Abstract

The purpose of this study was to supplement the Dale word list with a list of terms that are familiar to most members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and thus increase the precision of the Dale-Chall readability formula when it is applied to LDS materials. The Dale word list consists of 3,000 words that are familiar to 80 percent of fourth graders. The procedure involved identifying non-Dale words that occur frequently in LDS church publications and testing them on LDS fourth graders in a three-alternative multiple-choice format.

Of the 850 words tested, 249 were identified correctly by 80 percent of the LDS fourth graders tested and could, therefore, constitute a valid addition to the Dale word list when the Dale-Chall formula is used to test materials prepared for a Mormon audience.

Degree

College and Department

Humanities; Linguistics and English Language

Rights

http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/