Possible paths for adapting English readability formulas to Hungarian

Abstract

This study examines the concept of readability, which is a measure of how difficult it is to extract information from a text. In the field of education research, readability analysis is essential for assessing text difficulty. Readability formulas are used to mathematically evaluate readability (DuBay 2004). However, in the context of Hungarian texts, there is a notable absence of readability formulas. Therefore, our primary objective is to explore the theoretical foundations of readability and categorize existing readability formulas. We first define readability and introduce five commonly used American readability formulas. We provide an explanation of their underlying principles, their potential adaptability, and common criticisms associated with them. Our key discovery is that text readability is influenced by three factors: the text content, reader’s skills, and research purpose. Readability formulas primarily focus on assessing the first, using various methods (Dale-Chall 1949). These methods can be categorized into three main groups: (1) word familiarity, (2) word length in syllables, and (3) letter count. For the adaptation of readability formulas to Hungarian texts, the third category (letter count) appears to be the most suitable. The first category poses challenges due to the lack of a suitable word list for learners, while the second category is not ideal because of differences in syllable structure between languages. The overarching goal of this theoretical framework and formula categorization is to facilitate the adaptation of readability assessment methods to Hungarian texts and to promote further research on readability in the context of Hungary.