe l f th grade s , 7 per c ent
wer e f ound to have a pred i c ted grade l eve l o f d i f f iculty o f
e ighth t o n inth grade ,
5 3 p e r cent were found to h ave a
pred i c ted grade leve l o f d i f f ic u l ty o f s eventh grad e ,
20
p er c ent t o h ave a pred ic ted grade l eve l o f d i f f i cu l ty o f
s ixth grade , a n d 7 per cent to have a pred ic ted grade
leve l o f d i f f iculty o f f i f th grade .
The pub l i s her ' s
de s ignation for th i s textbook was f i f th grade .
The data f rom the ob s e rvations provided in Tab l e IX
s how � textbook f ive to h ave a median F l e s c h Re ad i ng E a s e
score o f s eventy- s ix , med i an syl labl e s p e r o n e hundred
wor d s to be 1 3 5 , � -; d the med i a n woT 1 s per sentence to be
fourte en .
The med i a n word c omplexity a s ind icated by syl ­
labication was b e tween s ixth and s eventh grad e s and the
median s entence l ength ind ic a t e s s eventh grade l ev e l of
d i f f i c u l ty .
66
TABLE VI I I
ANALYS I S OF TEXTBOOK NUMBE R F IVE
Random
P age
Number
Number
of
Sy l l ab l e s
Number
of
Senten c e s
Number of
Wor d s Per
Sente nc e
F l e sch Grade
Sc ore Leve l
175
134
7
14
79
7
2 16
158
8
12 . 5
60
8-9
171
148
8
12 . 5
68
7
50
134
6
17
76
7
118
123
6
17
86
6
2 11
125
7
14
87
6
58
120
8
12 . 5
92
5
131
140
6
17
71
7
111
13 8
8
12 . 5
77
7
135
135
6
17
75
7
36
128
8
12 . 5
85
6
134
140
8
12 . 5
75
7
110
158
6
17
56
1 0-12
28
153
5
20
57
10-12
69
134
7
14
79
7
Average s entence l e ngth = 1 4 . 4 word s .
Ave rage word
l ength (syl l a b l e s per 1 0 0 words ) = 1 3 7 . 8 .
Computed
r l e s c h Reading E a s e s core = 7 5 . 6 4 , or s eventh grade l eve l .
Two observations (1 3 % ) were at tenth- twe l f th grade l eve l ;
one ( 7 % ). at e i ghth-ninth gr0de eve l ; e i �ht ( 5 3 % ) at
s eventh grade leve l ; three l 2 0 % at s ixth grade leve l ; and
o ne (7 % ) wa s at f i fth grade l eve l .
f
67
TABLE IX
ANALYS I S OF TEXTBOOK NUMBER F IVE DATA IN RANK ORDER
Syl l a b l e s Per
1 0 0 word s
Words Per
Sentence
Grade
F l e s ch
S core
Grade
Leve l
120
12 . 5
5
56
10-12
123
12 . 5
6
57
10-12
125
12 . 5
6
60
8-9
128
12 . 5
6
68
8-9
134
12 . 5
7
71
7
134
12 . 5
7
75
7
134
14
7
75
7
135
14
7
76
7
138
14
7
77
7
140
17
7
79
7
140
17
7
79
7
148
17
8-9
85
6
153
17
8-9
86
6
158
17
1 0-12
87
6
158
20
10-12
92
5
Med ian F l e s c h Reaf : ng E a s e s c ore = 7 6 .
Med ian s y l l a b l e s p�r 1 0 0 word s = 1 3 5 .
Med ian words per s e ntence = 1 4 .
Range = 3 6 .
S tandard devia t i on = 1 0 . 3 6 9 .
68
The lowe s t F le sc h Reading E a s e s c ore of the observa­
tions for t extbook f ive was f i f ty - s i � and the h ighe s t wa s
n i nety-two whi c h g iv e s a r ange o f thirty - s ix and an e s t i ­
�ated s tandard dev i a tion o f 1 0 . 3 6 9 .
Two-th i rd s o f the f i f ­
teen observa tions wer e pre d i c ted t o have a r ead ing d i f f i ­
c u l ty from s ix th t o e ighth or ninth grade , whi c h i s three
grade leve l s of d i f f icu l ty .
F i gure 2 s hows no prov i s ion for read i ng growth , the
f i r st observation h a s o ne of the two mo s t d i f f i cu l t read ing
leve l s .
The data from th i s measuring ins trument i ndicate
that only one of the f i f teen one-hundred -word ob s e rvat ions
wou l d be appropr iate for the average f i f th grade s tudent .
Tab l e X shows textb ook s ix to h ave a c omputed F le s ch
Reading Ease s c ore o f 6 7 . 4 4 which h a s a pred i c ted grade
leve l of d i f f iculty of between e i ghth and ni nth grade s .
Of
the f i fteen observa t i on s , 7 per cent we re found t o have a
predicted grade leve l o f d i f f iculty at c o l lege leve l , 1 3
per c ent wer e f ound t o have a predi cted grade l eve l of d i f ­
f iculty o f tenth through twe l fth grade s , 4 0 per c e n t were
found to have a pred i c ted grade l evel o f d i f f icu lty of
e ighth to n inth grade ,
27 per c ent to have a pred i c ted
grade l evel of d i f f iculty of s eventh grade , and 1 3 per
c ent to have a pred i c ted grade l evel of d i f f iculty of s ixth
gr ade .
The pub l i sher ' s d e s igna t i on for t h i s textbook i s
s ixth grade .
0
10
C o l lege
Graduate
20
H
�
:>
�
H
�
Q
�
1:..9
13-16
( C o l lege )
�
0
0
U)
�
U)
�
1 0-12
High Schoo l
------------
8-9
7
6
5
�
30
40
50
1:..9
:z;
H
Q
�
�
p::;
60
I
1-
::r:
70
�
H
Ii-I
80 .
0
U)
- , - :;/'\ - - - ,
90
'
'
I
1
Average Grade Leve l
I
100
��--�
-�
---�-�-�-��
-�
-�
- --�-�-�-���--���-�-�-��
-=
-�
---�-�-�-��
-�
-�
- --�-�
-�
---�-�-��-�-�--�
Random Page Number
28
·
F IGURE 2
READ ING D IFF I CULTY LEVELS OF F IFTEEN RANDOM SAMPLE S
F ROM TEXTBOOK F IVE , ARRANGED IN SEQUENCE
m
1.0
70
TABLE X
ANALYS I S OF TEXTBOOK S I X
Random
P age
Number
Number
of
Sy l l ab l e s
Number
of
S e n tenc e s
70
147
7
87
155
55
Number o f
Word s Per
Sentence
F l e s ch
Score
Grade
Level
14
68
8-9
7
14
61
8-9
152
7
14
64
8-9
177
126
9
11
89
6
83
181
6
17
37
13-16
47
148
6
17
64
8-9
179
146
9
11
72
7
195
151
10
10
69
8-9
119
16 9
8
12 . 5
51
10-12
190
161
6
17
53
10-12
159
136
8
12 . 5
79
6
32
150
6
17
63
8-9
81
138
9
11
79
7
46
133
6
17
77
7
189
133
5
20
74
7
Average s entence l ength = 1 3 . 9 4 word s .
Average word
length (syl l ab l e s per 1 0 0 word s }
148 . 4 .
Computed F l e s ch
Reading Ease score = 6 7 . 4 4 , or e i ghth to n i nth grade .
-
One observation ( 7 % ) was at thirteenth- s ixteenth grade
leve l ; two ( 13 % ) were at tenth-twe l f th grade leve l ; s ix
( 4 0 % ) were at e ighth - n i nth grade leve l ; four ( 2 7 % ) we re
at s eventh grade l eve l ; and 2 ( 1 3 % ) were at s ixth grade
l e ve l .
71
Tab l e X I s hows the pas s age s in textbook s ix to have
a med i a n F le sc h Reading E a s e score of s ixty-eight , median
s y l l ab l e s per one hundred word s is 1 4 8 , and med ian word s
per s entenc e a s fourtee n .
The med i an word c omplexity as
i n d i c a te d by the s y l lab i c a t i on is that o f e ighth to n inth
gr ade l eve l o f d i f f i c u l ty and med i an s entence l ength
i nd i c a t e s s eventh grade l eve l of d i f f i culty .
The range o f F le sc h Re ading E a s e scores wa s between
thirty- s even and e ighty-n ine , or f i f ty - two , and the e s t i ­
mated standard dev i a t i on wa s 1 4 . 9 7 6 .
