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THE CLOZE PROCEDURE: A CONVENIENT READABILITY TEST FOR TRAINING MATERIALS AND TRANSLATIONS
Author(s) -
KLARE G. R.,
SINAIKO H. W.,
STOLUROW L. M.
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
applied psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.497
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1464-0597
pISSN - 0269-994X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1464-0597.1972.tb00272.x
Subject(s) - readability , citation , test (biology) , library science , computer science , information retrieval , programming language , paleontology , biology
: Situations constantly arise in which it would be helpful to measure readability or understandability of written material. Most of the available techniques for estimating understandability are difficult to apply and interpret. The paper describes a little-known method--cloze--that offers considerable promise in readability measurement. In addition to describing the cloze procedure, the paper provides specific instructions for administering a cloze test and examples from the professional literature of cloze applications. Attractions, as well as limitations, of the technique are given. Finally, two experiments are described in which the cloze procedure was used. In the first, the technique was shown to be useful with samples of readers having extremely different educational backgrounds: adult basic education students and people in graduate school. The second experiment demonstrated the utility of cloze in measuring the readability of material in another language (Vietnamese), which the experimenters could not read. Cloze differentiated two Vietnamese translations of the same English passage, in agreement with an independent criterion. Although the test subjects who read the material were Vietnamese, neither the experimenters nor the staff people who scored the subjects' responses were proficient in that language. (Author)