MEASURING READING COMPETENCIES IN MALAY LANGUAGE AMONG YOUNG ADULTS WITH READING DIFFICULTIES

At the moment, most of the readability formulas that measure reading competency are based on English words, using average words per sentence and average syllables per word. Unlike English, words in Malay language are constructed differently and tend to have as much as five or six more syllables per word. This paper will discuss how the existing reading competency formulas are being analysed and improved in the effort of developing a better online screening instrument that can measure potential young adults dyslexics competencies to read texts in Malay. Several reading materials were sampled and scored to evaluate the accuracy of current measurement based on different level of readers’ competencies. Early findings from this work-in-progress posed the need for a revised formula as there were other parameters found to affect reading competencies such as the use of advanced words and the inclusion of known difficult word for dyslexics in a passage. It is expected that the revised formula will increase the accuracy of the intended instrument that measures reading competencies in Malay Language for young adults dyslexics in Malaysia.