Two-third s o f the
f i f teen observations were pred icted to have a reading
d i f f i cu l ty from twe l f th grad e to s ixth grade or s ix grade
l eve l s of d i f f iculty .
F igur e 3 shows no prov i s ion for reading growth , the
e a s i e s t part of the book appe a r s to be between the tenth
and e l eventh observation wh i c h is contained in the latter
f i f th o f the textbook .
indicate.
The data from th i s mea surement
that only two of the observations would be at a
l eve l o f d i f f i c u l ty wh i ch could be c omprehended by the
average s ixth grade s tudent .
Table X I I shows that the three i ntermed iate he a l th
textbook s have pa s s ag e s at the c o l l ege l ev e l o f d i f f i cu l ty
(grad e s thirteen through s ixtee n ) down to the f i f th grade
l eve l of d i f f i cu lty .
There i s a probab l e d i f ference o f
72
TABLE X I
ANALYS I S O F TEXTBOOK S IX DATA IN RANK ORDER
Syl l ab l e s Per
1 0 0 Wor d s
Wor d s Per
S entence
Grade
F l e s ch
Score
Grade
Leve l
126
10
6
37
13-16
133
11
6
51
10-12
133
11
7
53
10-12
136
11
7
61
8-9
138
12 . 5
7
63
8-9
146
12 . 5
8-9
64
8-9
147
14
8-9
64
8-9
148
14
8-9
68
8-9
150
14
8-9
69
8-9
151
17
8-9
72
7
152
17
8-9
74
7
155
17
8-9
77
7
161
17
10-12
79
7
169
17
10-12
79
6
181
20
13-16
89
6
Med i an F le s c h Read i ng E a s e s c ore = 6 8 .
Med i an sy l l ab l e s per 1 0 0 word s = 1 4 8 .
Med ian wor d s per s entence = 1 4 .
Range = 5 2 .
S tandard deviation = 1 4 . 9 7 6 .
0
10
C o l lege
Graduate
20
------------
r-:l
IJ::t
:>
IJ::t
r-:l
-- - - - - - -
IJ::t
U)
. r<
IJ::t
--
10-12
0
u
30
U)
1 3- 1 6
( C o l lege )
IJ::t
Cl
IJ::t
�
-
t!J
z
H
Cl
40
50
rJ
�
60
::c:
u
- - - - - - - - - - - - U)
IJ::t
70
� ��g� - §��5?5?±_
t!J
8-9
f-:J
�
7
-
-- - - - - - - - - -
80
6
- - - --5
-
--
-
--
90
�
100 Random Page Number 3 2
1
Average Grade Leve l
I
46
I
47
I
55
1
70
I
81
-�
_
L
83
�
I
87
I
119
I
159
__
___
I
_I �-____l
_ ___
177
179
189
I
190
1
195
F IGURE 3
READ ING D IFF ICULTY LEVELS OF F I FTEEN RANDOM SAMPLE S
F ROM TEXTBOOK S I X , ARRANGED IN SEQUENCE
-.....]
w
TABLE X I I
READ ING D IFF ICULTY LEVELS O F ALL OBSERVAT IONS
FROM HEALTH TEXTBOOKS FOUR , F IVE , AND S IX
F l e sc h Reading
E a s e Sc ore
0 - 29
Number o f
Observations
Percentage
of Total
Grade Leve l
D e s c r iption
o f Style
C o l l e ge Graduate
Very D i f ficult
0
0
Difficult
1
2 .2
F a i r ly D i f f icult
4
8.8
Standard
10
22 . 22
( C o l l e ge )
30 - 49
13 - 1 6
50 - 59
10 - 12
60 - 69
8 - 9
70 - 79
7
Fairly E a s y
13
28 . 22
80 - 89
6
Easy
11
2 4 .' 4 4
90 - 100
5
Very E a s y
6
13 . 55
--
Tot a l s
165
--
99 . 43
-.....)
w:::.
75
r e ad i ng d i f f i c u l ty of about e l even grade s .
f �ve obs erva t i on s ,
2 2 per c e nt mea sured
O f the forty­
a t e i ghth to
ninth grade i n d i f f iculty , 2 8 per c ent me asured at s eventh
grade of d i f f ic u l ty , and 2 4 per cent mea sured at s ixth
grade of r ead i ng d i f f icu lty .
F ourteen per c ent were
mea sur ed a t f i fth grade l ev e l of d i f f iculty .
The e s t imated reading leve l s o f d i f f icu lty a s pre­
di cted by this mea surement indicate the textbooks i n thi s
s e r ie s t o b e two grade leve l s above the pub l i sher ' s d e s ig­
nation o f i ntended grade l eve l .
A l l owing for the one grade
level of error as sugge s ted by Cha l l whe n applying read a ­
b i l ity formul a s , a l l books o f the serie s a r e too d i f f i cult
for grade level i ntended .
II .
ANALYS I S OF SUPPLEMENTARY HEALTH BOOKS
Tab l e X I I I s hows the computed F l e sch Reading E a s e
s c o r e o f h e a lth book s ixty- s even to be 7 9 . 3 3 8 .
The pre ­
d i c ted grade leve l o f d i f f i c u l ty i s s eventh grade .
The
f i fteen obs ervations s how vary ing degre e s o f d i f f iculty ,
13 per c e n t were f ound to have a predic ted grade l ev e l o f
d i f f i c u l ty o f tenth t o twe l f th grade , 1 3 per c ent we re
found to have a predic ted d i f f i c u l ty l evel o f e i ghth to
n inth grade , 3 3 per c e nt to have a predic ted l eve l of
d i f f i c u l ty o f s eventh grade ,
7 per cent have a predic ted
76
TABLE X I I I
ANALYS I S O F HEALTH BOOK S IXTY- SEVEN
Random
Page
Number
Number
of
Syllables
Number
of
Sentence s
31
121
7
61
133
11
Number of
Word s Per
S entenc e
Flesch
Score
Grade
Leve l
14
90
5
5
20
74
7
133
6
17
77
7
17
136
3
33
58
10-12
35
152
6
17
61
8-9
14
137
8
12 . 5
78
7
7
121
9
11
93
5
47
15 4
6
17
59
10-12
27
118
8
12 . 5
94
5
37
144
6
17
68
8-9
10
136
5
20
71
7
22
141
6
17
70
7
12
120
8
12 . 5
92
5
59
117
9
11
97
5
50
125
7
14
87
6
Average s entence l ength = 1 5 . 1 5 1 words .
Ave rage word
l e ngth ( sy l l a bl e s per 1 0 0 words ) = 1 3 2 . 5 3 .
C omputed
F l e s c h Read ing E a s e s c ore = 7 9 . 3 3 8 , or seventh grade .
Two obs ervations ( 1 3 % ) were at tenth - twe l fth grade leve l ;
two ( 1 3 % ) were a t e i ghth-ninth grade l eve l ; f ive ( 3 3 % )
were at s eventh grade leve l ; one ( 7 % ) wa s at s ixth grade
l eve l ; and f ive ( 3 3 % ) were at f i f th grade leve l .
77
grade leve l o f d i f f i cu lty o f s ixth grade , and 3 3 per cent
have a pred i c ted d i f f i c u lty of f i f th grade .
Table X IV shows the med ian F l e s c h s core o f the
o b s ervations to book s ixty - s even to be s eventy - seven ,
med i an s y l l ab l e s per one hundred word s to be 1 3 3 , and the
med ian word s per s entence to be seventeen .
The med ian s y l ­
l a b i c a t i on ind ic at e s s ixth to s eventh grade leve l o f d i f ­
f i cu l ty whi l e the sentence l ength i nd icates e i ghth to
n inth grade leve l of d i f f i c u l ty .
The d i f fer enc e betwee n
t h e l owe s t F le s c h Read ing E a s e s c ore , wh ich i s f i fty-eight ,
and the h ighe s t s c ore , whi c h i s ninety- s even , gives a range
of thirty-nine a nd an e s timated s t andard devi ation o f
11 . 236 ,
The proba b l e grade range i s s even grade leve l s o f
d i f f i c u l ty .
Seventy-three per c en t o f the pas s age s could
probab ly be comprehended by an average seventh grade
s tudent .
F igure 4 s hows no indication o f provi s ion for read­
ing growth .
The data f rom thi s me a s urement ind i c ate
that
thi s book has a readab i l i ty l eve l which could be compre ­
hended b y a n average s eventh grade student .
