The Readability of Consumer- Oriented Bank Brochures: An Empirical Investigation

The Dale and Chall (1948) definition of readability treats 3 principal aspects of the reading process: 1. comprehension, 2. fluency, and 3. interest. Readability formulas are usually defined as mathematical equations that calculate the reading grade level (RGL) at which material is written. They express RGL in instructional years of 10 months each. Plain English Laws and a number of federal laws require that business firms provide comprehensible and appropriate customer information. The Fry Readability Graph was used to measure the RGL of 30 consumer-oriented brochures issued by 5 major US banks and 26 major daily newspapers. Average readability was more than 11.5 years for the banking brochures and 12.5 years for the newspapers, meaning that about 62% and 67%, respectively, of the US adult population would be unable to read them with comprehension.