Validation of the Coleman Readability Formulas

Abstract

The following four readability formulas developed by Coleman were cross-validated: (a) X′ = 38.45 + 1.29X₁, (b) X′ = −37.95 + 1.16X₁ + 1.48X₂, (c) X′ = −34.02 + 1.07X₁ + 1.18X₂ + .76X₃, (d) X′ = −26.01 + 1.04X₁ + 1.06X₂ + .56X₃ −.36X₄, where X′ is predicted cloze score in percentage of correct insertions for a 100-word passage, X₁ is its number of 1-syllable words, X₂ is its number of sentences, X₃ is its pronouns, and X₄ its prepositions. The formulas were cross-validated by obtaining cloze scores for 7 new passages from 20 Ss matched with Coleman's original Ss. The rs between obtained cloze scores and those predicted from Formulas a, b, c, and d were .83, .88, .87, and .89.