One - third o f
t h e pas s a g e s in the book could b e c omprehended b y the
average f i f th grade s tudent .
The c omputed F l e sc h Read ing E a s e score for hea lth
book s eventeen is s hown in T ab l e XV to be 4 4 . 8 9 7 .
The
pr edicted grade l eve l of d i f f iculty as i nterpre ted from
Tabl e I s hows th i s to be tenth to twe l f th grade .
Thirteen
78
TABLE XIV
ANALYS I S OF HEALTH BOOK S IXTY- SEVEN DATA IN RANK ORDER
S y l l a b l e s Per
1.0 0 Word s
Words Per
Sentence
Grade
Flesch
Score
Grade
Leve l
117
11
5
58
10-12
118
11
5
59
10-12
120
12 . 5
5
61
8-9
121
12 . 5
5
68
8-9
121
12 . 5
5
70
7
125
14
6
71
7
133
14
7
74
7
133
17
7
77
7
136
17
7
78
7
136
17
7
87
6
137
17
7
90
5
141
17
8-9
92
5
144
20
8-9
93
5
152
20
10-12
94
5
156
33
10-12
97
5
Med ian F le s ch Re ading E a s e s c ore = 7 7 .
Med i an syl l ab l e s per 1 0 0 word s = 1 3 3 .
Medi an words per s entence = 1 7 .
Range = 3 9 .
Standard deviat ion = 1 1 . 2 3 6 .
0
10
Co l lege
Gr aduate
20
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70
------------
80
-
7
H
li;
6
------------
90
5
100
Rand om Page Number 7
I
Average Grade Leve l
10
11
12
14
17
22
27
31
35
37
47
50
59
61
F IGURE 4
READ ING D I FF I CULTY LEVELS OF F IFTEEN RANDOM SAMPLE S
F ROM HEALTH BOOK S I XTY- SEVEN , ARRANGED IN SEQUENCE
-....]
1..0
80
TABLE XV
ANALYS I S OF . HEALTH BOOK SEVENTEEN
Random
Page
Number
Number
of
Sy l l ab l e s
Number
of
S e nten c e s
Number of
Wor d s Per
S entence
Flesch
S core
Grade
Leve l
186
160
5
20
51
10-12
53
178
6
17
39
13-16
135
185
5
20
30
*C . G .
141
179
5
20
35
13-16
44
174
6
17
43
13-16
38
170
4
25
38
13-16
133
162
7
14
56
1 0-12
103
182
4
25
24
*C . G .
19 0
141
7
14
73
7
13 8
175
4
25
33
13-16
28
168
5
20
44
13-16
175
154
6
17
59
10-12
92
175
5
20
38
13-16
80
149
4
25
55
10-12
100
169
4
25
38
13-16
* C . G . = Col lege Graduate
Average s entence l ength = 1 9 . 4 6 7 word s .
Aver age word
l e ngth ( sy l l a b l e s per 1 0 0 word s ) = 1 6 8 . 0 6 .
C omputed
F l e s c h Reading E a s e s c ore = 4 4 . 8 9 7 , or tenth-twe l fth
grade s .
Two obs ervat ions ( 1 3 % ) were at co l lege graduate leve l ;
e ight observat ions ( 5 3 % ) were a t thirteenth - s ixteenth
grade leve l ; f our ( 2 7 % ) were at tenth-twe l fth grade leve l ;
and one observation ( 7 % ) wa s a t s eve nth grade leve l .
81
per c en t o f the o b s e rvations were found to have a pre.
d i e ted grade l ev e l of d i f f i c u l ty o f c o l lege graduate leve l .
F i fty- thre e per cent o f the observations had a predicted
grade l eve l o f d i f f ic u l ty o f th i rteenth to s ixteenth grade
or c o l lege leve l .
Twenty- s even per cent had a pred i c te d
grade l e v e l o f d i f f i c u l ty o f tenth to twe l fth grade .
Seven per cent were found to have a pred ic ted grade leve l
o f d i ff icu l ty o f s eventh grade ,
Table XVI s hows the rank order o f readab i l ity
factor s and the F l e s c h s c o r e s o f hea l th book s eventeen .
·
The med ian F l e s c h Read ing E a s e s c ore wa s thirty-nine which
ha s a predicted grade l eve l o f d i f fi c u l ty o f c o l l e ge leve l .
The med ian s y l l ab l e s per one hundred wor d s wa s 1 7 0 and the
. median s entenc e l ength wa s twenty word s .
The syl l ab ic ation
i nd i c ate s c o l l ege l evel o f d i f f i culty , acc ord i ng to Table I,
whi l e the s entence length i nd i c a te s tenth to twe l f th grade
l evel of d i f f i cu l ty .
The l owe s t F le s ch Reading E a s e s core
observed wa s twenty - four a nd the h i gh e s t F l e s c h Read ing
E a s e s c ore wa s s eventy- thr ee wh i c h g ive s a range o f forty­
nine and an approximate s tandard deviation o f 1 4 . 1 1 3 .
grade range i s a probably ten grad e s of d i f f ic u l ty .
The
E i ghty
per cent o f the pa s s a ge s i nd i ca te a probab l e grade range
from tenth to s ixteenth grade .
82
TABLE XVI
ANALYS I S OF HEALTH BOOK S EVENTEEN DATA IN RANK ORDER
S y l lab l e s Per
1 0 0 Word s
ltlords Per
S e ntence
Grade
Flesch
Score
Grade
Leve l
141
14
7
24
*C . G .
149
14
10-12
30
e.G.
154
17
10-12
33
13-16
160
17
1 0 -12
35
13-16
162
17
10-12
38
13-16
168
20
13-16
38
13-16
169
20
1 3-16
38
13-16
170
20
13-16
39
13-16
174
20
13-16
42
13-16
175
20
13-16
44
13-16
. 17 5
25
13-16
51
1 0 -12
178
25
13-16
55
10-12
17 9
25
13-16
56
1 0-12
182
25
*C . G .
59
10-12
185
25
e.G.
73
7
*C . G .
Median F le s c h Read i ng E a s e s c ore = 3 9 .
Med ian s y l l a b l e s per 1 0 0 word s = 1 7 0 .
Median word s per s entence = 2 0 .
Range = 4 9 .
Standard deviation = 1 4 . 1 1 3 .
=
Col lege Graduate
Q _
10
Col lege
Graduate
- -- - - - - - - - - -
....:!
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r£1
H
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13-16
( Co l lege )
20
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10-12
Hiqh_ School_
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7
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6
5
Random Page Number
30
,_
40
- - - - - -v - - - - - vr
50
60
-
-
-
-
-
- ·
-
Average Grade Level
70
-
-
80
90
100
I
28
I
175
___
38
44
53
80
92
100
103
133
135
138
141
I
186
_j
190
F IGURE 5
READ ING D IFF ICULTY LEVELS OF F IFTEEN RANDOM SAMPLES
F ROM HEALTH BOOK SEVENTEEN , ARRANGED IN SEQUENCE
co
w
84
F i gure 5 shows no provi s ion for reading growth .
The mo s t d i f f i c u l t pa s s age wa s loc ated in the center por­
t i on of the book wh i l e the e a s i e s t pa s s age wa s toward the
end o f the book .
Betwee n the two pa s s age s , f ound on pages
1 3 3 and 1 3 5 , f our grade l eve l s o f d i f f iculty were found .
The data from thi s me a surement i nd ic at e
tha t the book h a s
a readab i l i ty l eve l whi c h c o u l d probably be c omprehend ed
by an average c o l l ege s tudent .
Table XVI I shows health book thirty-one t o have a
c omputed F l e s c h Re ad i ng E a s e s c ore o f 8 3 . 0 6 1 wh ich i s inter­
preted a s hav ing a predic ted grade leve l o f d i f f i culty o f
s ixth grad e .
Varying degr e e s o f d i f f i culty we re f ound in
the f i f teen pas s a g e s obs erved .
Seven per cent have a pre­
d icted grade l evel o f d i f f iculty of e i ghth to n inth grade .
Twenty - s even per c ent were f ound to have a pred i c ted grad e
leve l o f d i f f i c u l ty o f seventh grade .
F i f ty-three per c ent
have a pred i cted grade l ev e l of d i f f iculty o f s ixth grade .
Seven per cent have a predic ted grade level o f d i f£ i cu l ty
o f f i fth gr ade and another s even per c ent have a predi c ted
grade leve l of d i f f i cu l ty of f ourth grade .
