Candice Miller Takes Action in Congress
Federal Plain-Language Bill
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House
Representative Candice
Miller of Michigan has introduced legislation entitled "Plain
Language in Regulation Act of 2006." You can read the bill, left,
by going to http://thomas.loc.gov/
and searching on Bill Number HR 4809.
The bill is an amendment to chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code,
commonly referred to as the Paperwork Reduction Act. |
Its purpose is to ensure usability and clarity of texts created by Federal
agencies and to promote compliance with Federal paperwork requirements.
The new bill includes:
- An expanded definition of plain language "that is clear and
readily understandable to the intended reader," using "short
words, sentences, and paragraphs" and "other best practices of plain-language
writing."
- The requirement that each federal agency:
- Designate a plain-language coordinator.
- Establish a process for reviewing each document for compliance with this act.
- Establish guidelines for implementing this act.
- Offer training to employess for writing plain language.
- For two years, report to the Committee on Government Reform
on progress on compliance with this act.
Rep. Miller introduced her new regulations during a hearing
on 1 March 2006 of the Government Reform Subcommittee on Regulatory
Affairs. Testifying at that hearing were: -
Professor Joseph Kimble, Law Professor, Thomas Cooley Law School
- Dr. Annetta Cheek, Vice-Chair, Center
for Plain Language
-
Todd McCracken, President, National Small Business Association
Leaving Skippers at Sea
In her opening statement, Rep. Miller said "using plain language
(1) streamlines procedures and paperwork, and (2) reduces confusion,
complaints, and claims, and improves customer satisfaction." Miller
explained:
Before using plain language, a Department of Commerce rule
said, “After notification of NMFS, this final rule requires all
CA/OR DGN vessel operators to have attended one Skipper Education Workshop
after all workshops have been convened by NMFS in September 1997. CA/OR
DGN vessel operators are required to attend Skipper Education Workshops
at annual intervals thereafter, unless that requirement is waived by
NMFS. NMFS will provide sufficient advance notice to vessel operators
by mail prior to convening workshops."
After revising the rule using plain language techniques, any vessel
operator would know the requirements of that rule—"After notification
from NMFS, vessel operators must attend a skipper education workshop
before beginning to fish each fishing season."
Saving Government Dollars
In his testimony, Professor Kimble, referred to his paper, Writing
for Dollars, Writing to Please, and said:
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In Writing
for Dollars, on page 9, you'll find a study done by the Department
of Veterans Affairs. They revised one letter —just one form
letter, mind you—and tested the results. In one year, in one
regional VA call center, the number of calls received dropped from
about 1,100 to about 200. This was one paper at one office of one
government agency.
Multiply that one paper by every form, letter, notice, flyer, bulletin,
booklet, manual, and other public document sent out in huge numbers
by every office, division, department, and agency of the government.
It's incredible. Plain language may not be a sexy subject, but I believe
that the cost of poor communication is the great hidden waste in government.
Untold millions and billions. |
Kimble: incredible savings
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Language Taxpayers Deserve
Dr. Cheek said in her testimony:
While poor writing isn't restricted to the federal government,
I believe the government has a higher responsibility to communicate
clearly with citizens. American taxpayers bear the cost of the government,
and they deserve to understand what the government is doing. When I
read text like the following, I am stunned that we would expect citizens
to understand our language:
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"The amount
of expenses reimbursed to a claimant under this subpart shall be
reduced by any amount that the claimant receives from a collateral
source. In cases in which a claimant receives reimbursement under
this subpart for expenses that also will or may be reimbursed from
another source, the claimant shall subrogate the United States to
the claim for payment from the collateral source up to the amount
for which the claimant was reimbursed under this subpart."
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Cheek: government has a higher responsibility
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That's from a regulation of the Department of Justice. And what does it mean?
Simply that:
- If you get a payment from another source, we will reduce
our payment by the amount you get.
