Word length, prose difficulty, and reading rate

Abstract

In Study 1, the functional relationship between word length and passage difficulty was determined to be linear from Grade 1 to Grade 17 difficulty levels. A total of 360 passages were studied; the passages were sampled from curriculum materials used in all school levels ranging from Grade 1 to graduate school. Average word length was measured in both character spaces per word and letters per word. The newly developed Rauding Scale was used to estimate passage difficulty. In Study 2, the reading rate of college students was found to decrease from about 315 to 200 words per min. as difficulty increased from about Grade 2 to about Grade 17. However, when measured in standard length words per min. reading rate was approximately constant at about 250–260 words per min. as difficulty increased from about Grade 5 to about Grade 14. These data were interpreted as providing no support for certain current theory relating redundancy to reading rate and eye movements. © 1976, SAGE Publications. All rights reserved.