Tab l e XVI I I s hows the rank order o f readab i l ity fac­
tor s and the F le sc h Read i ng Ease s c ore s .
The med i an F l e sch
Reading Ease s c ore wa s e ighty-three wh ich h a s
grade l ev e l of d i f f i c u l ty o f s ixth grade .
a
pred i c ted
The med i an
85
TABLE XVI I
ANALYS I S O F HEALTH BOOK T H I RTY-ONE
Random
P age
Numbe r
Number
of
Syl l ab l e s
Number
of
Sentenc e s
Number of
Wor d s Per
Sentence
Flesch
Score
Grade
Leve l
17
129
7
14
83
6
26
108
8
12 . 5
103
4
12
122
6
17
86
6
13
129
7
14
83
6
37
13 8
5
20
70
6
36
13 9
7
14
75
7
28
129
5
20
77
7
32
117
7
14
94
5
6
133
6
17
77
7
7
13 4
8
12 . 5
80
6
23
129
5
20
77
7
32
128
9
11
87
6
22
126
6
17
83
6
30
117
5
20
87
6
·8
142
6
17
69
8-9
Average s e ntence l ength = 1 5 . 2 5 7 word s .
Aver a ge word
Computed
l ength ( sy l lable s p e r 1 0 0 word s ) - 1 2 8 . 0 .
F l e s c h Read ing E a s e s core = 8 3 . 0 6 1 , or s ixth grade .
One obs ervation ( 7 % ) wa s a t the e i ghth-ninth grade
l eve l ; four ( 2 7 % ) we re at the s eventh grade l eve l ;
e ight ( 53 % ) wer e at the s ixth grade leve l ; one ( 7 % ) wa s
at the f i f th grade l eve l ; and one ( 7 % ) wa s at the
four th grade leve l .
86
TABLE XVI I I
ANAL Y S I S OF HEALTH BOOK T H I RTY-ONE DATA I N RANK ORDER
S y l l a b l e s Per
1 0 0 Words
Words P e r
Sentence
Grade
F l e s ch
S core
Grade
Leve l
108
11
4
69
8-9
117
12 . 5
6
70
7
117
12 . 5
6
75
7
122
14
6
66
6
126
14
6
77
7
128
14
6
77
7
129
14
6
80
6
129
17
6
83
6
129
17
6
83
6
129
17
6
83
6
133
17
7
86
6
13 4
20
7
87
6
13 8
20
7
87
6
139
20
7
94
5
142
20
8-9
103
4
Med ian F l e sch Read ing E a s e s c ore = 8 3 .
Med i an s y l l a b l e s per 1 0 0 words = 1 2 9 .
Med i a n words p e r s entence = 1 7 .
Range = 3 4 .
S tandard devi a t i o n = 9 . 7 9 2 .
87
syl labl e s per one hundred word s i s 1 2 9 and the med ian
s entenc e length is s eventeen word s .
The med ian syl l ab i c a ­
t i o n i s that o f be l ow f i f th grade l eve l but the med i an
s entence l e ngth i s e i ghth to n inth grade .
· F l e s c h Reading Ease s c ore ,
The l owe st
s ix ty-n ine , and the highe s t ,
1 0 3 , g ive s a r ange o f thirty - f our and an e s timated s tandard
deviation o f 9 . 7 9 2 .
A proba b l e grade range o f f ive grad e s
i s f ound w i t h i n t h e book .
Seventy- thre e per c ent of the
p a s s age s i nd i cate a grade leve l o f d i f f i cu l ty o f s ixth and
s eventh grad e s .
F i gure s ix s hows no evidence o f provi s ion f or read ­
ing growth .
The p a s s a g e s on page s twenty-three and twenty­
s ix s how a grade range o f three grade leve l s .
f r om thi s mea s urement i nd icate
The data
thi s book to have a reada­
b i l i ty leve l whi c h probably c ould be c omprehended by the
average s ixth grade s tud ent and the b e l ow average seventh
grade s tudent .
Tab l e X IX s hows the c omputed F l e s c h Re ading E a s e
s c ore o f h e a l t h book thirty - f our t o be 5 9 . 4 2 1 .
The pre­
dicted grade l eve l o f d i f f i c u l ty is e i ghth to ninth grade .
Twenty per c ent o f the p a s s ag e s were f ound to have a pre ­
dic ted grade l eve l o f d i f f icul ty o f thirteenth to s ixte enth
grade of c o l l e ge leve l .
Thirty - three per cent o f the
p a s s ag e s were found to have a pred i c ted grade leve l of
d i f f i c u l ty of tenth to twe l f th grade .
Forty per c ent o f
0 10
C o l lege
Graduate
---
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- - - - -
20
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8-9
--- -
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- --
-
40
t.'J
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H
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0
�
60
JJ::l
p:::
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u
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70
...:I
IJ:1
7
-
r£1
Cf.l
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r£1
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H igh School
----------
30
u
Cf.l
13-16
( C o l lege )
-
r£1
p:::
0
- - - - - - - --
-
6
--- --- --
-
5
7
90
--
Average Grade Level
100
Random P age Number
L
6
7
8
12
13
17
22
23
26
28
_
L
30
I
32
32
36
37
F I GURE 6
READ ING D IFF ICULTY LEVELS OF F I FTEEN RANDOM SAMPLE S
FROM HEALTH BOOK THIRTY-ONE , ARRANGED I N SEQUENCE
CX)
CX)
89
TABLE XIX
ANALYS I S OF HEALTH BOOK T H I RTY-FOUR
Random
P age
Numbe r
Number
of
Syl l ab l e s
Number
of
S entenc e s
13
176
9
30
162
79
Numbe r o f
wor d s Per
Sentence
Fle sch
Score
Grade
Leve l
11
47
13-16
6
17
53
10-12
152
5
20
58
10-12
69
155
6
17
58
10-12
75
164
8
12 . 5
55
10-12
73
164
5
20
48
13-16
103
146
7
14
69
8-9
47
152
6
14
64
8-9
32
15 7
6
17
57
8-9
72
140
5
20
68
8-9
100
137
5
20
71
7
59
157
10
10
64
8-9
28
153
7
14
63
8-9
50
154
6
17
59
10-12
36
166
6
17
49
13-16
Aver ag e s entence l ength = 1 5 . 3 word s .
Ave rage word
l e ngth ( sy l l ab l e s per 1 0 0 word s ) = 1 5 5 . 6 6 .
Computed
F l e s c h Reading E a s e s core = 5 9 . 4 2 1 , or e i ghth-ninth
grade .
Thr ee obs ervations ( 2 0 % ) were at thirteen- s ixteenth grade
l eve l ; f ive ( 3 3 % ) were at tenth-twe l fth grade leve l ; s ix
( 4 0 % ) wer e a t e ighth-ninth grad e leve l ; and one ( 7 % ) wa s
at s eventh grad e leve l .
90
the p a s sage s were f ound to have a pred i c ted grade level
o f d i f f i c u l ty of e i ghth to n inth grade s .
Seve n per c ent
have a predic ted grade l evel of d i f f i c u l ty of s eventh
grade .
Table XX provide s the r ank order o f readab i l ity fac­
tor s and F l e s ch s c ore s f o r heal th book thirty-four .
median F l e s c h Read i ng E a s e s c ore i s f i fty - e i ght .
an s y l l ab l e s p e r o n e hundred word s i s 1 5 5 .
word s per s entence is seventeen .
The
The med i ­
The median
The med i an word complex­
i ty as ind i c ated by s y l l abication is that of tenth to
twe l f th grade leve l o f d i f f icu l ty .
The med ian s entence
l e ngth is that of e i gh th to ninth grade d i f f i cu l ty leve l .
The l owe s t F l e s c h Reading E a s e s c ore wa s forty - s even and
the h i ghe s t s c ore wa s seventy-one , whi c h give s a r ange o f
twenty - four and an e s timated s t andard deviation o f 6 . 9 1 2 .
S ixty- s even per cent o f the pa s s age s were found to have
a probable d i f f i cu l ty l eve l from e i ghth to twe l f th grade s .
F igure 7 provid e s no ind i c at i on o f provi s i on b e i ng
made for r eading growth .
The mo s t d i f f i c u l t pas s age was
at the beginning of the book and the e a s i e s t pas sages were
·
near the e nd o f the book .
measurement indicate.
The data provided from this
book th irty- f our to have a reading
d i f f i c u l ty l eve l wh ich could be c ompr ehended by the above
average e ighth to n inth grader and the below average
tenth to twe l fth grade s tudent .
