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Textbook complicacy and the rules for clear writing

Textbook complicacy and the rules for clear writing. Jaan Mikk 04.12.2013. Components of text complicacy. Long sentences may overhelm the working memory Unknown words unable to create connections Abstract words are difficult because abstract thinking developes step by step.

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Textbook complicacy and the rules for clear writing

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  1. Textbook complicacy and the rules for clear writing Jaan Mikk 04.12.2013

  2. Components of text complicacy • Long sentences may overhelm the working memory • Unknown words unable to create connections • Abstract words are difficult because abstract thinking developes step by step.

  3. Constructions complicating sentences(Granowsky & Botel, 1974)

  4. Long connections between words • The resulting regionalization has applications in developing our understanding of the social and cultural complexion of Europe, and offers potential insights into the long and short-term dynamics of migration and residential mobility (Longley et al., 2011). • Connected words (in bold) are too far from each other.

  5. Assessing the familiarity of words • Frequency dictionaires • Dictionaires of scientific terms (in mathematics etc.) • Expert opininions • Length of words • Percentage of too long words.

  6. Scale of noun terminologicality • 1 - nouns of everyday use which are not terms (table, horse), • 2 - nominal terms of the same meaning in everyday speech (velocity, acceleration), • 3 - nouns, professional terms not used in everyday speech (DNA, transcription).

  7. The scale of noun abstractness • 1 - nouns signifying directly perceivable objects (e. g. ball, dog), • 2 - nouns signifying perceivable activities and phenomena (e. g. run, sunshine), • 3 - nouns signifying directly imperceivable notions (e. g. cause, function). • We have found the correlation coefficient -0.53 twice and once -0.66 between the abstractness level of a text and its acquisition level.

  8. Validation of the components of text complicacy • 30 texts from popular-scientific books on physics, chemistry, astronomy and biology. The texts were from 107 up to 227 words long • Experiments to measure the difficulty level of the texts were carried out with more than 1000 upper grade students. We used cloze procedure, answering questions, difficulty ratings, and summing up the content of the text. Every testee worked with every text.

  9. Correlations of text features with the percentage of unfilled blanks in cloze procedure

  10. Effective characteristics of electronic textbooks (Luik, 2004, 140 – 142) • She used the material of 35 lessons from the textbooks of different subjects. • 54 students from 10th grade studied all the lessons.

  11. Correlations of the features of electronic textbook with post-test score

  12. The components of complicacy of verbal problems (Madis Lepik) • Number of operations needed for the solution of the problem • Number of quantities (data) needed for the solution but not mentioned in the text of the problem • Verbal complicacy of the problem • Changing the units.

  13. Inferences from the components of textbook complicacy • Find summary assessment of textbook complicacy • Give recommendations for changing the complicacy (rules for clear writing).

  14. Flesch Reading Ease formula • The formula is based mainly on the McCall-Crabbs reading test • RE = 206.835 – 0.846wl – 1.015sl • wl — the number of syllables per 100 words, sl — the mean sentence length in words. • Multiple correlation coefficient was 0.70. • The Reading Ease index varies from • 0 — a very complicated text to • 100 — a very comprehensible text

  15. Flesch formula in Word • Click the Microsoft Office Button , and then click Word Options. • Click Proofing. • Make sure Check grammar with spelling is selected. • Under When correcting grammar in Word, select the Show readability statistics check box.

  16. Usage of the Flesch formula • Write the text in Word. • Language editor should be English. • Vali menüüst: Language editor ABC. • Edit the text and at the end you see readability statsistics • Number of characters, words and sentences, • Average length of words and sentences, • Readability indexes.

  17. Readability formula for Estonian texts • C = 0. 131 X9 + 9.84X22 - 4,59 • C - text complicacy index (percentage of unfilled and incorrectly filled blanks in cloze procedure), • X9 - independent sentence length in letter spaces, • X22 - abstractness of repeating nouns in the text passage according to three-stage scale. • The multiple correlation of the formula was 0.67

  18. Rules for clear writing • Avoid unknown words! • Be careful with new terms! • Prefere concrete words! • Avoid too long sentences! • Use clear structure of your presentation!

  19. Introducing new notions in science teaching (Usova, 1978) • Finding out the main characteristics of the notion by analysing relevant examples. • Elaborating the definition of the notion. • Analysing examples and non-examples of the notion. • Differentiation of the notion from earlier acquired notions. • Exploring the relationship of the notion with other notions. • Application of the notion in solving problems. • Systematisation of the notions.

  20. Meta-analysis of studies of the effect of using the rules (Klare, 1963)

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