Guide to Guideline 3.1 Level 3 Success Criterion 5

  • Guideline 3.1: Make text content readable and understandable.
  • 3.1 L SC 5 When text requires reading ability more advanced than the lower secondary education level, one or more of the following types of supplemental content is available: [V]
    1. A text summary that requires reading ability less advanced than the lower secondary education level.
    2. Graphical illustrations of concepts or processes that must be understood in order to use the content.
    3.    A spoken version of the text content.

    Key terms and important concepts

    supplemental content
    Additional content that illustrates or clarifies default text content, which users may use instead of or in addition to the default text content.For example, there may be supplements in text, graphics, and audio.
    Education level
    Years of school completed, or highest degree achieved.   
    Primary education level 
    usually begins at age 5, 6, or 7 and continues for six years of full-time schooling, according to the International Standard Classification of Education (UNESCO, 1997). Note: The primary level of education may also be referred to as education level Source: International Standard Clasification of Education 1997.  UNESCO. Retrieved 22 June 2005 from http://www.unesco.org/education/information/nfsunesco/doc/isced_1997.htm.)
     
    Lower secondary education level
    The period of education that follows completion of primary education and ends nine years after the beginning of primary education. Source: International Standard Clasification of Education 1997.  UNESCO. Retrieved 22 June 2005 from http://www.unesco.org/education/information/nfsunesco/doc/isced_1997.htm.)
    Delivery unit
    [Note: add plain-language paraphrase approved at 2005-04-28 call.] A set of material transferred between two cooperating web programs as the response to a single HTTP request. The transfer might, for example, be between an origin server and a user agent.
     

    Intent of this success criterion

    The intent of this success criterion is:

     

    This success criterion helps people with reading disabilities while also allowing authors to publish difficult or complex Web content. Text difficulty is described in terms of the level of education required to read the text . Education levels are defined according to the International Standard Classification of Education (UNESCO 1975, 1997), which was created to allow international comparison among systems of education.

    Difficult or complex text may be appropriate for most members of the intended audience (that is, most of the people for whom the content has been created). But there are people with disabilities, including reading disabilities,  even among highly educated users with specialized knowledge of the subject matter. It may be possible to accommodate these users by making the text more readable.  If the text cannot be made more readable, then supplemental content is needed.

     

    Supplemental content is required when text demands reading ability more advanced than the lower secondary education level—that is, more than nine years of school. Such text presents severe obstacles to people with reading disabilities, and is considered difficult even for people without disabilities who have completed upper secondary education.

       

    Techniques for addressing GL L3 SC5

    The following combinations of techniques are deemed to be sufficient by the WCAG Working Group for meeting success criterion 3.1 L3 SC5.

    Instructions: Select the situation below that matches your content. Beneath it are the option(s) that are known and documented to be sufficient for that situation. For the technology-specific techniques, see the options for the technology you are using listed immediately below.

       

    Determine if your text content matches Situation A or Situation B, by

    • Measuring the readability of text content

    Situation A: If the text requires reading ability at the lower secondary education level or lower, the following would be sufficient:

    Situation B: If the text requires reading ability more advanced than the lower secondary education level, then one of the following would be sufficient:

    • Making the text easier to read
      •  
    • Providing a text summary that requires reading ability less advanced than lower secondary education level
    • Using graphics to illustrate complex ideas, events, and processes
    • Providing spoken versions of the text.
     

    Technology-Specific Techniques for GL3.1 L3 SC5

    Optional Techniques (Advisory) for GL 3.1 L3 SC5

    Although not required for conformance, the following additional techniques should be considered in order to make content more accessible. Not all techniques can be used or would be effective in all situations.

    Additional technology-independent techniques

    • Providing text for navigational and landing pages which requires reading ability that is less advanced than the lower secondary education level
    • Providing text for interior pages which requires reading ability at the lower secondary education level
    • Providing Signed versions of information, ideas, and processes that must be understood in order to use the content

    Additional technology-specific techniques

    • Using the Dublin Core element to associate text content with text, graphical, or spoken supplements
    • Using RDF to associate supplements with primary content

    Benefits: How GL 3.1 L3 SC5 helps people with disabilities

    • This success criterion benefits people with reading disabilities who can understand complex ideas and processes presented in highly readable text or by other means, such as graphics illustrating relationships and processes or through the spoken word.
      •  

      Reading disabilities such as dyslexia affect the ability to recognize individual words.  Decoding must be automatic in order for people to read fluently.  The act of decoding text word by word consumes much of the mental energy that most people are able to use for understanding what they read.