91
TABLE XX
ANALYS I S OF HEALTH BOOK T H I RTY-FOUR DATA IN RANK ORDER
Syl l ab l e s Per
1 0 0 Words
Words Per
Sentence
Grade
Flesch
Score
Grade
Leve l
137
10
7
47
13-16
140
11
8-9
48
13-16
146
12 . 5
8-9
49
13-16
152
14
8-9
53
10-12
152
14
8-9
55
10-12
153
14
8-9
57
1 0-12
154
17
8-9
58
10-12
155
17
1 0- 1 2
58
10-12
157
17
10-12
59
8-9
157
17
10-12
63
8-9
162
17
10-12
64
8-9
164
20
1 0-12
64
8-9
164
20
13--6
68
8-9
166
20
1 3- 1 6
69
8-9
17 6
20
13-16
71
7
Median F le s c h Reading E a se s c ore = 5 8 .
Median syl l ab l e s per 1 0 0 word s = 1 5 5 .
Med ian words per s entenc e = 1 7 .
Range = 2 4 .
S tandard devi ation = 6 . 9 1 2 .
o _
10
C o l lege
Graduate
20
;...;. _ _ .... _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
13-16
( C o l lege )
....::1
ri!
:>
ri!
....::1
ri!
-
Q
�
C!>
- -
High School
-----8-9
--
- -
-
- - -- - - - 7
-
-
-
-
- -
-
30
ri!
40
C!>
50
�
ri!
60
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u
U)
ri!
70
0
u
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-
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-
-
-
- -
--
Grade Leve l
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- -- --
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- -----10-12
-
I
-
80
90
5
Random Page Number
100
13
F IGURE 7
READ ING D IFF ICULTY LEVELS OF F I FTEEN RANDOM SAMPLE S
F ROM HEALTH BOOK THIRTY-FOUR , ARRANGED IN SEQUENCE
1..0
N
93
The data given in Table XXI shows the F l e s ch
Reading E a s e score of he a l th book forty-eight to be
73 . 132 .
Accord i ng to the F l e s c h Re ading E a s e S c a l e ,
th i s s core i nd ic a t e s a reading d i f f iculty l evel o f sev ­
enth grade .
Seven per cent o f the pa s s ages have a pr e ­
d icted read ing d i f f iculty l eve l of th irteenth to s ixtee nth
gr ade , or c o l lege leve l .
Thirteen per cent have a pre­
d i c ted r ead ing d i f f icu lty l evel o f tenth to twe l fth grade .
Thirteen per c e nt have a pred i c ted read ing d i f f iculty
l eve l of e i ghth to ninth grade .
Twenty- s even per c ent
have a pred i c ted r e ading d i f f iculty l evel of s eventh
grade .
Forty per cent have a pred i c ted reading d i f f iculty
l evel o f s ixth grade .
T ab l e XX I I shows the rank order o f r eadab i l ity fac­
tors and F l e s c h s core s for the obs ervations made on health
book forty- e i ght .
s eventy- f ive .
The med i an F l e s c h Re ading E a s e s core was
The med ian s y l l ab l e s per one hundred words
' wa s 1 3 5 , and the med ian word s per s entence wa s seventeen o
The med ian word c ompl exity , a s ind i cated by the F l e sc h
Readi ng E a s e S c a l e , i s e ighth to ninth grade .
The lowe st
F l e s c h Read i ng E a s e s c or e wa s f orty-nine and the h ighe st
wa s e ighty- s ix whi c h g ive s a range o f thirty- s even and an
e s timated standard deviation of 1 0 . 6 5 6 .
po s s ib l e grade range o f ten grade l eve l s .
T h i s ind i c ates a
S i xty- s even
per cent of the s c ore s r ange rang e s from s ixth to ninth
grade l evel of d i f f i cu l ty .
94
TABLE XXI
ANALYS I S OF BEALTH BOOK FORTY-E IGHT
Random
P a ge
Number
Number
of
Syl l a b l e s
89
156
6
45
130
15
Number
of
Sentenc e s
Number o f
Words Per
Sentence
Flesch
S core
Grade
Leve l
17
58
10-12
6
17
80
6
134
8
12 . 5
80
6
39
132
5
20
75
7
94
156
4
25
49
13-16
115
143
6
17
69
8-9
71
135
6
17
75
7
1 13
150
5
20
60
10-12
35
126
7
14
86
6
42
134
7
14
79
7
117
128
6
17
81
6
59
13 9
6
17
72
7
50
121
5
20
84
6
65
135
5
20
72
6
110
149
7
14
67
8-9
Aver age s entence l ength = 1 6 . 8 5 word s .
Average word
l ength ( sy l l a b l e s per 1 0 0 word s ) = 1 3 7 . 8 6 .
Computed
F l e s c h Re ad ing E a s e S c ore = 7 3 . 1 3 2 , or seventh grade .
One o b s e rvat i on ( 7 % ) wa s at the thirte enth- s ixteenth
grade leve l ; two ( 1 3 % ) were at the tenth-twe l fth grade
l eve l ; two ( 1 3 % ) were at the e ighth-n inth grade leve l ;
four ( 2 7 % ) were a t the s eve nth grade l eve l ; and s ix ( 4 0 % )
wer e at the s ixth grade l eve l .
95
TABLE XX I I
ANALYS I S OF HEALTH BOOK FORTY-E I GHT DATA IN RANK ORDER
Syl l ab l e s Per
1 0 0 Words
Words Per
Sentence
Grade
Flesch
Score
Grade
Leve l
121
12 . 5
6
49
13-16
126
14
6
58
10-12
128
14
6
60
8-9
130
14
6
67
8-9
132
17
6
69
8-9
134
17
6
72
7
134
17
7
72
7
135
17
7
75
7
13 5
17
7
75
7
13 9
17
7
79
7
143
20
8-9
80
6
149
20
8-9
80
6
150
20
8-9
81
6
156
20
10-12
84
6
156
25
13-16
86
6
Med i a n F l e sc h Read i ng E a s e s c ore = 7 5 .
Median sy l labl e s per 1 0 0 word s = 1 3 5 .
Med ian words per s entence = 1 7 .
Range = 3 7 .
S tandard deviat ion = 1 0 . 6 5 6 .
96
F igure 8 ind i c a t e s prov i s i on f or reading growth .
The data provided for t h i s me a s ureme nt indicate
that the
f ir s t portions of the hea lth book probab ly could be compre­
hended by the average s eventh grade s tudent and the l atter
part of the book could be c omprehended by the average
e i ghth to n inth grade s tudent .
Table XX I I I ind i c a t e s the c omputed F l e s ch Reading
E a s e s c o re of health book thirty-f ive to be 6 8 . 7 5 4 .
Thi s
score i s interpreted a s having e i ghth t o ninth grade level
o f d i f f i cu l ty .
O f the f i fteen obs e rva t i on s , s even per
cent were f ound to be at tenth to twe l ft h grade l eve l o f
d i f f i c u l ty , s ixty per c en t t o b e e ighth t o n inth grade
l ev e l of d i f f icu l ty ,
twe nty- seven per cent to be at s eventh
grade leve l of d i f f icul ty , and s even per cent to be at
s ixth grade leve l of d i f f icu l ty .
Table XXIV provides the r ank order of re adabi l i ty
f actors and the F le sc h Reading E a s e s core s o f the f i f teen
observa t i on s made on h e a l th book thir ty- f ive .
The med ian
F l e s c h score was s ixty- s even , the med i an sy l l ab le s per one
hundred words wa s 1 4 3 , and the med i an word s per s e ntence
wa s s eventeen .
The med i an word c omp l e x i ty i s from s eventh
to e i ghth grade , whi l e the med ian s entence length is e i ghth
to ninth grade .
The l owe s t F le s c h score wa s f i f ty - f ive ,
the h ighe s t was e ighty- seven which give s a range o f
C o l lege
Graduate
�
ril
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ril
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ril
Q
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p:;
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u
13-16
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------------
1 0-12
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8-9
------------
7
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ril
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ril
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'1'" - - - - - - - - -
6
9
5
+
1 o ol
Random Page Number 1 5
1
Average Grade Leve l
I
35
!
