What Makes a Text Easy or Difficult to Understand?

Abstract

Abstract The question of what makes a text easy or difficult to comprehend is answered on the basis of an empirical investigation, which draws especially on theories related to text and memory linguistics. Easy and difficult texts, verified empirically, were analyzed on micro‐ and macro‐levels. Certain aspects of syntax, lexicon and information structure were first studied. These were followed by text‐level analyses related to the narrative and structural organization and the propositional structure of the texts. The article gives an account of the parameters that were most clearly associated with level of text comprehension. The results are also discussed in the light of the possible implications for language in the Swedish‐medium instructional materials in Finland.