The effect of syntactic simplicity and complexity on the readability of the text

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of syntactic simplicity and complexity on the readability of the text. To achieve this, a set of standard reading comprehension passages were syntactically modified to develop three different versions of the same text (i.e., reduced, original, expanded) at different readability levels. A number of 257 senior Iranian EFL students participated in the study. The participants were divided into three proficiency levels of high, mid, and low, each taking the three different versions of the same text. The results revealed that there was no significant difference among the high proficient students' performance on the three versions. However, there were significant differences among the mid and low proficient students' performance on these versions. The results, therefore, indicate that syntactic complexity may create comprehension problems for mid and low proficient students, but not for high proficient ones. The results of this study can be useful for language teachers, syllabus designers and test developers in selecting suitable texts matched to the learners' ability level.