39
l
42
I
45
I
50
I
59
I
65
I
71
.1
89
I
94
I
110
I
113
I
115
J
117
F IGURE 8
READ ING D IFF ICULTY LEVELS OF F IFTEEN RANDOM SAMPLE S
F ROM HEALTH BOOK FORTY-E IGHT , ARRANGED IN SEQUENCE
1.0
-...J
98
TABLE XX I I I
ANALYS I S OF HEALTH BOOK T H I RTY-F IVE
Random
Page
Number
Number
of
Syl l ab l e s
Number
of
S entenc e s
Number o f
Word s Per
S entenc e
F l e sc h
Score
Grade
Level
23
138
6
17
73
7
53
145
5
20
64
8-9
56
138
5
20
70
7
89
129
9
11
87
6
129
142
6
17
69
8-9
52
150
7
14
66
8-9
90
148
7
14
67
8-9
113
150
7
14
66
8-9
34
143
7
14
72
7
84
150
4
25
55
10-12
94
131
4
25
71
7
102
143
6
17
69
8-9
21
142
5
20
66
8-9
7
146
5
20
63
8-9
1 16
151
6
17
62
8-9
Average s entence l e ngth = 1 6 . 8 5 v-1ord s .
Average word
l ength ( s y l l ab l e s per 1 0 0 word s ) = 1 4 3 .
Computed F l e s c h
Read i ng E a s e score = 6 8 . 7 5 4 , or e ighth-ninth grade .
One ob servation ( 7 % ) wa s at the tenth- twe l fth grade
l eve l ; nine ( 6 0 % ) were at e i ghth-ninth grade leve l ; four
( 2 7 % ) were at s eventh grade l eve l ; and one ( 7 % ) wa s at
the s ixth grade leve l .
99
TABLE XXIV
ANALYS I S OF HEALTH BOOK T H I RTY-F IVE IN RANK ORDER
Syl l ab l e s P e r
1 0 0 Word s
Words P e r
S e ntenc e
Grade
F l e s ch
Score
Grade
Leve l
129
11
6
55
10-12
131
14
7
62
8-9
138
14
7
63
8-9
138
14
7
64
8-9
142
14
7
66
8-9
142
17
8-9
66
8-9
1 43
17
8-9
66
8-9
143
17
8-9
67
8-9
145
17
8-9
69
8-9
146
20
8-9
69
8-9
148
20
8 -9
70
7
150 .
20
8-9
71
7
150
20
8-9
72
7
150
25
8-9
73
7
151
25
10-12
87
6
Med ian F l e s c h Reading E a s e score = 6 7 .
Median s y l labl e s per 1 0 0 wor d s = 1 4 3 .
Med ian word s per s entence = 1 7 .
Range = 3 2 .
S tand ard deviation = 9 . 2 1 6 .
lUU
The
thir ty- two or s ix grade leve l s o f read i ng d i f f iculty .
e s tima ted s tandard deviation was found to be 9 . 2 1 6 .
E i ght�
s even per cent o f the observations i ndicated s eventh to
n inth grade l eve l o f reading d i f f icu lty .
F i gure 9 i nd ic a t e s no prov i s ion for reading growth .
The h ighe s t and l owe s t F le sc h scores are found within f ive
pages of each other .
ment i nd i c ate .
The data provided by this measure­
that health book th irty - f ive could probably
be c omprehended by the average e i ghth to ninth grade
s tudent .
Health book three h a s a c omputed F le sch Re ading
E a s e s c ore o f 6 9 . 8 0 7 .
Acc ording to the F l e sc h Re ad ing
E a s e S c a l e , th i s ind ic at e s a r e ad ing d i f f ic u l ty leve l o f
e ighth t o n inth grade .
Tab l e XXV s hows thirteen per cent
of the obs erva t i on s to have a reading d i f f iculty l ev e l of
thirte enth to s i xteenth grade , or c o l lege leve l .
Thirteen
per c e nt have a d i f f iculty l eve l o f tenth to twe l fth grade .
Thirteen per c e n t have a d i f f i c u l ty l evel o f e ighth to
n inth grade .
F o r t v per cent have a reading d i f f ic ul ty
l eve l o f s eventh grade and twenty per cent h ave a
d i f f i cu lty l eve l o f s ixth grade .
The rank order o f r e adab i l i ty factor s and F l e s c h
s c ore s f o r he a lth book thr ee a s found in Tab l e XXVI shows
the med i an F l e s c h Read i ng E a s e s c ore to be s eventy-three ,
0
10
C o l lege
Graduate
20
r:r:l
H
r:r:l
13-16
( C o l lege )
::>
r:r:l
H
r:r:l
0.
§
------------
10-12
High School
8-9
7
p:;
0
u
U)
r:r:l
U)
r::t:
r:r:l
l9
�
H
Q
r::t:
r:r:l
p:;
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u
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r:r:l
H
1'4
30
40
50
60
70
80
6
90
5
r
�
-
�-
- - -v - -
\ 7�
-
Average Grade Level
�
I
100
Random Page Number
7
I
21
l
23
I
34
I
52
I
53
I
56
I
84
l
89
I
90
I
94
I
102
I
113
I
116
I
129
F I GURE 9
READ ING D I F F I CULTY LEVELS OF F I FTEEN RANDOM SAMPLE S
FROM HEALTH BOOK THIRTY-F IVE , ARRANGED IN SEQUENCE
1--'
0
1--'
102
TABLE XXV
ANALYS I S OF HEALTH BOOK THREE
Random
P age
Number
Numbe r
of
Syl lab l e s
Number
of
S e ntence s
186
152
6
49
127
156
Number o f
Words Per
Sentence
Fle sch
Score
Grade
Level
17
61
8-9
5
20
79
6
134
6
17
76
7
19
151
5
20
59
10-12
246
170
5
20
43
13-16
140
175
7
14
45
13-16
120
142
9
ll
76
7
74
139
7
14
75
7
144
138
6
17
73
7
157
141
13
8
79
7
70
137
5
20
71
7
146
127
7
14
85
6
47
129
9
ll
87
6
135
147
6
17
65
8-9
53
156
6
17
58
10-12
Average s entence l ength = 1 4 . 7 0 5 words .
Average word
l e ngth ( s y l l ab l e s per 1 0 0 word s ) = 1 4 4 . 3 3 .
Computed
F le s c h Re ad ing E a s e s core = 6 9 . 8 0 7 , or e i ghth-n inth grade.
Two observations ( 1 3 % ) were
grade l eve l ; two ( 1 3 % ) we re
(1 3 % ) were at e ighth-ninth ;
and three ( 2 0 % ) were at the
at the th irteenth- s ixteenth
at tenth-twe l fth grade ; two
s ix ( 4 0 % ) were at s eventh ;
s ixth grade leve l .
1 03
TABLE XXVI
ANALYS I S OF HEALTH BOOK THREE DATA IN RANK ORDER
Syl l a b l e s P e r
1 0 0 Words
Word s Per
Sentence
Grade
Fle sch
Score
Grade
Leve l
127
8
6
43
13-16
127
ll
6
45
13-16
129
14
6
58
10-12
134
14
7
59
10-12
137
14
7
61
8-9
138
14
7
65
8-9
139
17
7
71
7
141
17
7
73
7
142
17
7
75
7
147
17
8-9
76
7
151
20
8-9
76
7
152
20
1 0 -1 2
79
7
156
20
1 0-12
79
7
170
20
13-16
85
6
175
20
13-16
87
6
Med ian F le s ch Re ading E a s e s c ore = 7 3 .
Med ian syl labl e s per 1 0 0 word s = 1 4 1 .
Med ian word s per s entence = 1 7 .
Range = 4 4 .
Standard dev i a t ion = 1 2 . 7 0 2 .
104
or s eventh grade l eve l o f d i f f iculty .
per o n e hundred word s i s 1 4 1 .
The mean s y l l a b l e s
The med i a n word c omplexity
f actor i s s eventh to e i ghth grade whi l e the median s e n­
tence l e ngth i s e i ghth to n inth grade .
The lowe s t F l e sch
Read i ng Ease score o f the f i fteen obs ervations wa s f ound
to be forty-three and the h i ghe s t was f ound to be e i ghty­
s even whi c h give s a r ange of f orty-four .
Thi s range rep­
re sents a probabl e grade leve l range of ten grade s .
s tandard deviation o f the ob s e rvations i s 1 2 . 7 0 2 .
The
Seventy­
three per c ent of the ob s ervations ind i c a te s eventh to
twe l fth grade l eve l of read i ng d i f f icu l ty .
F i gure 1 0 s hows no indication o f p rovi s ion for
r e ad i ng growth .
The data f r om th i s mea s urement indicate
that heal th book t hree could probab ly be c omprehended by
the average seventh grade s tudent and the below average
e i ghth grade s tud e nt .
