Preferences for and comprehension of original and readability-adapted materials
Georgia M. Green, Margaret S. Olsen · Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) · 1986
Fifty-eight second-graders participated in a study designed to provide a basis for answering two questions:(1) Do children prefer original, unadapted stories which may have longer sentences and more vocabulary items than are permitted by readability formulae for their grade level.Or do they prefer adaptations of those stories which meet the formulae's criteria for their grade level?Critics (e.g., Green, 1982) have argued that the adaptation procedures make the stories less interesting, less exciting, and less coherent, and may hinder motivating children to read more.What do the children think?(2) Are the adapted materials, which according to readability formulae are closer to the children's grade level, really easier to understand?There was a strong tendency for the original stories to be preferred to adaptations of them, especially among the less able and the average readers.There was no significant difference in the comprehension scores between the originals and the adaptations.These findings have implictions for instructional