The Readability of Reading Texts in Material Development for Reading Professional Purposes Problem Based Learning Model

Abstract

Existing textbooks often present challenges for students due to complex language and demanding cognitive strain, hindering comprehension and engagement. Therefore, it is crucial to measure the developed reading text's readability to meet with the student's reading level. The objective of this research is to find out the readability level of reading for professional purposes texts. It is a framework for material development. The readability of reading text was analyzed by using three readability formulas: Flesch Reading Ease, Flesch Kincaid Grade Level and Coh-Metrix L2 Reading Index. To preserve the authenticity of the material, most of the texts were adopted from web-based sources. There were 60 texts selected from various sources that analyzed automatically using ARTE (automatic readability tool for English). It was revealed that most of the reading texts were of the appropriate readability level for the targeted reader. It means that the texts chosen for reading material development were suitable for the upper intermediate students.