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Context of situation: a comparison of the readability of two college-level geography textbooks
Author
William, Sherley
Supervisor
Skuja-Steele, Rita
Abstract
Geography textbooks at the advanced level are often found to present problems of readability. However, there was one writer who was observed to have written more readable texts than another, while still providing similar content. This study aimed to determine the factors involved in affecting readability, by comparatively analyzing the language used in two college-level geography textbooks. This was done using Halliday's systemic-functional model of Context of Situation, which incorporates three components: field, tenor and mode.
The factors that were found to have had a positive impact on readability were a comparatively greater use of figurative language, familiar terms when introducing new technical terms, informal terms; colour pictures, lexical cohesion, topic strings and elaboration.
The negative factors affecting readability were a relatively higher use of exophoric references, interlocking-definitions, passivization, a certain type of hedging; complex nominal groups, complex sentences and discontinuity.
Factors that were found to have little impact on readability when examined on their own were the use of nominalization, the kind of transitivity, modalities and adverbs indicating uncertainty and lexical density.
The general conclusion was that it is conceivable to produce more readable texts, if the above stated findings were applied judiciously to the writing of geography textbooks. In addition, the components of the Context of Situation model should seriously be viewed as possibly providing parameters for future readability studies.
The factors that were found to have had a positive impact on readability were a comparatively greater use of figurative language, familiar terms when introducing new technical terms, informal terms; colour pictures, lexical cohesion, topic strings and elaboration.
The negative factors affecting readability were a relatively higher use of exophoric references, interlocking-definitions, passivization, a certain type of hedging; complex nominal groups, complex sentences and discontinuity.
Factors that were found to have little impact on readability when examined on their own were the use of nominalization, the kind of transitivity, modalities and adverbs indicating uncertainty and lexical density.
The general conclusion was that it is conceivable to produce more readable texts, if the above stated findings were applied judiciously to the writing of geography textbooks. In addition, the components of the Context of Situation model should seriously be viewed as possibly providing parameters for future readability studies.
Date Issued
1996
Call Number
G74 Wil
Date Submitted
1996