Introduction: Text Accessibility and the Struggling Reader

Mesmer, Heidi Anne E.

doi:10.1080/10573560590523603

Cited by 4 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 7 publications

(5 reference statements)

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“…Especially useful for determining complexity in this approach are the indexes of causal cohesion, which were found to be strong predictors when evaluating informational text (McNamara et al, 2010). Focusing on the causal text structure is supported by the findings of several research studies in which sixth graders reading informational text were less successful at understanding and recalling causal information compared with information presented in other structures such as listing, sequence, or compare/contrast (Hare, Rabinowitz, Schieble, 1989;Penning & Raphael, 1991;Richgels, McGee, Lomax, & Sheard, 1987).…”

Section: Cohesionmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…Just a few indexes of cohesion in the Coh-Metrix analyses of the social studies and science passages were used to provide a gauge of their complexity: the ratio of causal particles to verbs (i.e., causal cohesion), the incidence of causal connectives, and deep cohesion. The causal ratio index was found to be one of the strongest indicators of text complexity in a previous study comparing Coh-Metrix and readability statistics on a larger set of passages (McNamara et al, 2010).…”

Section: Implications For Practicementioning

confidence: 98%

“…Rare words with lower frequency of use take longer to process because they are not as familiar to the reader. If not recognized, one rare word can cause comprehension of the entire sentence to breakdown (McNamara, Louwerse, McCarthy, & Graesser, 2010). Hence, words of higher frequency in the English language that occur in shorter, simpler sentences should speed processing or facilitate fluent reading, leaving more cognitive resources available for comprehending the text.…”

Section: Theoretical Framework Of Readability Indicatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although 108 different indexes of cohesion are provided, only those of interest to causal relation and readability are reported. Previous studies using Coh-Metrix have similarly focused on a limited number of pertinent indexes (Crossley et al, 2008;McNamara et al, 2010). Definitions of the indexes of text complexity selected for evaluating the passages are provided in Figure 2.…”

Section: Social Studies and Science Passagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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An Examination of Text Complexity as Characterized by Readability and Cohesion

Reed

Kershaw-Herrera

2015

The Journal of Experimental Education

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To better understand dimensions of text complexity and their effect on the comprehension of adolescents, 103 high school seniors were randomly assigned to 4 groups. Each group read versions of the same 2 informational passages and answered comprehension test items targeting factual recall and inferences of causal content. Group A passages had a challenging readability level and high cohesion; Group B passages had an easier readability and low cohesion; Group C passages had a challenging readability level and low cohesion; and Group D passages had an easier readability and high cohesion. Students in Group D significantly outperformed students in Group C (g = 0.78). Although the effect sizes of comparisons among all groups ranged from g = 0.13 to 0.73, no other comparisons were statistically significant. Results indicate that adolescents' reading comprehension is dually influenced by a text's readability and cohesion. Implications for matching readers to instructional text are discussed.

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Section: Cohesionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Section: Implications For Practicementioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Theoretical Framework Of Readability Indicatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Social Studies and Science Passagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

An Examination of Text Complexity as Characterized by Readability and Cohesion

Reed

Kershaw-Herrera

2015

The Journal of Experimental Education

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“…For novice and struggling readers, selection of appropriate text is especially important. Mesmer (2005) calls this fact a double bind. These readers need to read extensively in connected text to build their reading skills, but their access to text reading is often limited by their capacity for recognizing words efficiently.…”

Section: Why Is It Important To Match Readers With Text?mentioning

confidence: 96%

Matching second graders to text: The utility of a group‐administered comprehension measure

Walpole

Hayes

Robnolt

2006

Reading Research and Instruction

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Readability of Reading Passages in English Textbooks and the Thai National Education English Test: A Comparative Study

Srisunakrua

Chumworatayee

2019

SSRN Journal

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Readability has long been regarded as a significant aspect in English language teaching as it provides the overall picture of a text's difficulty level, especially in the context of teaching and testing. Readability is a practical consideration when making decisions on materials to match a text with target readers' proficiency. However, few studies have compared the readability levels of teaching and testing materials in terms of the difficulty of passages. The present study, therefore, aims to explore the readability levels and the linguistic characteristics of reading passages in English textbooks and the Thai National Education English Test based on three readability formulas and eight aspects of linguistic characteristics as provided by the Coh-Metrix computational tool. Two sets of corpora were generated and analyzed by using Coh-Metrix as the main instrument. The obtained data from the reading passages compiled in the English textbooks and the Thai national education English test were compared to explore the significant differences. The results revealed a mismatch in the readability levels and linguistic characteristics. Passages from the English textbooks are easier than those used in the English test. It is recommended that all stakeholders in both teaching and testing administration be aware of the different levels of readability between reading passages. More considerations should be made when preparing the teaching and testing materials because a suitable difficulty level will ensure that students receive the most benefit from the materials. Moreover, an incongruity could affect students' learning and testing performance.

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Introduction: Text Accessibility and the Struggling Reader

Cited by 4 publications

References 7 publications

An Examination of Text Complexity as Characterized by Readability and Cohesion

An Examination of Text Complexity as Characterized by Readability and Cohesion

Matching second graders to text: The utility of a group‐administered comprehension measure

Readability of Reading Passages in English Textbooks and the Thai National Education English Test: A Comparative Study

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