中文文本可讀性探討：指標選取、模型建立與效度驗證

This study aims to (a) develop readability indicators based on the textual factors that influence reading comprehension; (b) construct the readability model for Chinese text; and (c) validate the proposed readability models. This study constructs readability models employing step regression and SVM, using 24 readability indicators as its predictive variable and the grade level of 386 textbook articles as the criteria. The proposed models are then validated according to an additional 96 texts. The results show that in step regression, the critical predictors are the number of complex words, proportion of simple sentences, average logarithm of content word frequency, and number of personal pronouns. In the SVM model, the critical predictors selected by using the F-score include the number of complex words, number of two-character words, number of characters, and number of intermediate-stroke characters. The accuracy rates of step regression and SVM are 55.21% and 72.92%, respectively. Both models predict the texts more accurately at the lower grade levels than at the higher grade levels.