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Savmanbanans (talk | contribs) →Readability and Newspaper Readership: Swapped the final two sentences in the "In 1947.." paragraph to keep the statistics organized. |
Savmanbanans (talk | contribs) →Vocabulary Frequency Lists: Included the final sentences starting with "A popular strategy..." and used a new source to back up information. Included this information to relate the historical references to something updated that shows the growth of vocabulary teaching methods. |
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Educational psychologist [[Edward Thorndike]] of Columbia University noted that, in Russia and Germany, teachers used word frequency counts to match books to students. Word skill was the best sign of intellectual development, and the strongest predictor of reading ease. In 1921, Thorndike published ''Teachers Word Book'', which contained the [[word frequency|frequencies]] of 10,000 words.<ref>Thorndike E.L. 1921 ''The teacher's word book''. 1932 ''A teacher's word book of the twenty thousand words found most frequently and widely in general reading for children and young people''. 1944 (with J.E. Lorge) ''The teacher's word book of 30,000 words''.</ref> It made it easier for teachers to choose books that matched class reading skills. It also provided a basis for future research on reading ease.
Until computers came along, word frequency lists were the best aids for grading reading ease of texts.<ref name="KlareBuck">Klare, G. R. and B. Buck. 1954. ''Know Your Reader: The scientific approach to readability.'' New York: Heritage House.</ref> In 1981 the World Book Encyclopedia listed the grade levels of 44,000 words.<ref name="livingword">Dale, E. and J. O'Rourke. 1981. ''The living word vocabulary: A national vocabulary inventory.'' World Book-Childcraft International.</ref>A popular strategy amongst educators in modern times is "incidental vocabulary learning," which enforces efficiency in learning vocabulary in the short-term rather than drilling words and meanings teachers hope will stick.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=He |first=Shumin 1 1 Country Garden Experimental School |date=2023 |title=Exploration of Incidental Vocabulary Learning Strategies from Different Modes to Acquire Vocabulary |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2866467078 |language=English |pages=927–932 |doi=10.26855/er.2023.07.014}}</ref> The incidental learning tactic is meant to help learners build comprehension and learning skills rather than memorizing words. Through this strategy, students would hopefully be able to navigate various levels of readability using context clues and comprehension.
==Early Children's Readability Formulas==
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