- If you already got payments
from us and from another source for the same expenses, you must
pay back what we paid you.
The Needs of Small Business
McCracken: language relief for small businesses .
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In his testimony, Todd McCracken spoke of the burden that government
regulations puts on small businesses. What they need is less paperwork
and paperwork that is easier to understand. He said, "Making compliance easier is crucial to the success of
small business. Office of Advocacy statistics show that it annually
costs the smallest of businesses almost $7,000 per employee to
comply with federal regulations.
That cost places a burden on small business that is 60 percent
greater than costs incurred by large corporations." McKracken
further explained: Small businesses experience a hard time dealing with the complexity of
ambiguous terms, intricate technical language and difficult sentences.
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The increased burden causes them to have trouble understanding the
requirements. This forces them to spend more time trying to
interpret the rules and ensure they are completing the
forms accurately thus avoiding being fined by the agency
for noncompliance. The best thing for small businesses is
simplicity: simplicity in instructions, in requirements,
in consequences and an overall reduction in the size of the paperwork
and the time necessary to complete the forms.
Support HR 4809
The bill, HR 4809, was referred to the Committee on Government Reform.
You can contact your Representatives and ask them to support this bill.
The best contact is a personal visit (doesn't need to be the member,
staff is fine, so you can just stop in). After that, a phone call, and
then a letter, in order of effectiveness. Email is so unimportant to
them it's hardly worth the bother.
For another report on this hearing and legalese in government, go to
OMB Watch:
http://www.ombwatch.org/article/articleview/3325/1/308
George R. Klare 1922-2006
A Life in Language
READABILITY
scholar George Klare passed away on 3 March 2006 at his home near
Ohio University where he had taught for over 35 years and served
as the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. He was 84.
Klare was born April 17, 1922, in Minneapolis, Minn. After graduating
from high school in 1940 in North Bend, Nebraska, he went to the
University of Nebraska.
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George Klare and his wife Judy,
May, 2004 |
World War II Hero
In 1942, his studies were interrupted when he was called into the
service. He served as a navigator on B-17 bombers in the Eighth Air
Force in England until he was shot down on Dec. 31, 1944, and was captured
by the Germans.
He spent the remainder of World War II in German POW camps, and was
liberated by advancing Soviet troops from Stalag Luft One on May 1,
1945. He was honorably separated as a first lieutenant in December,
1945, receiving the Air Medal, the Purple Heart, European-area ribbons
and the Prisoner of War medal.
Here are some links related to his war experiences:
Klare returned to continue his studies at the University of Minnesota.
In 1950, he received his Ph.D. in Psychology. For his dissertation,
he did an evaluation of the Flesch Reading Ease and Dale-Chall readability
formulas. It was in Minnesota he met and married his wife, Judy, who
was studying for her M.A. in Psychology. She later worked as a teacher,
and they would have three children, Roger, Deborah, and Barbara.
After teaching a spell at the University of Illinois, Klare became
a specialist in readability (reading ease) for the Psychological Corporation
in New York City. While there, he met Byron Buck, a text-book editor
for Macmillan. They collaborated on Know Your Reader: The Scientific
Approach to Readability, published in 1954.
The U.S. Military Readability Studies
In 1952, Klare took a teaching position at Ohio University, where he
taught psychological statistics and testing. During the 50s, the military
had noted a large discrepancy between the reading skills of trainees
and the difficulty of the technical manuals. Klare joined a team of
investigators brought in to solve that problem.
At Sampson Air Force Base in New York and Chanute Air Force Base in
Illinois, they studied the effects on the trainees of using readability
formulas to rewrite the manuals. They found the more readable texts
resulted in:
- Greater and more complete retention.
- Greater amount read in a given time (perseverence)..
- Greater acceptability (preference).
Taking Command
In 1963, Klare published The Measurement of Readabilty, which
reviewed the research on the readability formulas up to that time. In
1967, with Paul Games he published what would become a standard college
textbook, Elementary Statistics: Data Analysis for the Behavioral
Sciences.
