Text Readability:  A Raisin In The Sun

            I chose A Raisin In The Sun because it possesses four important text features: thin book, fair amount

of white space, well-defined characters and realistic language.  The cover of the play is also a draw for high

school students; portraying a young African American women gazing quizzically at the reader.  The big picture

themes in the work deal with civil rights, feminism, and the dynamics of African American families.  Future unit

plans for A Raisin In The Sun will include role playing, lessons on point of view, and issue oriented discussions.

            Defining the readability of a text is an interesting process involving syllable counting, word counting, and graphing.  Three of the most common scales for readability are Flesh-Kincaid and FOG.  Both use a similar format for registering readability, yet the results they produce can be surprisingly different.   

 

Dell Home

Computer

Amazon.com

www.online-utility.org/english

Flesh-Kincaid

5.1

7.7

6.64

FOG

N/A

9.6

8.14

 The Flesh-Kincaid seems to rate on the low side of the scale- my estimated readability for this play is ninth or tenth grade due to the complex subject matter and adult themes.  It was really interesting that my home computer rated the piece drastically lower than Amaazon.com and www.online-utility.org/english. 

Lesson Plans

  1. Vocabulary
  2. Pre-Reading Activity
  3. During Reading Activity
  4. After Reading Activity