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Title: Readability as Applied to An ABE
Assessment Instrument |
Abstract This study examined the procedure for applying the Fog, Flesch, and Fry readability formulas to the Internal, Powerful Others, and Chance Scales and in modifying the instrument for use with adult basic education (ABE) students. Item writing procedures, quality comparisons, application of the formulas, and a Q-sort were used to develop a modified scale suitable for an ABE learner with reading skills of the fourth- and fifth-grade range. Field trial results and comprehension limitations of the readability formulas are discussed. Introduction Research in adult basic education (ABE) involving the measurement of the internal-external locus of control construct indicated that the instrument was difficult for adult learners to read. Understanding of the intent of the 24 items in the Levenson Internal, Powerful Others, and Chance Scales (IPC) was therefore hindered. Locus of control is a personality variable derived from Rotter's (1966) social learning theory. It refers to the degree to which individuals perceive the events of their lives as being a consequence of their own actions Lefcourt, 1981). People who generally believe that reinforcements are controlled by forces external to themselves such as fate, chance, luck, and powerful others are referred to as externals. Other people who tend to believe that their own behaviors are the primary factors in receipt of reinforcements are termed internals. Over the past four decades, one of the problems in adult education has been the assessment of readability--how to tell whether a particular piece of writing is likely to be readable by a particular group of adult readers. In examining the phenomenon of a test or scale being difficult for adult learners to read in a research setting, the concept of readability was once again invoked. In the broadest sense, readability is the sum total (including interactions) of all those elements within a given piece of printed material that affect the success which a group of readers have with it (Dale & Chall, 1948). The success is the extent to which they understand it, read it at optimum speed, and find it interesting. This definition of readability considers three major aspects of the reading process: comprehension, fluency, and interest. Comprehension refers to the understanding of words and phrases and to the relating of ideas in the passage to one's experience. Fluency is the extent to which a person can read a given text at optimum speed. This element emphasizes the perceptual aspects of reading. The third component refers to the motivational factors which will affect interest. These three elements are not separate but interact with each other to affect readability. McLaughlin (1979) defines readability as the degree to which a given class of people find certain reading matter compelling and comprehensible. This definition stresses both the characteristics of the reader as well as the degree of "compellingness" of the text. He argues that a definition of readability must be based on the characteristics of the readers because it can be assumed that people will tend to continue to read only that which they understand. Alternatively, readability refers to the ease of understanding of written materials due to the style of writing used (Klare, 1975). The style of writing (or how the content of writing is stated) can be measured in such a way that a numerical value can be assigned to each writing style. These values are assigned through the use of readability formulas where the numerical value that results from the measurement of style quantifies the ease or difficulty of the writing. With most formulas this numerical value has been translated into an educational skill level associated with the material. |