Datang 欢 迎 Vaazhga Welcome Professor David Wray University of Warwick United Kingdom Dr Dahlia Janan Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris Malaysia Many thanks for coming to todays meeting ID: 330207
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Selamat Datang欢迎VaazhgaWelcome
Professor David WrayUniversity of Warwick,United KingdomDr Dahlia JananUniversiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, MalaysiaSlide2
Many thanks for coming to today’s meetingFunded by the British Academy and Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris
A project to establish a research network to explore the concept and operation of readability in a range of languages and scriptsSlide3
What we would like from the dayTo share some ideas and to make you as enthusiastic as we are about this topicTo develop some plans for building a research networkTo develop a clearer view about what nextSlide4
The Contested Concept ofSlide5
Exploring the nature of readabilityThe science (or is it art) of matching texts to readersA taken-for-granted concept – even Word does it for you!
Easily measured, easily understood http://www.online-utility.org/english/readability_test_and_improve.jsp It’s just about how difficult texts are to readIsn’t it …..?Slide6
How difficult is this text?Slide7
Is this text easier or harder?Slide8
Word says:
Reading Ease = 65.9Reading Grade level = 6.8Slide9
Word says:
Reading Ease = 65.4Reading Grade level = 6.9Slide10
Word’s readability scores for these two texts are almost identical. Yet they are clearly different in nature and effect on the reader.Slide11
Exploring the nature of readabilityIn research into readability, measuring it has tended to get more attention than actually analysing what it is.Measurement has usually been approached through the use of formulae.For example, Flesch Reading
Ease score = 206.835 − (1.015 × ASL) − (84.6 × ASW) Where: ASL = average sentence length (number of words divided by number of sentences); ASW = average word length in syllables (number of syllables divided by number of words) Slide12
Exploring readability formulaeWe applied 6 commonly used readability formulae to 64 texts chosen by primary school children.The first table shows correlations between the rank ordering of the texts by the six formulae.The second table shows the mean grade levels assigned to the texts by the six formulae.Slide13
Exploring readability formulae
FormulaFOGFlesch-KincaidSpacheDale-ChallATOSSMOG.98.93.83-.
41.70
FOG
.
95
.
84
-.
47
.
74
Flesch-Kincaid
.
88
-.
32
.
68
Spache
-.
14
.68Dale-Chall -.49
Table 1: Spearman's rank order correlation coefficients (rho) between the SMOG, FOG, Flesch-Kincaid,
Spache
, Dale-
Chall
and ATOS formulaeSlide14
Exploring readability formulaeFormulae
Mean text grade level predictedSMOG6.64FOG5.80Flesch-Kincaid3.96Spache4.05Dale-Chall
9.88ATOS
3.13
Table 2: The mean text grade levels predicted by the six readability formulaeSlide15
Exploring readability formulaeThese results suggest that the readability formulae (with the exception of the Dale-Chall) generally agree about which texts are harder and which are easier.But they do not agree about the levels of difficulty of the texts.Therefore a teacher cannot rely on them to match texts to readers.Slide16
Why such variability?Various formulae measure different thingsWord lengthSentence length
Unfamiliar / Difficult wordsPolysyllabic wordsEach of these is problematicSlide17
Why such variability?Various formulae measure different thingsWord lengthadze gneiss velociraptorSlide18
Why such variability?Various formulae measure different thingsSentence lengthThe princess kissed the frog and he turned into a handsome prince so, of course, they married and lived happily ever after.One is and then one is not. That is the problem of man.Slide19
Why such variability?Various formulae measure different thingsUnfamiliar / Difficult wordsrugneighborhoodSlide20
Why such variability?Various formulae measure different thingsPolysyllabic wordsfootballerreportedstrengthsSlide21
Which of these is more readable?Which of these is more readable?Which of these is more readable?Which of these is more readable?Which of these is more readable?
Which of these is more readable?Which of these is more readable?Which of these is more readable?Readability or legibility?Slide22
Legibility can
be quite hard to deal withSlide23
Readability has faded from view – or has it?Slide24
Readability has faded from view – or has it?Research into readability has seriously declined in educational fields.But the concept is still heavily used in Health and Medical fields.Slide25
Readability has also become theoretically problematic
The procedure is actually quite simple. First you arrange things into different groups. Of course one pile may be sufficient depending on how much there is to do. If you have to go somewhere else due to lack of facilities that is the next step, otherwise you are pretty well set. It is important not to overdo things. That is, it is better to do too few things at once than too many. In the short run this may not seem important but complications can easily arise. A mistake can be expensive as well. At first the whole procedure will seem complicated. Soon however, it will become just another facet of life. It is difficult to foresee any end to the necessity for this task in the immediate future, but then one can never tell. After the procedure is completed one arranges the materials into different groups again. Then they can be put into their appropriate places. Eventually they will be used once more and the whole cycle will then have to be repeated. However, that is a part of life.Most 9 year olds could ‘read’ this aloud, but not understand it.Slide26
Readability has also become theoretically problematic
The procedure is actually quite simple. First you arrange things into different groups. Of course one pile may be sufficient depending on how much there is to do. If you have to go somewhere else due to lack of facilities that is the next step, otherwise you are pretty well set. It is important not to overdo things. That is, it is better to do too few things at once than too many. In the short run this may not seem important but complications can easily arise. A mistake can be expensive as well. At first the whole procedure will seem complicated. Soon however, it will become just another facet of life. It is difficult to foresee any end to the necessity for this task in the immediate future, but then one can never tell. After the procedure is completed one arranges the materials into different groups again. Then they can be put into their appropriate places. Eventually they will be used once more and the whole cycle will then have to be repeated. However, that is a part of life.When you are told this is about washing clothes, everything becomes clear Slide27
Changing paradigmsTheories of readability have changed because theories of reading have changed. Think how much information the reader supplies in the following short texts.
Mary heard the ice-cream van coming down the street. She remembered her birthday money and rushed into the house.Mary heard the bus coming down the street. She remembered her birthday money and rushed into the house.Slide28
Changing paradigmsMary heard the ice-cream van coming down the street. She remembered her gun and rushed into the house.
Mary heard the ice-cream van coming down the street. She remembered her stomach and rushed into the house.Slide29
Non più andrai, farfallone amorosoA new model of readability