An evaluation of the readability of five science series

This study examined the readability of fourth, fifth, and sixth grade science textbooks of five publishers of science textbooks, The Dale-Chall readability formula was used to determine the actual readability level of the textbooks and the Worksheet for Analysis of Instructional Materials Beyond Readability Scales (Schindler, 1980) was used in examining new words introduced in a lesson and the number of times each was reinforced. Three samples were taken from each textbook. Samples were randomly selected from the front, middle, and end sections of each text. The actual readability of the textbooks was found to be higher than the publishers' estimated readability. The fourth grade textbooks were the most difficult to read and the sixth grade textbooks were the least difficult. There did not appear to be a correlation between the number of times new words were reinforced and actual readability across the textbooks examined.