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History of Readability
The push by educators and researchers to understand readability and its importance
began in 1917 when the U.S. military began systematically testing recruits. They
found two things: (a) the general adult reader had limited reading ability, and (b) that
reader lacked suitable reading material.
The first study of the readability of a text was conducted by Thorndike (1921)
when he tabulated the frequency of difficult words in general literature to determine
suitability. As there are many variables that contribute to text readability, as noted Dr. Susan Szabo has
above, many researchers from 1930–1970 raced to gain notoriety by creating their been in the educational
own readability formulas, and during this time, more than 200 readability formulas field for more than 50
years as a classroom
were created and used in research, government, teaching, publishing, the military, teacher, substitute,
and business (DuBay, 2004; Fry, 1988; Rabin, 1988). However, today only a handful reading specialist, and
of formulas are still used. university professor. Now
Research showed that making text easier to read increased readership of retired from Texas A&M
newspapers (Murphy, 1947), how much of an article was read (Schramm, 1947), and University-Commerce,
how long it took to read articles and remember what was read (Klare et al., 1957). she resides in Oklahoma
near her sons and
Findings also showed that shorter stories or articles were read the most (Schramm, grandchildren. During
1947). Other studies showed that, for recreational reading, people read texts that were the school year, she
at least two grade levels below their actual reading level (Klare & Buck, 1954) and is working with both
that prior knowledge as well as interest and motivation affected reading ease (Klare, students and teachers in
1985). Later studies showed that adult recreational reading texts such as Readers the public school setting.
Digest, TV Guide Magazine, and novels were written at a 7th-to-9th-grade reading She is currently a member
of Beta Lambda Chapter of
level (DuBay, 2004). Even though history has shown that readability is an important Texas State Organization.
issue in one’s ability to understand what is read, some researchers questioned if we
had gone too far so that lowering readability just dumbed down society in general susanszabo524@
(Maxwell, 1978). gmail.com
However, readability is still an important issue today, as the readability of text
is what helps to communicate facts to the public; accordingly, some texts have their
readability listed on the cover. Additionally, the Plain Writing Act (2010) legislation
required all government communications be written so adults could understand them.
Also, numerous websites note the importance of making one’s website, blogs, and so
forth readable. This study looked at the readability of popular science textbooks to
see if publishers have taken into account past research and legislation to help make
science textbooks more readable for students.

Current Readability Study
This quantitative study investigated the readability levels for the top two K–8
science textbook series found on the Texas textbook adoption list and used throughout
the United States. According to Cavanagh (2018), Texas is a prized K–12 market
that influences curriculum purchases across the country. In order for students to
learn more about science and science concepts, science textbooks should be, for the
most part, written at a reading level that allows the independent reader to spend less
time deciphering words and more time on analysis, critical thinking, and reflection.
As researchers and educators, we wanted to see if K–8 science textbooks were
written so students could learn, as past research showed that textbooks have been
consistently written at a frustrational level (Burton, 2014; Jangard, 1970; Newport,
1965; Robison et al., 2015; Trainer, 2006; Williams & Yore, 1985).
We believe that nothing should be judged by just one assessment, whether it
is children, people, or reading material. Instead, several formulas should be used

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