Table XXVI I ind i c ates the c omputed F l e sch Read i ng
E a s e s c or e o f hea l th book f i fty- three to be 6 2 . 9 7 5 .
The
i nterpre ted grade l eve l o f r e ad in g d i f f i cu l ty , acc ordi ng to
the F le s c h Reading E a s e S c a l e ,
is e ighth to n inth grade .
Of the f i fteen pas s ag e s observed , twenty- seven per cent
have a pred i cted r e ad ing d i f f iculty leve l of c o l l ege l evel ,
th irteen per cent h ave a pre d i c ted grad e l eve l o f read ing
d i f f i culty o f tenth to twe l f th grade , th irty-three per c ent
110
ranging from c o l lege graduate leve l to be low f i fth grade
One per c ent wa s found at each o f the extreme s
were f ound .
£ rom l owe st to h i gh e s t l ev e l o f d i f f iculty .
F ive per c ent
te sted a t f i f th grade leve l o f d i f f i cu l ty and fourteen per
c ent te s ted at s ixth grade level o f d i f f iculty .
Only
twenty per cent of a l l obs erva t i ons could probabl y be
c omprehended by the average s ixth grade s tudent or l ower .
Only one per cent o f the pa s sa ge s c ould be c omprehended
by the average f ourth grade s tudent .
E i ghty per c ent o f
t h e pa s s ages wou ld be t o o d i f f ic u l t f o r the average
i ntermedLate grade leve l s tudent .
TABLE XX I X
C OMPUTED FLE SCH READ ING EASE SCORE S O F E IGHT
SUP P LEMENTARY HEALTH BOOKS IN RANK ORDER
Rank
Book Number
C omputed F l e s ch S c ore
Grade Level
l
17
44 . 89
13 - 16
2
34
59 . 42
10 - 12
3
53
62 . 97
8 - 9
4
35
68 . 75
8 - 9
5
3
69 . 80
8 - 9
6
48
7 3 . 13
7
7
67
79 . 33
7
8
31
83 . 06
6
Me an C omputed F l e s c h Score
=
6 7 . 6 6 9 , or e i ghth-ninth grade
111
The supp leme ntary health books te sted pre sented a
range o f var i ation i n grade l eve l s of reading d i f f icu lty
f rom a po s s i b l e min imum of s ix grade l eve l s to a max imun of
twe lve grade leve l s wi thin each book .
Table XXX i nuicate s
t h e var iation i n grade l eve l s o f d i f f i cu l ty o f the e i ght
suppl ementary books mea sured .
TABLE XXX
READ I NG DIFF ICULTY LEVELS OF ALL OBSERVAT ION S
O F E I GHT SUPPLEMENTARY HEALTH BOOKS
F lesc h Read ing
E a s e Score
Grade Leve l
. 83
16
11
9 . 17
-
12
27
22 . 50
-
9
26
21 . 67
7
31
25 . 83
89
6
17
14 . 17
100
5
6
5 . 00
1
. 83
-
29
30
-
49
13
...,.
50
-
59
10
60
.....
69
8
70
......
79
80
-
100
�
-
Percentage
o f Total
1
0
90
Number o f
Observations
110
*C . G .
b e l ow 5
* e.G.
=
c o l lege g raduate
Tabl e XXX I i nd i c ate s that only one o f the e ight
supp l ementary he a l th book s mea sured by the F le s ch Read ing
E a s e formul a c ou ld probably be ut i l i zed at the intermediate
l evel for the aver age s ixth grade s tudent .
None o f the
112
book s examined te s ted at the f i f th or fourth grade l eve l
a
o f d i f f icu lty .
C on s idering that the formu l a provided only
rough e s t imate o f reading d i f f icu lty and has a pos s ib l e
error o f o n e grade l ev e l , three o f t h e book s te s ted may
p robabl y be u s ed at the intermedi ate l eve l , two for the
·
$ ixth grade and one for the f i fth grade .
TABLE XXX I
RANGE OF VARIAT ION I N GRADE LEVELS OF D IFF ICULTY
FOR E IGHT SUPPLEMENTARY HEALTH BOOKS
Book
Number
Rand om
. Samp l e s
F l e s ch Score
Range
31
15
. 69-103
34
15
48
Number o f
Grade Leve l s
Repre s e nted
Grade
Leve l
Range
4 - 9
6
47-71
7 - 16
9
15
49-8 6
6 - 16
11
35
15
55-87
6 - 12
7
17
15
28-73
7 - e.G.*
67
15
58-97
5 - 12
8
53
15
37-91
5 - 16
12
3
15
43-8 7
· 6 -- 1 6
11
e.G.*
=
10
c o l l e ge graduate
1 13
III .
ANALYS I S OF HEALTH PAMPHLETS
F i fteen hea l th pamph l e t s were me a sured for pred i c ted
readab� l i ty .
pamph l e t s .
Tab l e XXX I I s hows the da ta obtained f rom the
Computed F l e s c h Re ad i ng E a s e s c ore s r anged from
f i fty to e ighty- s even or e l even grade l eve l s o f d i f f i cu lty .
O f the f i fteen pamph l e t s , seven per c ent or one pamph l e t
w a s predic ted to be c o l l e ge l eve l o f d i f f iculty .
Four o f
the pamph l e t s , twenty- s even p e r c ent , have e i ghth t o ninth
grade leve l of d i f f iculty .
S i x pamph l e t s , forty per cent ,
were f ound to have a r ead i ng d i f f i cu l ty l eve l o f s eventh
four pamph l e t s , twen ty - s even per c ent , wer e found
grade .
to have a s ixth grade l eve l of reading d i f f icu lty .
F igure 1 2 s hows the r e adab i l i ty l eve l s o f the
f i fteen s e l e c ted he a l th pamph l e t s .
Only four of the pam­
phle t s mea s ur ed could probab ly be c omprehended by the
average s ix t h grade s tudent .
None of the pamph lets wa s
suitable for u s e by the average fourth o r f i fth grade
s tudent .
Cons idering the rough e s t imate o f reading d i f ­
f i cu l ty provided b y the u s e o f readab i l ity f ormul a s , ther e
wou ld be a po s s i b i l ity t h a t t e n o f the pamphl e t s c ould b e
u s ed in t h e i ntermediate grade s .
O f the s i x pamphl e t s
d e s i gn ated a s s eventh grade l eve l o f d i f ficulty , f our had
F l e s c h Read i ng E a s e s core s of seventy - f ive to s eventy-n ine
which is interpre ted as l ower ha l f of the s eventh grade .
TABLE XXX I I
DATA FROM SELECTED PAMPHLETS
Letter
As s i gnment
A
B
c
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
)
Total
Syllables
1178
3548
1368
2065
643
733
980
1802
581
950
1177
2691
267
2243
992
Syl l a b l e s
p e r Hundred
Word s
Total
S entenc e s
159
136
122
155
135
133
156
129
131
13 9
139
146
131
159
14 9
65
181
76
92
32
32
41
11 9
36
41
61
154
19
64
47
Total
Word s
739
2609
1075
1035
474
552
628
1402
4 41
676
849
1844
204
1402
664
�vord s per
Sentence
11
14
14
14
15
17
15
12
12
16
14
12
10
22
14
Computed
F l e s ch
Score
61
78
89
61
77
77
60
86
84
73
75
71
86
50
67
Grade
Lev e l
8-9
7
6,
8-9
7
7
8-9
6
6
7
7
7
6
10-12
8-9
1-'
1-'
.!:>.
0
10
C o l l ege
Graduate
H.
f;r.:l
>
f;r.:l
H.
20
f;r.:l
p:;
0
()
Cf.l
13-16
( C o l l ege )
f;r.:l
Cf.l
!<!!
j:L)
\.9
z
H
f;r.:l
Cl
1 0-12
�
High School
\.9
------------
8-9
7
30
�
40
50
f;r.:l
p:;
60
li:
()
Cf.l
f;r.:l
H.
�
70
80
6
90
5
;I?emphl et
100 I
A
I
B
I
C
Dl
I
E
I
F
I
G
I
H
I
I
I
J
I
K
F IGURE 1 2
READ ING D IFF ICULTY LEVELS OF F IFTEEN
SELECTED HEALTH PAMPHLETS
I
L
MI
I
N
I
0
1--'
1--'
lJ1
116
Three o f the four predi c ted s ixth grade l eve l pamph l e t s
h a d F l e s ch Read ing E a s e scores ranging from e i ghty - s ix to
e i gh ty-nine wh i c h i s i n terpreted a s being i n the l ower
ha l f of the s ixth grade .
