Readability formulas: Second looks, second thoughts
Bob Lange · 2016
Readability formulas: Second looks, second thoughts Bob Lange The pincer-like effect of higher reading demands and lower reading skills has become a growing problem. And a proposed cure has been to provide more readable materials. Ironically, readable materials are now being considered a possible cause of the problem as well. So state George Klare and Gary Schumacher [ED 201 957] in their paper, Student Behavior While Reading from Text. Contributing in part to the problem have been the proliferation and increased applications of readability formulas. Many researchers, particularly those at the Center for the Study of Reading at the University of Illinois, have been analyzing and discussing the weaknesses and misuses of these formulas. In this report, I will examine the arguments against the indiscriminate use of readability formulas.