AN ANALYSIS OF READABILITY INDEX OF ENGLISH TEXTS IN ENGLISH TEXTBOOK “WORK IN PROGRESS”

Abiyoga, Erlangga. 2023. An Analysis of Readability Index of English Texts
In English Textbook “Work In Progress”. Final Project, English Study
Program, Faculty of Language and Arts Education, University of PGRI
Semarang. Advisor I: Dr. Wiyaka M.Pd., Advisor II: Entika Fani Prastikawati
S.Pd, M.Pd
Keywords: Readability,English Textbook, Readability Index
Textbook is one of the primary media to support the student’s daily life in
pedagogical activities at school. There are several materials that should enhance the
student skill for example reading text, educative illustration, problem solving
questions, and etc. This research attempted to investigate the readability of English
Textbook published by Ministry of Education and Culture entitled “Work in
Progress” because this book is particularly new in its curriculum. The objectives of
the research were (1) to determine the readability Index of the textbook based on
Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch Kincaid-Grade Level, and (2) to determine the
nature of sentence structure used on each text that were found on the textbook. By
using documentation to acquire the sample, the researcher found out that there are
15 different texts that can be used for the readability calculation data. After sorting
out the data, the researcher then calculates each of the text readability index using
both Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch Kincaid Grade Level. The result showed that
there are eight texts that correspond well with the target audience as and seven texts
that didn’t match with the target audience. Text difficulty, complexity and types are
the main reason to this finding. This is due to their nature of sentence structure and
word choice intersect with average sentence length and average syllable per word.
The research further showed that text genre also affects the readability of the text
as narrative text has higher readability score compared to other text genre.