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>>..Writing for an audience of intermediate readers forces
>>one to get off the high horseof specialized literacy
>>and literary hedonism to talk plain language to
>>people who want to get the job done. No shame in that.
>>Best advice I ever got (or gave):
>>Edit for the standard "military" sixth-grade reading level.
>>Beta-test on at least three actual living breathing
>>sixth-graders.
I have to disagree with this. Writing in plain language or ?military? sixth-grade level is not the same as writing for a 12-year-old. The purpose of using plain language is to create a piece that is easily and quickly comprehended regardless of age, literacy, or native language.
It has nothing to do with intelligence or mental maturity. There are a lot of concepts that a military person can comprehend when delivered in simple English that a 6th grader could not begin to understand.
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>>..Writing for an audience of intermediate readers forces
>>one to get off the high horseof specialized literacy
>>and literary hedonism to talk plain language to
>>people who want to get the job done. No shame in that.
>>One last thought -- a low reading level often has no
>>connection to a person's intelligence, and many
>>non-readers are very sensitive about this.
A good point. The goal of technical communication is to communicate. Writing simple language should not be viewed as writing down to the reader's level.
Joanne
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