2. • Reading levels
– Syllables
– Sentences
• Lexile Levels
– Syllables
– Sentences
– Semantics
– Syntax
• All of these rate only how students perform on tests
Problems with Quantitative Analysis of
Books

3. Higher or Lower?

4. Guess Again!
4.8 790 4.0 680

5. Higher or Lower?

6. Hmmm….
5.7 920 5.7 960

7. Higher or Lower?

8. Guess again!
5.7 990 5.9 850

9. Higher or Lower

10. Guess again!
n/a 620 4.1 630

11. One More Time

12. Huh?
4.2 5.0

13. Qualitative measures complement quantitative
measures:
– Purpose
– Language conventionality and clarity
– Text structures
– Knowledge demands
Qualitative Measures

14. • Narrative structure
– Shifts in time (flashback and foreshadowing)
– Point of view (multiple narrators, unreliable narrator)
• Language
– Figurative devices
– Irony
– Parody
• Knowledge Demands
– Cultural
– intertextuality
Translation