Empfohlen
Weitere ähnliche Inhalte
Ähnlich wie Lecture 5.3 readability and plain language student notes
Ähnlich wie Lecture 5.3 readability and plain language student notes (20)
Mehr von Nancy Bray
Mehr von Nancy Bray (20)
Lecture 5.3 readability and plain language student notes
- 1. Readability and Plain Language Lecture 4.3 University of Alberta ALES 204 Nancy Bray 1
- 3. Lecture Outline 1. How you say it matters 2. What is readability? 3. How to write in plain language? 3
- 4. 1. How you say it matters 4
- 5. Bones Scene from Season 1, Episode 8 Unplain language 5
- 6. How you say it matters 6
- 7. Success story #1 Source: Kimble, J. (2012). Writing for dollars, writing to please: The case for plain language in business, government, and law Durham, N.C: Carolina Academic Press. 7
- 8. Success story #2 8
- 9. Alan Siegel: Let’s simply legal jargon TED talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/alan_siegel_let_s_simplify_legal_jargon.html 9
- 10. 2. What is readability 10
- 11. Readability 11
- 12. Readability movement 12
- 13. Decrease in sentence length Professor L. A. Sherman, in his Analytics of Literature, Boston, 1892. 13
- 14. Average sentence length today Miscellaneous: government 25 Learned and scientific 24 Press: reports 21 Humour 18 Romance fiction 14 Science/detective fiction 13 Source: Cutts, M. (2009). Oxford guide to plain English. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 14
- 15. Readability movement 15
- 16. Example #1 16
- 17. Example #2 17
- 18. Readability measures Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level formula Flesch Reading Ease Score Can check the score of your documents with MS Word or http://www.readability- score.com/ 18
- 19. Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level formula Tests word length and sentence length Result = number of years of education required to understand a text 19
- 20. Readability statistics 20
- 21. Example 21
- 22. Flesch Reading Ease Score Also tests word and sentence length Higher score = more understandable Reader’s Digest has a score of 65 Time a score of 52 22
- 23. How to increase readability 23
- 24. Recommendations 24
- 25. 3. What is plain language? 25
- 26. Plain language “The writing and setting out of essential information in a way that gives a cooperative, motivated person a good chance of understanding it at first reading, and in the same sense that the writer meant it to be understood.” -- Oxford Guide to Plain Language Also called plain English 26
- 27. Plain language movement U.S. consumer groups ridicule language in government 1960s documents and forms New York State passes law requiring leases and 1978 consumer contracts to be clearer President Carter required regulations to be written in 1978 plain language President Clinton required all documents about 1998 government services to be written in plain language 27
- 28. Four main features of plain language 28
- 29. Example #1: Common words Before The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends a half hour or more of moderate physical activity on most days, preferably every day. The activity can include brisk walking, calisthenics, home care, gardening, moderate sports exercise, and dancing. After 29
- 30. Example #2: Pronouns Before: A performance system will allow for the development of new and innovative training techniques and methodologies and allow companies added flexibility in tailoring their training to the specific job duties of their employees. After: 30
- 31. Example #3: Pronouns Before: Copies of tax returns must be provided. Loan applications will be reviewed to ensure that procedures have been followed. After: 31
- 32. Example #4: Active voice Before: Consumer messages have been developed to educate the public about the Key Recommendations in the Dietary Guidelines and will be used in materials targeted for consumers separate from this publication. After: 32
- 33. Exercise #5: Short sentences Before A performance system will allow for the development of new and innovative training techniques and methodologies and allow companies added flexibility in tailoring their training to the specific job duties of their employees. After 33
- 35. Take away Know why plain language is important Know the benefits of plain language Know what readability is Know how readability is measured Know how to improve readability Know what plain language is Know the four elements of plain 35
- 36. Photo Credits books by Arslan paper by Hacklock words by ninasaurusrex newspapers by leww_pics air force recruits by Nina_Haghighi grade 9 by Boston Public Library the reader by grewlike reading ease by sapheron Green Eggs and Ham cover the reader by murphyeppoon the reader by adwriter reading newspaper by KC Toh reading by applejan veteran by KennethMoyle ge by Eric Leslie china airlines by Roberto Verzo 36
Hinweis der Redaktion
- George Klare and his colleagues looked at the effects of greater reading ease on Air Force recruits. They found that more readable texts resulted in greater and more complete learning. They also increased the amount read in a given time, and made for easier acceptance. [54][55] Other studies by Klare showed how the reader's skills, [56] prior knowledge, [57] interest, and motivation [56][57] affect reading ease.
- Our new system will let us train our employees with new techniques and with greater ease.