Presents guidelines for evaluating computer trade books for children. Includes results for 47 books evaluated using the "Yawn index." (HTH)

Elementary and secondary social studies teachers are first asked to rate their classroom textbooks concerning readability, interest level, quality and quantity of illustrations, clarity, and organization. Techniques that they can use to enrich each of these areas are then presented. (RM)

Undergraduate students enrolled in a Principles of Psychology II course were asked to rate selections from introductory psychology texts for reading ease. These student ratings were then compared with the ratings obtained using the Flesch readability formula. Student ratings did not agree very well with the Flesch scores. (RM)

Reports a random sampling of the frequency and types of connectives used in content area textbooks. The results suggest that a knowledge of connectives fosters comprehension in reading and speaking. (TO)

Readability formulas typically yield results stated as a number or grade equivalent. However, results of one formula may not be compared to another because formulas use different criteria to measure readability. A description of eight popular formulas illustrate this point. Suggests that other factors be considered when selecting reading…

Discusses factors that psychology professors should consider when selecting a textbook for introductory courses. These include readability, human interest level, comprehensiveness, and authoritative accuracy of the material. (RM)

Suggests that social studies teachers use cloze procedure to determine the reading level of materials they use in the classroom. The method consists of excerpting a 300-word passage from the intended text and deleting every fifth word. Students fill in words through attention to context. (Author/KC)

Provides a checklist that considers "learnability" factors as well as "understandability" factors to use as an alternative to readability formulas. (MKM)

Provides guidelines for analyzing and evaluating textbooks based on their comprehensibility rather than their readability. (MKM)

In three series of state-adopted parallel English and Spanish basal readers, comprehension questions most frequently assessed literal comprehension, followed by inference, evaluation, and appreciation. Readability level was higher than stated for second and third grade English texts and higher for Spanish than English texts. Contains 24…

Evaluates four middle school geography textbooks to examine readability levels, knowledge forms, intellectual operations, instructional objectives, and activities associated with before-, during-, and after-phases of instruction. Finds the texts to be generally inconsiderate of poor readers and to be dense with factual information. Discusses…

Cognitive mapping is widely used in elementary schools to create visual representation of text as an aid to learning. Mapping should be used at the secondary level also to facilitate learning of expository text or lectures. In addition to the traditional uses of mapping, it is useful for (1) providing a bridge or prelude to outlining, (2)…

This booklet is comprised primarily of the summaries of computerized readability assessments of sample passages from each story or chapter in a reading textbook series for grades one through eight. Introductory chapters offer discussions of the computerized readability assessment program used, the various uses of readability information about a…

Major investigations have shown that children care little for social studies as a school subject. Therefore, a closer look was taken at social studies textbooks in order to ascertain if the reading difficulty of the texts was an important cause behind the children's dislike. This study evaluated the reading levels of 41 social studies texts…