readability in the esl/esol/tefl classroom

When it comes to how easy/difficult a text is to read, we call that readability - and according to Wikipedia:

In natural language, the readability of text depends on its content (the complexity of its vocabulary and syntax) and its presentation (such as typographic aspects that affect legibility, like font size, line height, character spacing, and line length).

Higher readability in a text eases reading effort and speed for the general population of readers. For those who do not have high reading comprehension, readability is necessary for understanding and applying a given text. Techniques to simplify readability are essential to communicate a set of information to the intended audience.

There are websites devoted to this: What is readability? – Readable

And there are ways to test the readability of your website: Readability Test - WebFX Or any text: Free Readability Checker App | Check readability score of your text

But what about in the esl/esol/tefl classroom?

We can adapt authentic material for the language classroom: Adapting texts for use in the English language classroom – Nathan Hall

We can go a little deeper and get an overall difficulty score for our English content: Text Inspector: Analyse the Difficulty Level of English Texts

We can consider the students who have to work with the texts:  seminar-1-empathy-and-readability-2016.pdf

We can work on texts with a view to a particular test: Adapting Authentic Materials to Teach Listening and Reading IELTS Tests

And we can make use of ready-made texts which are made readable: Free Online Reading and Listening Resources for ESL Learners | Literacy Minnesota

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