ABSTRACT
The literature on the reliability of readability tools to predict the second language (L2) reading comprehension is limited and lacks consensus, particularly in exploring the role of cohesion in L2 reading. Thus, readability metrics used in the first language (L1) reading, which assess only sentence-level difficulty, are ineffective at predicting L2 reader difficulty despite their frequent usage by L2 educators and materials developers. Readability tools are used frequently in L2 environments despite the limited number of empirical studies exploring their effectiveness in predicting L2 comprehension. Thus, traditional readability formula predictions are likely to be even more problematic for L2 readers than for L1 readers due to the exclusive focus on surface features of texts in such formulas. Background knowledge required to read the texts may also have affected how learners comprehend the text. The readability predictions were compared to the comprehension score analysis to determine if one or both tools were reliable in predicting the difference in reading comprehension scores.
