A Study of the Validity of the Fry Readability Graph

Abstract

The reading level of a social studies textbook was determined by using the Fry Readability Graph. Then a comparison was made between a group of students who should have comprehended the textbook and a group of students who should not have comprehended the textbook. Reading comprehension of the textbook was determined by scores on an achievement test containing passages from the textbook. A t-test was performed on the achievement scores of the two groups and showed a significant difference between the two groups. Those students reading on or above the reading level of the textbook passages comprehended 88% of the material while those below the reading level of the textbook comprehended only 66% of the material. Therefore, the Fry Readability Graph was deemed a valid measure of the reading difficulty of social studies textbooks.