THE READABILITY OF SELECTED SECOND GRADE SOCIAL STUDIES TEXTBOOKS BY

The aims of the social studies curriculums include growth of the pupil in social competence and awareness. In order to permit the teacher knowledge as to what sodal studies materials best contribute to the development of those aims, this study evaluated the readability level of three second grade social studies textbooks. (1) "We Have Friends, " (2) "You and the Neighborhood " and (3) "Learning About Our Neighbors. " Two readability formulas (one developed by Spache; the other, by Yoakam) were used to obtain the readability levels. The first book was found to be on the second grade level, but the other two yielded higher grade levels of readability. The Yoakam formula rated the books higher than the Spache formula but not significantly so. Some variation in readability level was found to exist within a single book, the result being that some sections were readily comprehensible to the student while others were relatively more difficult. (WD