Author:
Abstract
Reading ability, that one of the basic activities of native language, has an important role in individual’s school life and socialization. Some measures should be taken into consideration for students to gain a competent reading ability and for choosing texts which will be used in reading process. Readability is one of these measures. Readability formulas are estimation tools that for gradually classifying the text in terms of its difficulty or easiness based on text’s observable lingual features. The most important feature of the course books is constructing the framework of gaining ability, basis of knowledge, perceptions and conceptualization regarding a scientific field for students.The suitability of the course book to the level will provide understanding the subjects easily for students. In the study, readability and suitability to the target age group of secondary school 7th grade social studies course books, that belongs to seven different publishers, was determined. Descriptive model that based on document review was used for the study. Felsch Reading Easiness Readability Formula, SMOG Readability Formula, Gunning Difficulty Indicator, Fry Graphic Readability Formula, and the readability formula which was developed by Ateşman for Turkish were applied on the texts was chosen from course books that were published by both MEB Publishing and private publishing companies. As well as these formulas, for researching the readability of 7th grade social studies course books, CLOZE test procedure, which has and international validity, was used. Sample of the study is consisted of all 7th grades from all schools of central county of Artvin. At the end of the study, it was found that according to all formulas course books is not suitable for target population for all class level except for the formula which developed for Turkish by Ateşman. According to the Ateşman’s formula course books’ difficulty level is medium.
Keywords
Abstract
Reading ability, that one of the basic activities of native language, has an important role in individual’s school life and socialization. Some measures should be taken into consideration for students to gain a competent reading ability and for choosing texts which will be used in reading process. Readability is one of these measures. Readability formulas are estimation tools that for gradually classifying the text in terms of its difficulty or easiness based on text’s observable lingual features. The most important feature of the course books is constructing the framework of gaining ability, basis of knowledge, perceptions and conceptualization regarding a scientific field for students.The suitability of the course book to the level will provide understanding the subjects easily for students. In the study, readability and suitability to the target age group of secondary school 7th grade social studies course books, that belongs to seven different publishers, was determined. Descriptive model that based on document review was used for the study. Felsch Reading Easiness Readability Formula, SMOG Readability Formula, Gunning Difficulty Indicator, Fry Graphic Readability Formula, and the readability formula which was developed by Ateşman for Turkish were applied on the texts was chosen from course books that were published by both MEB Publishing and private publishing companies. As well as these formulas, for researching the readability of 7th grade social studies course books, CLOZE test procedure, which has and international validity, was used. Sample of the study is consisted of all 7th grades from all schools of central county of Artvin. At the end of the study, it was found that according to all formulas course books is not suitable for target population for all class level except for the formula which developed for Turkish by Ateşman. According to the Ateşman’s formula course books’ difficulty level is medium.