Readers and “Readability”
Our readers bring with them a range of experiences, knowledge, skills
and reading levels.
Like writers, our readers are influenced by their feelings.
Stress shortens the attention span and everyone has stress in his or her
life. Older readers may have lost a spouse, be facing illness or be moving
out of their home; younger people face challenges in their work and
relationships. Everyone experiences financial challenges.
The level of reading skills is influenced by lack of practice. It is more
difficult to read if we have not done so over time because of the loss of
our eyesight, the nature of our job or a situation in our lives.
In order to make the document “readable” for the greatest number of
people, you need to
- choose the simplest words so every reader can understand the
material as quickly as possible
- use a respectful tone and be positive and encouraging
- select the information readers must know so they do not lose
nterest because of unnecessary information
- choose inclusive language that refers to everyone, people of both
genders, all ages, cultural backgrounds, and income levels
- engage the reader by using you or we
- organize the document with one main idea per section and one
idea per sentence so that readers understand easily
- include methods for every learning style (observing, experiencing,
experimenting, reflecting, thinking) - a graph for the thinker, a
narrative for the reflector
- and select an engaging format and design to clarify the
information.