Readability and Academic Communication: A Comparative Study of Undergraduate Students' and Handbook of Three Ghanaian Universities

Abstract

Essentially, this study investigated the readability of handbooks of three reputable universities in Ghana, namely: University of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and University of Cape Coast. The study conducted an in-depth investigation into the readability of these handbooks, using seven readability indexes. These readability indexes include: Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, Flesch Reading Ease, Gunning Fog Index, Coleman-Liau Index, SMOG Index, Automated Readability Index and Lisear Write Formula. The readability consensus for the 7 readability indexes showed that these handbooks are very difficult to comprehend when measured in terms of readability indexes and that they were generally written to be understood by university graduates and in some cases even above the reading level of university graduates. The study also established that there are no statistically significant differences across the mean scores of the readability of the three handbooks. It is therefore recommended that the hallmark of texts contained in students' handbooks should be sensitive to students' reading level. It is belief that this can be achieved through the use of