Writing for Easy Reading

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Writing for Easy Reading

• Janet S. Kurzynske
• Associate Professor, University of Kentucky

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The Situation
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National Adult Literacy Survey 1992

• 26,000 American adults
• Skills assessed individually in 3 literacy
  domains prose, document and quantitative
• Levels of literacy
• 1 0 -225 no or minimum
• 2 226 275
• 3 276 -325
• 4 326 -375
• 5 376 500 can extract and use complex
  information

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Prose Data
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Document Data
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Quantitative Data
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The Overall Picture

• About 21 - 23 adults have the lowest level of
  prose, quantitative, and document literacy skills
• Additional 25 - 28 people have the next level
  (2) of literacy skills
• About 50 adults have the lowest 2 levels of
  literacy
• Only 18 - 21 of respondents have the two
  highest level in prose, quantitative and
  document literacy

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Vulnerable Populations

• Elderly start to drop at age 50
• Minority
• Immigrants
• Limited resource
• Mental/physical health conditions
• Stressed
• Lack of use will drop 3 5 grade levels

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Public Assistance and Literacy

• Welfare recipients with the same level of
  education as other adults tend to have
  significantly lower basic skills.

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Barriers to Consumer Understanding

• Terms
• Illness and medicines
• Stress and/or fear
• Visual/hearing impairment
• Negativity of materials
• Level of literacy

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What Is It Like?
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What Is It Like?

• Aoccding to rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy,
  it deosnt mttaer in what oredr the ltteers in a
  word are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is that the
  frist and lsat ltteer are in the rghit pclae.
  The rset can be a toatl mses and you can still
  raed it wouthit a porbelm. This is bcuseae we do
  not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the word as
  a wlohe and the biran fguiers it out aynawy.

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What Do Capable Readers Want?

• Most people want informational reading to be
  quick and easy.
• Communicate with consumers in plain language.
  Dont make the materials hard to read.

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Reading Process
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Reading Process

• Sight words
• Decoding
• Context clues
• Background or prior knowledge

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Sight Words

• About 250 words are used 60 of the time
• Reader is so familiar with word that he just
  knows the word
• The more he reads, the greater the number of
  sight words

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Reading By Sight

• Aoccding to rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy,
  it deosnt mttaer in what oredr the ltteers in a
  word are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is that the
  frist and lsat ltteer are in the rghit pclae.
  The rset can be a toatl mses and you can still
  raed it wouthit a porbelm. This is beuseac we do
  not raed ervey lteter by itslef but the word as a
  wlohe and the biran fguiers it out aynawy.

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Decoding

• Phonics not all have been taught
• Use words that follow phonics rules
• Divide long word into familiar parts such as
  cat a log
• Avoid words like meringue
• Avoid ight words

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Context Clues

• The content before and after the unknown word
  helps the reader guess
• Example To keep milk cold, put it in the
  refrigerator as soon as you get home.

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Background or Prior Knowledge

• If the reader has no background in the topic or
  similar topic, it is very difficult him to
  understand the new information.
• Help the reader by using comparisons with
  something that he is familiar with.

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Readability Analysis
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Readability

• Use a readability analysis mathematical
  formulas to determine grade level.
• Most measure average number of syllables and
  words in a sentence.
• Quick and concrete
• Dont measure familiarity with words

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Computer Scales

• Computer scales are not as accurate
• Save a 300 word section to a new file
• Remove headings, sentence fragments, and bullets
• Remove abbreviations and other items with
  periods such as 1.

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Readability Scales on the Web

• Readability scales can be found
• http//www.cdc.gov/od/ads/fry.htm
• http//www.mang.canterbury.ac.nz/courseinfo/Academ
  icWriting/Flesch.htm
• http//www.med.utah.edu/pated/authors/readability.
  html

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Content and Writing Style
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Content/Writing Style

• Emphasize how to
• State the purpose of piece
• Highlight key points
• Use words common to reader. Define new words
  first.

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Content/Writing Style cont.

• Write clear, specific, direct, short sentences.
• Order ideas logically
• Limit to 3 5 main points
• Use concrete examples for hard concepts
• Get the reader involved

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Writing Style

• Active voice the subject does the action.
• Present tense
• Personal pronouns
• Bulleted list 3-5 bullets
• Short words doctor vs physician or shots vs
  immunizations

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Layout and Design
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Layout and Design

• White space is a design element
• Limit amount of text
• Use headings/subheadings
• Use upper and lower case
• Emphasize key points with boxes, bold, color,
  rule lines

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Layout cont.

• 12 14 point serif typeface serif helps the
  eye track
• Color for interest and emphasis - sparingly
• Contrast paper and ink color
• Text 3 5 inches long this is ideal for the
  eye to track
• Keep margins stable on the page

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Layout cont.

• Keep format stable on the page
• Left justify text, right ragged
• Line breaks widows, orphans, and does the line
  make sense
• Reverse print - use sparingly
• Humor use sparingly
• Limit charts and graphs

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Visuals
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Visuals

• Appealing, meaningful, culturally relevant
• Use to help reader understand
• Show action that you want reader to take
• Adult vs childlike images what does your
  audience prefer?
• Free from clutter and distraction
• Use captions for visuals
• Visuals are clear as to positive vs negative
  behavior

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Formal Evaluations
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Formal Evaluation

• Ask other professionals/paraprofessionals
• Does the piece state a clear purpose?
• Is the organization helpful to the reader?
• Is the information accurate?
• Is the piece geared towards intended audience?
• Is the depth of information appropriate?

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Formal Evaluation cont.

• Does it summarize major ideas?
• Is the information is presented without bias
• Is the readability at 6th grade or lower?
• Are the words are familiar to audience?
• Does it define new/difficult terms first

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Formal Evaluation cont.

• Is the writing clear?
• Is the sequencing logical?
• Does it use a positive approach?
• Are minority groups are represented accurately?
• Font 12 14 serif

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Formal Evaluation cont.

• Are the visuals supportive?
• Is the layout and design appealing and helps the
  reader follow the text?
• Are instructional aids provided?
• Are headings, subheadings and other clues used?

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Field Testing
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Field Testing

• Most valuable step
• Most likely skipped step
• Individual interviews
• Focus group

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Field Testing

• With members of target audience
• Do they understand?
• Is it culturally appropriate?
• Would they pick up to read?
• Would they take home?

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Structure of Field Testing

• Introductions
• State the purpose
• Give them time to read materials
• Ask initial questions on content, writing style,
  layout/design, using information
• Listening, probing more deeply

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Field Testing Nitty-gritty

• Number of interviews
• Can you pay?
• Samples should be close to real thing
• Listen
• Establish rapport
• Flexible
• Know culture, believes, language of testers

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References

• Write it Easy to Read Creating Plain Language
  Health Materials With Impact June 1-4, 2003, 12th
  Annual Summer Health Literacy Institute
• Developing Health Education Materials for Special
  Audiences Low Literate Adults, ADA
• National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL)

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References cont.

• U.S. Department of Education
• Child Trends
• Americas Children Key national indicators of
  well-being
• National Institute for Literacy 2000