The reading d i f f icu l ty leve l s
o f the f i fteen pamphl e t s are shown i n Table XXXI I I .
TABLE XXX I I I
READ ING D IFF ICULTY LEVELS OF F IFTEEN PAMPHLETS
F le s ch Read ing
Ease Score
0 - 29
Grade Leve l
*C . G .
Number of
Pamphl e t s
Perc entage
o f Total
0
o.o
30
-
49
13
-
16
0
o.o
50
-
59
10
-
12
1
6.6
60 - 69
8
-
9
4
26 . 6
70
-
80
90
-
79
7
6
40 . 0
89
6
4
26 . 6
100
5
0
o.o
*C . G .
=
c o l l e ge graduate
117
IV .
MAJOR F IND INGS OF STUDY
The f indings o f thi s s tudy may be s ummari zed a s
f o l lows :
1.
The three he a lth textbook s , from one s e r i e s
wh ich i s f ound on the C a l i f ornia S tate -approved
l i s t of textbook s , were found to have a pre ­
d icted grade leve l o f d i f ficulty two grades
above the pub l i s he r ' s d e s i gnation .
2.
Many grade leve l s wer e found wi thin the
i nd i vidual textbook s as we l l as the supp l e ­
mentary hea lth book s .
3.
E ighty- s ix per cent o f the forty- five ob s e r ­
vations made o n three tex tbooks i ntend ed f o r
grades four , f ive , and s ix wer e above the
f i f th grade l eve l of reading d i f f icu l ty .
4.
S ixty per c en t o f the forty- f ive observa­
t i on s made on the s ame three textbook s were
above the s ix th grade level of r eading
d i f f icu l ty .
5.
No provi s i on for r e ad ing growth wa s noted
i n the three hea l th textbook s .
One o f the
e i gh t s upp l ementary hea l th book s showed
provi s io n s for r e ading growth .
11 8
6.
E ighty per cent o f the 1 2 0 observations made
on s upplementary books were above a pred i cted
s ix th grade leve l of reading d i f f i cu l t i .
Only
one ob s ervation or l e s s than one per c ent wa s
a t f ourth grade l ev e l o f r e ad ing d i f f iculty .
F ive p e r c en t o f the ob s ervations were at
f i fth grade leve l o f reading d i f f ic u l ty .
7.
The e ight supp lementary health books r anged
from s ixth grad e leve l of reading d i f f i c u l ty
to the s ix teenth grade leve l of reading
d i f f i cu l ty .
One book wa s found to have a
probabl e grade leve l range o f twe lve grade s .
8.
F i fteen health pamphle t s ranged from s ixth
grade l eve l of reading d i f f i cu l ty to twe lf th
grade .
Only about 2 7 per cent o f the pamph l e ts
could probably be comprehended by the average
s ix th grade s tudent .
9.
The voc abu l ary was found to be the readab i l i ty
factor c ontr ibuting to reading d i f f iculty
l eve l i n pamph l e t s .
In some o f the books
vocabul ary wa s the r e ad ab i l i ty factor
c ontributing to r ead ing d i ff icu l ty whi le in
other books
it wa s the s entence factor wh ich
c ontri buted to the r e ad ing d i f f i c u l ty leve l .
C HAPTER V
C ONCLUS ION S AND RECOMMENDAT I ONS
I.
C ONCLU S IONS
The r e adab i l i ty of pr inted mater i a l s can be mea s ured
by u s i ng var iou s me thod s .
Thi s s tudy empl oyed the F l e sch
Read ing E a s e F ormu l a as a me a sur ing ins trument to pred ict
the r eadab i l i ty o f s e le c ted printed health educ ation mate­
r i a l s intended for use i n the i ntermediate grade s .
printed mater i a l s con s i s ted o f
book s ,
(2)
The
( 1 ) a serie s o f hea l th text­
suppl ementary he a l th book s ava i l ab l e in e l emen­
tary l ibrar i e s of one s chool d i st r i c t , and
(3)
health pam­
ph l e t s wh i c h have been u s ed or are be ing cons idered for
u s e at the i ntermed iate leve l ,
The reader i s reminded o f the l imitations o f the u s e
o f readabi l i ty formu l a s a s were me ntioned i n Chapter I .
'
The f ormu l a only provide s a rough e s t imate o f the
readab i l ity of a pa s s a ge of printed mater i a l .
The ma j or f ind ings o f the s tudy have been s ummari zed
in Chapter IV .
drawn .
From the s e f indings , conclus ions have been
The s e c onc l u s i on s appl y only to the mater i a l s
ana l y zed i n th i s s tudy .
1.
The hea l th textbooks from one s e r i e s from the
C a l i forn i a State l i s t of approved textbooks are
too d i f f i c u l t for the grade leve l intended .
120
2.
A l l but one o f the supp lementary health book s
were too d i f f i c u l t for s tudent s in the
intermed iate grad e s .
3.
A wide var i a tion o f reading d i f f i cu lty wa s
f ound within each textbook and suppl ementary
h e a l th book .
4.
Only one o f the e l even books provided for
read ing growth .
5.
S entenc e l ength and vocabu l ary were contr ibuting
a mor e
f actors to reading d i f f i cu l t y .
6.
N e ither one was
predominant fac tor .
None o f the pamph l e ts t e s ted wou l d be suitable
for the ave rage fourth or f i fth grade student .
Le s s than one - th ird would be s u i tab l e for u s e
b y the average s ix th grade s tudent .
II ,
RECOMMENDAT I ONS
I t woul d appear to be worthwh i l e f or a study to be
made c ompari . ng the r eadab i l i ty of all textbook s se lected
for use i n the sub j e c t area s at each grade l eve l .
Th i s
would give a n e s t imate o f the d i f f i cu l ty o f health book s i n
r e l a t i on t o other book s u s ed .
The e f fe c t o f u s ing various i l l u s tration s such a s
p i c tu re s , graph s , tab l e s , a n d charts needs to be eva luated .
The r e l at i on s h i p o f such i l lu s tr a ti on s to r e ading
d i f f i c u l ty need s t o be determined .
121
Further re s e arch i s needed in predict ing the
r eading e a s e of the spec i f ic c ontent areas in health
books .
The f requency with wh ich words o f a spec i f i c
c ontent area occur might be c on s idered or inc orporated
into the e x i s t i ng formu l a s .
Pub l i shers s hould cons ider furn i s h ing s amp l e s o f
r andomly s e le c ted pas s ages from heal th books t o s c hool
d i str ict s and t e acher s .
The s e mate r i a l s c ould then be
t e s ted by teacher s and s tudents be f ore s e le c t i on o f a
text i s made .
The wide r ange i n the r eading abi l i ty o f s tudent s
wh ich bec ome s more prominent at the intermediate l eve l
would j u s t i f y the need for more than one textbook at each
grade leve l .
Pub l i s her s should be enc our aged t o c on s i der the
printing of textbooks wi th varyi ng degree s o f d i f f ic u l ty ,
y e t u t i l i z i ng the s ame author for each grade level .
� mor e exac t s y s t em o f catal oging the s upplementary
mater i a l s wou l d be helpful to the teacher and l ibrarian in
a s s i s t ing the s tudent i n f ind i ng appropr iate . supp lemen tary
reading mat e r i a l s .
Agenc i e s o f fer ing free or inexpens ive mate r ia l s in
pamph l e t f orm for c l a s s room u s e s hould c ons ider provid ing
more s u itable reading mater i a l for s tudent use at the
intermediate and l ower grade leve l s .
122
When teache r s s e l e c t printed health ma teria l s to be
u s ed in the c la s s r oom , c ons ideration should be g iven to the
ob j ec t ive evidenc e f urni shed by readab i l i ty f ormu l a s .
The
ob j e ct ive evid ence supplemented with sub j e c t ive j udgment
f rom other ob s ervations should better provide the material
be s t s u ited f o r the student s who wi l l u s e them .
BIBL I OGRAPHY
124
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A.
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--­
8.
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9.
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10 ,
Grout , Ruth E .
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11 .
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125
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16 .
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1.
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3.
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-
8.
P arr , Jame s N . and Jame s J . Jenkin s .
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F l e s c h , Rudo lph .
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10 .
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T9"6
•
17 .
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" The Read i n g D i f f i c u l ty Leve l s o f
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We s t , Robert R . · " The Human I nte re s t Re adab i l i ty
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1959 .