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The effects of text length on the readability of model essays

Providing self-access libraries and the texts therein (anthologies of model essays) has long been cited as an essential part of university writing center services, as the reading of model essays has been found to positively affect the reading-writing relationship. When choosing such texts, readabili...

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Main Author: Baker, John R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2023
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/21603/1/55963-204833-1-PB.pdf
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/21603/
https://ejournal.ukm.my/gema/issue/view/1578
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spelling my-ukm.journal.216032023-05-19T09:02:39Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/21603/ The effects of text length on the readability of model essays Baker, John R. Providing self-access libraries and the texts therein (anthologies of model essays) has long been cited as an essential part of university writing center services, as the reading of model essays has been found to positively affect the reading-writing relationship. When choosing such texts, readability is typically measured via quantitative readability formulae (e.g., the Lexile Readability Formula). However, this practice only measures two (i.e., semantic, syntactic) of the many features that influence readability, leaving others (e.g., text length) unexplored. To address this, this article reports the findings of an exploratory mixed-methods study conducted in an Asian university writing center setting which showed that the informants' ranking of ease and difficulty was significantly different than the Lexile Formula and that text length had a significant positive association with this ranking. It was further found that length was viewed as (a) a primary (i.e., an isolated feature), (b) a conjoined feature (i.e., comprising two or more associated entities where the second impacts the first: interest, vocabulary), and (c) a feature which impacts the influences of other features (interest, vocabulary, and vocabulary in context). The study also offers suggestions for writing studies professionals (teachers, writing center staff) and the publishing industry that text length be included in a hybrid (quantitative-qualitative) procedure when considering the difficulty of model essays found in anthologies. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2023-02 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/21603/1/55963-204833-1-PB.pdf Baker, John R. (2023) The effects of text length on the readability of model essays. GEMA ; Online Journal of Language Studies, 23 (1). pp. 60-73. ISSN 1675-8021 https://ejournal.ukm.my/gema/issue/view/1578
institution Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
building Tun Sri Lanang Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
content_source UKM Journal Article Repository
url_provider http://journalarticle.ukm.my/
language English
description Providing self-access libraries and the texts therein (anthologies of model essays) has long been cited as an essential part of university writing center services, as the reading of model essays has been found to positively affect the reading-writing relationship. When choosing such texts, readability is typically measured via quantitative readability formulae (e.g., the Lexile Readability Formula). However, this practice only measures two (i.e., semantic, syntactic) of the many features that influence readability, leaving others (e.g., text length) unexplored. To address this, this article reports the findings of an exploratory mixed-methods study conducted in an Asian university writing center setting which showed that the informants' ranking of ease and difficulty was significantly different than the Lexile Formula and that text length had a significant positive association with this ranking. It was further found that length was viewed as (a) a primary (i.e., an isolated feature), (b) a conjoined feature (i.e., comprising two or more associated entities where the second impacts the first: interest, vocabulary), and (c) a feature which impacts the influences of other features (interest, vocabulary, and vocabulary in context). The study also offers suggestions for writing studies professionals (teachers, writing center staff) and the publishing industry that text length be included in a hybrid (quantitative-qualitative) procedure when considering the difficulty of model essays found in anthologies.
format Article
author Baker, John R.
spellingShingle Baker, John R.
The effects of text length on the readability of model essays
author_facet Baker, John R.
author_sort Baker, John R.
title The effects of text length on the readability of model essays
title_short The effects of text length on the readability of model essays
title_full The effects of text length on the readability of model essays
title_fullStr The effects of text length on the readability of model essays
title_full_unstemmed The effects of text length on the readability of model essays
title_sort effects of text length on the readability of model essays
publisher Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
publishDate 2023
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/21603/1/55963-204833-1-PB.pdf
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/21603/
https://ejournal.ukm.my/gema/issue/view/1578
_version_ 1768008347501461504
score 13.211869

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