Student-Accessible Science Texts: Elements of Design
Erin Margaret McTigue, Scott W. Slough · Reading Psychology · 2010
Within this article, we introduce our conception of text accessibility. First, we synthesize recent research on informational text quality and present key attributes proven to contribute to comprehension of science texts beyond the readability formula. These features include (a) the concreteness of text, (b) the voice of the author, (c) coherent writing structure, (d) selective use of visual information, and (e) integrated verbal and visual information. Throughout our presentation of text accessibility, we illustrate with excerpts from current middle school science texts.