READABILITY OF VOCATIONAL HORTICULTURE INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS

The major purpose of the study was to gather base data concerning the readability of instructional materials used in Ohio vocational horticulture programs. Other purposes of the study were to describe the relationship between readability scores of materials and the following variables: frequency of use of materials, experience of teachers selecting the materials, teacher estimates of readability of the materials, and performance on standardized achievement tests of students using the materials.;The findings revealed that teachers were using a wide variety of printed materials in the classroom. A total of 115 different items was listed by the 35 respondents. The majority of materials was written at a level which matched student grade level. However, scores on statewide tests indicated that vocational horticulture students were below average in ability. These scores led to the assumption that students were also reading at a level below grade level placements. It was concluded that the majority of materials was too difficult in terms of reading difficulty for the majority of students using them.;There was no statistically significant relationship between the readability of materials and the frequency with which those materials were listed by teachers. Similarly, no significant relationship was found betwen readability of materials listed and teacher estimates of this readability, or readability of materials and student achievement on standardized tests.;Analysis of the 23 materials listed most frequently by teachers indicated that technical terms and other difficult words constituted from 16 to 29 percent of the total sample passages. A list of difficult horticultural terms was made to facilitate instruction and further study in the area of technical vocabulary.;One horticulture teacher at each of the 40 schools participating in the 1981 Ohio Horticulture Achievement Testing program was randomly selected and sent a questionnaire developed by the investigator. Eighty-eight percent of the teachers contacted responded to the questionnaire. Responses were tabulated, and readability of materials listed was predicted using the Dale-Chall Readability Formula. Correlation coefficients were used to analyze relationships between readability scores of instructional materials and the other variables.