Using Clear Language and Design (CLAD) in a Literacy Program
THE GOAL OF CLEAR LANGUAGE AND DESIGN (CLAD) is to communicate clearly and easily. There are two main areas to consider: the design or “look” of the text and the actual language itself. Clear language is something you can practise as you speak. Clear design is something you can practise when you look at anything written or printed. Look and listen critically: was it said as simply as it could be? What made it hard to understand?
The first step is to decide who will be reading what you write. This should influence every decision you make about style and layout. Vocabulary or type style that is fine for an advanced reader may block a beginning reader. For instance, very basic readers need a lot of white space, but more advanced readers can handle dense text.
As a multi-service organization, St. Christopher House works with many different community members. We need to use CLAD principles when designing signs, purchasing resources, and creating displays or flyers. We can also use CLAD when we create policies and procedures or collective agreements with our staff. It allows the message to remain approachable and inclusive.
The Adult Literacy Program offers CLAD workshops to all of our new volunteer tutors. We look at such things as a municipal parking ticket to see if it uses Clear Language and Design to get its message across.
St. Christopher House developed a clear language and design guide to help train the people who would be tutoring adult literacy learners. The guide is also given to anyone who wants to know more about how to write clearly.
Here are some ideas for you to consider when using Clear Language:
- Use headings, bullet points, and summaries to make the main points clear.
- Plan what you want to say. Avoid too much detail. Present the important information in a logical sequence, one step at a time.
- Avoid jargon, unnecessary technical detail or abbreviations. If you need to use difficult words, include a ‘dictionary’ or ‘list of useful words’ to explain them.
- Keep sentences short. If you have only one main idea per sentence this will happen naturally.
- Try to use subject-verb-object structure. Avoid the passive voice.
- Try to make the language personal. Using ‘you’ and ‘we’ makes your writing more direct and understandable.
- Use simple punctuation. Avoid semicolons (;), colons (:), hyphens (-), or sentences broken up with too many commas.
- Use images such as photos, drawings or symbols to support your text. Aim to make the subject of your material clear at a glance, even to a non-reader. Place images that help explain the text next to, not on top of, the relevant words.
Find the Clear Language and Design Guide on our website at
http://www.nald.ca/schalp/clad/clad.htm or call St. Christopher House —Adult Literacy Program at (416) 539-9000.