     

    Examples of GL 3.1 L3 SC5

    • Example 1: A scientific journal including readable summaries of complex research articles A scientific journal includes articles written in highly technical language aimed at specialists in the field. The journal’s Table of Contents page includes a plain-language summary of each article. The summaries are intended for a general audience with eight years of school. The metadata for the journal uses the Dublin Core specification to identify the education level of the articles’ intended audience as “advanced” and the education level of the intended audience for the summaries as “lower secondary education.”   
    • Example 2: Medical information for members of the public A medical school operates a Web site that explains recent medical and scientific discoveries. The articles on the site are written for people who are not doctors. Each article uses the Dublin Core metadata specification to identify the education level of the intended audience as “lower secondary education” and includes the Flesch Reading Ease score for the article. A link on each page displays the education level and other metadata. No supplemental content is required because people who read at the lower secondary education level can read the articles.
    • Example 3: An e-learning application. An online course about Spanish cultural history includes a unit on Moorish architecture. The unit includes text written for students with different reading abilities.  Photographs and drawings of buildings illustrate architectural concepts and styles. Graphic organizers are used to illustrate complex relationships, and an audio version using synthetic speech is available. The metadata for each version describes the academic level of the content and includes a readability score based on formulas developed for Spanish-language text. The learning application uses this metadata and metadata about the students to provide versions of instructional content that match the needs of individual students.
      •  
    Examples of readability in English text content Example 1: A moderately difficult description of a complex and unfamiliar natural event. In a dazzling and dramatic portrait painted by the Sun, the long thin shadows of Saturn's rings sweep across the planet's northern latitudes. Within the shadows, bright bands represent areas where the ring material is less dense, while dark strips and wave patterns reveal areas of denser material.   The shadow darkens sharply near upper right, corresponding to the boundary of the thin C ring with the denser B ring. A wide-field, natural color view of these shadows can be seen here.   The globe of Saturn's moon Mimas (398 kilometers, or 247 miles across) has wandered into view near the bottom of the frame. A few of the large craters on this small moon are visible. Note: The description in Example 1 is taken from NASA – Sun-Striped Saturn, at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/pia06574.html.   Retrieved 2005-03-08. Note: This description received a Flesch Reading Ease score of 57.9 and a Flesch-Kinkaid Grade Level of 9.9. This result means that people in the United States  who have finished almost 10 years of school should be able to recognize the words and sentences.   Example 2: Description of a complex and unfamiliar natural event, rewritten to improve readability The long thin shadows of Saturn's rings sweep across the planet’s northern regions. Bright bands within the shadows show areas where the ring material is less dense. Dark strips and wave patterns show denser areas.   The shadow darkens sharply near the top right.  This is where the thin C ring meets the denser B ring. This shows a wide-field, natural color view of these shadows.   The globe of Saturn's moon Mimas (398 kilometers, or 247 miles across) appears near the bottom of the frame. A few of the large craters on this small moon are visible. [Note: This edited version of the description was rated at 72.1 on the Flesch Reading Ease scale, meaning that people beginning their sixth year of school should be able to read the description. The changes include:  *         Introductory phrases were deleted or moved to the end of the sentence. *         Some sentences were shortened. *         Some longer sentences were divided into two sentences. *         Some longer words such as “latitudes” and “reveal” were replaced by shorter words with similar meanings (“regions,” “show”). ]  

    Related resources

    • A Plain Language Audit Tool provides a checklist for determining whether documents can be edited for clarity and “plain language.” The checklist includes a readability assessment. Available from the Northwest Territories (Canada) Literacy Council at http://www.nwt.literacy.ca/plainlng/auditool/cover.htm.
    • The Plain Language Network Web site provides many useful resources to help writers produce documents that communicate clearly in a variety of cultural and rhetorical contexts.  See http://www.plainlanguagenetwork.org/.
    • The US government’s plain language Web site at http://www.plainlanguage.gov provides general information about plain language as well as information about use of plain language in US government documents, including legal requirements
    • The Plain English Campaign Web site provides useful information and guidance for authors writing in English.  Available at http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/.
    • The Swedish government’s Plain Language site provides similar  information about plain language efforts in Sweden.  Available at http://www.regeringen.se/sb/d/4409.
    • Hall, T., and Strangman, N. CAST: Graphic organizers. Retrieved 5 April 2005 from http://www.cast.org/publications/ncac/ncac_go.html#startcontent. This article illustrates several differet kinds of graphic organizers, explains how each type may be useful, and summarizes research findings that graphic organizers support learning, especially among students with learning disabilities.