Klare later wrote two more books on readability:
- A Manual for Readable Writing (1975)
- How to Write Readable English (1980, 1985)
The readability formulas were always controversial. Klare and his
colleagues brought research into the discussion. They pointed out that,
like other useful tools, the formulas have their limitations and must
be used with caution. But, as an aid for predicting the difficulty of
a text, they have no substitute. They give a "good rough estimate" of
a text's difficulty. Properly used, they are as reliable as other psychological
mesures such as reading tests.
Among the more than 80 papers and book chapters that Klare wrote were
these landmark studies:
- "Assessing Readability" in the Reading Research Quarterly
(1974-75). The Institute for Scientific Information recognized this
paper as a Citation Classic, one of the scientific works most frequently
cited in other studies—with over 125 citations so far.
- "A Second Look at the Validity of the Readability Formulas" in
The Journal of Reading Behavior (1976).
- "Readable Technical Writing: Some Observations" in Technical Communication
(1977), which won "Best of Show" in the International Conference of
the Society of Technical Communication in Dallas in 1978.
- "Readability" in Encyclopedia of Educational Research (1982).
- "Readability" in The Handbook of Reading Research (1984).
- "Readable Computer Documentation" in the ACM Journal of Computer
Documentation (2000), which reviewed the most recent research in
readability.
Much of Klare's research drew attention to the role that the readers'
reading skill, prior knowledge, and interest had on the readability
of a text. He retired from Ohio University in 1987as a Distinguished
Professor of Psychology. In 2005, he published a graphic account of
his WWII experiences in a chapter entitled, "Questions," in
Interrogations, Confessions, and Entrapment.
Klare survived the war, not only to tell the tale but also to marry,
raise a family, and take a leading role in reading research. Readers
the world over have benefitted greatly from his work. He will not be
forgotten.
George
Klare Publications:
http:/www.impact-information.com/impactinfo/klarepubs.htm
| Always Worth the Effort
"In this business of checking readability,
rewriting, checking again, then rewriting again, seems time-consuming
or difficult — it is, at first. After some experience, however,
you usually get a feel for the appropriate level for a given body
of readers, and the process becomes much faster and easier.
"Readers are likely to be turned off by writing that seems unnecessarily
difficult. Your extra time will not only save time for them, perhaps
thousands of hours; it will also encourage them to read more of
what you have written. And that is what readable writing is all
about."
— George Klare, in How to Write Readable English
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A First Look at College Literacy Skills
2003 College Reading Survey
Reading skill: key to academic success
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AT least 20 percent of college graduates lack the ability to
perform fundamental computations, according to a study released
in January by the American Institutes for Research.
The study, The National Survey of America's College Students
(NSACS) came on the heels of the National
Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) released in December 2005.
The college
survey used the same tests and compared college students to adults at large.
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The survey tested 1,827 graduating college students from 80 randomly
selected two- and four-year public and private colleges and universities
from across the nation. The skills tested included balancing a checkbook,
reading graphs, performing complex literacy tasks and comparing credit
card offers.
Among the findings:
- Over half of college students nearing graduation cannot perform
complex reading tasks such as understanding the arguments of newspaper
editorials. Nevertheless, the average prose, document, and quantitative
literacy of students in both 2- and 4-year institutions was significantly
higher than the average literacy of adults in the nation. See the
chart below.
- Most students cannot perform complex but common mathmatical tasks,
from understanding credit card offers to comparing the cost per ounce
of food. Approximately 30 percent of students in 2-year institutions
and 20 percent of students in 4-year institutions have Basic or below
quantitative literacy.
- There is no significant difference between how students from public
or private universities scored on the test.
- There is no difference between the results of men and women.
- For the most part, differences in literacy among ethnic groups remains
the same in colleges as in the general adult population.
