Are “reader-friendly” texts always better?

Authors

  • Monica Reichenberg University of Gothenburg

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21344/iartem.v5i2.768

Keywords:

poor readers, easy-to-read texts, authentic texts, reading comprehension, participation

Abstract

This study involved 60 participants. 50 % of the participants were identified as normal readers, i.e. they could decode text adequately well, and 50% were identified as poor readers. The participants were exposed to two types of expository texts (1) authentic texts and (2) easy-to-read (“reader-friendly”) texts. Text comprehension was investigated by means of questions relating to the text. There was a significant difference between poor and normal readers when they read the authentic texts. Somewhat surprisingly, the normal readers performed better when reading the authentic texts than the “reader-friendly texts and the poor readers´ comprehension did not increase significantly when reading the “reader-friendly” texts. One reason proposed by the researcher, is that the “reader-friendly” texts were too easy, resulting in the normal readers not finding them challenging enough and the poor readers possibly found them too “childish”.

Author Biography

  • Monica Reichenberg, University of Gothenburg

    Monica Reichenberg is a professor of general didactics at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden . Her main research interest includes: reading comprehension, reading and writing practices, the readability of texts.

    Contact: [email protected]

    phone: 046-031-7862451

Downloads

Published

2013-03-19

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Are “reader-friendly” texts always better?. (2013). IARTEM E-Journal, 5(2), 64-84. https://doi.org/10.21344/iartem.v5i2.768