The cloze procedure: assessing the understandability of an IEEE standard

A description is given of the cloze procedure, which has been used to measure the readability of many different types of written materials such as textbooks and works of literature. It assesses readability by measuring readers' success in supplying deleted words that have been replaced by blanks. The procedure was used to test the readability of an IEEE standard, and the results are compared with readability scores for the same work computed by other formulas. >

[1]  L. Cronbach,et al.  Construct validity in psychological tests. , 1955, Psychological bulletin.

[2]  A. K. Clark.  Readability in technical writing-principles and procedures , 1975, IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication.

[3]  John R. Bormuth,et al.  CLOZE TEST READABILITY: CRITERION REFERENCE SCORES , 1968 .

[4]  Ronald A. Guillemette,et al.  Predicting readability of data processing written materials , 1987, DATB.

[5]  G H McLaughlin.  Comparing styles of presenting technical information. , 1966, Ergonomics.

[6]  Thomas M. Duffy,et al.  Document Design for Technical Job Tasks: An Evaluation , 1983 .

[7]  John R. Bormuth.  OPTIMUM SAMPLE SIZE AND CLOZE TEST LENGTH IN READABILITY MEASUREMENT , 1965 .

[8]  Ronald S. Lemos.  Rating the major computing periodicals on readability , 1985, CACM.

[9]  Frederick J. Bethke,et al.  Improving the Usability of Programming Publications , 1981, IBM Syst. J..

[10]  M. J. Allen.  Introduction to Measurement Theory , 1979 .

[11]  J. Chall,et al.  A FORMULA FOR PREDICTING READABILITY , 1948 .

[12]  Eileen B. Entin,et al.  Using the cloze procedure to assess program reading comprehension , 1984, SIGSCE '84.

[13]  Earl F. Rankin.  Grade Level Interpretation of Cloze Readability Scores. , 1970 .

[14]  Martha A. Branstad,et al.  Software Engineering Project Standards , 1984, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering.

[15]  George R. Klare,et al.  The measurement of readability , 1963 .

[16]  George R. Klare,et al.  A Second Look at the Validityl of Readability Formulasa , 1976 .

[17]  Wilson L. Taylor,et al.  “Cloze Procedure”: A New Tool for Measuring Readability , 1953 .

[18]  George R. Klare,et al.  The relationship of style difficulty to immediate retention and to acceptability of technical material. , 1955 .

[19]  Richard H. Thayer,et al.  Major Issues in Software Engineering Project Management , 1981, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering.

[20]  R. A. Guillmente.  The cloze procedure: an assessment of the understandability of data processing texts , 1989 .

[21]  Ronald S. Lemos.  On the Readability of COBOL Manuals , 1983, Int. J. Man Mach. Stud..

[22]  Patricia Wright,et al.  Usability: The criterion for designing written information , 1980 .

[23]  M. J. Noruésis,et al.  SPSS-X advanced statistics guide , 1985 .

[24]  R. Flesch.  A new readability yardstick. , 1948, The Journal of applied psychology.

[25]  Barry W. Boehm,et al.  Software Engineering Economics , 1993, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering.

[26]  Eileen B. Entin.  Using the cloze procedure with computer programs: a deeper look , 1986 .

[27]  John R. Bormuth,et al.  READABILITY--A NEW APPROACH. , 1966 .

[28]  George R. Klare,et al.  A Second Look at the Validity of Readability Formulas. , 1976 .

[29]  G. Harry McLaughlin,et al.  SMOG Grading - A New Readability Formula. , 1969 .

[30]  Robert N. Kantor,et al.  On the Failure of Readability Formulas to Define Readable Texts: A Case Study from Adaptations. , 1982 .