- The literacy of students in 4-year public institutions
was comparable to the literacy of students in 4-year
private institutions.
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Left, comparison of college and general U.S. adult reading
levels. In all areas, college students performed better than national
adult averages. Where college students struggle the most is in
quantitative literacy.
Source: 2003 National Survey of America's College Students
and 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy.
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A Crisis in Campus Reading?
One report described the college survey as "not surprising, but sobering."
For one thing, this was the first national survey ever done on college
reading. There are no previous benchmarks to use for comparison.
For another thing, teachers and educators have long been aware of the many reading
and writing problems that students bring to college. According to
a 2005 national study by the American Diploma Project,
two of five college students are not adequately
prepared to meet college expectations. And 40 percent of public high
school graduates say they are unprepared for college or work.
Because reading skills are the key to academic success, many colleges
have invested in remedial reading programs, along with teaching English
as a Second Language and Writing
Across the Curriculum. In spite of remedial programs, reading problems
cause large numbers of students to fail or drop out each year.
The Readability of College Textbooks
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Studies also show that there is a problem with textbooks being
too difficult for college classes.
A few states now require an exit exam to receive a high school
diploma. While the California exit exam requires graduates to
have an 8th-grade math and a 10th-grade reading ability, many
common college textbooks are written at the 16th-grade level and
higher.
This literacy gap between the actual reading skills of students
and the reading levels of textbooks causes many to fail unnecessarily.
Teachers in elementary and intermediate schools have traditionally
tried to match textbooks with the reading level of students.
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A typical college textbook: a 16th-grade level of difficulty for 10th-grade readers. |
It has been long known that reading success requires a close match between the
text and the reader. This knowledge, however, is often not applied to
college textbooks. Research also shows that what works for those with
learning disabilities also works for average students—matching texts
with readers, structured overviews, organizers, chapter summaries, and
the use of video and computer programs.
For more on the 2003 college reading survey, see:
The
Literacy of Americas College Students: Final Report
Download It Now—Free!
The Principles of Readability
By William H. DuBay
http://www.impact-information.com/impactinfo/readability02.pdf
A brief introduction to the research on the readability formulas.
70 pages, bibliography
"Thanks for the
report on readability. It is really a very impressive work. You
have pulled together a lot of information that ranges over a long
period of time. A genuine work of classic scholarship—of which
there is way too little that comes my way."
—Thomas Sticht, Ph.D., International Consultant on Adult Literacy
"I finally got
around to reading your article. It is very good, scholarly, and
complete. Even though readability formulas have been around for
years, I think that the biggest current problem is that they are
not widely used. Much education of writers, editors, and general
population is needed."
—Edward Fry, Ph.D. Reading Consultant.
"I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciated the level of scholarship
in your amazing work, The Principles of Readability.
—Eldon McMurray, Ph.D. Candidate, Utah Valley State College.
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Plain Language in the News
TV
and health news:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-03-12-tv-health-reporting_x.htm
Branding
language:
http://www.ameinfo.com/news/Detailed/81002.html
Eurobabble
confuses the public:
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/europe/article_1149831.php
/Watch_your_EU_language!_Euro-babble_confuses_public
Flawed
tests jeopardize Illinois schools:
http://www.qctimes.net/articles/2006/04/05/opinion/opinion/
doc44335b0844b69946869459.txt
Use
fonts to add style:
href="http://columbiatribune.com/2006/Mar/20060314Busi001.asp
No
more gobbledygook:
http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2006/4/7/lifefocus/
13855088&sec=lifefocus
Pensions
in English:
http://www.expressandstar.com/articles/features/opinion/article_88990.php
The
plain truth about English:
href="http://www.expressandstar.com/articles/features/life/article_88384.php
Classroom
clarity law:
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/editorial/14255064.htm
Kitchen
illiteracy a national shame:
http://www.herald-mail.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=134413&format=html
Illiteracy
puts health at risk:
http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060320/
NEWS/603200333
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