When The Experts Write: A Readability Analysis Of Public Universities’ Websites In Ghana

https://doi.org/10.36349/olijhe.2024.v.01i01.011

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.36349/olijhe.2024.v.01i01.011

Keywords:

Readability, Websites, FRE, University, Readability Formulas

Abstract

Websites of institutions of higher learning provide valuable resources to students, professors, parents, and the general public. Since the websites have a wide range of audience, with different educational backgrounds, the contents on the websites must be readable in order to make them useful to the general public. This paper evaluated the readability of the websites of seven public universities. Convenience sampling was employed to select 30 articles from each website (n =210), and Flesch reading ease and grade level were employed to compute readability scores. The results revealed that contents on all the seven websites were very difficult to read, requiring 14 years of education to be able to comprehend, on the average. Only two of the websites (those of the University of Development Studies, Tamale, and University of Education, Winneba) differed statistically in their readability. It was recommended that webmasters re-evaluate the contents on their websites to make them more readable.

Author Biographies

  • GYASI, William Kodom, PhD.

    GYASI, William Kodom PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Studies, 
    University of Cape Coast. He obtained his first degree, MPhil and Ph.D. from the University of Cape Coast. 
    His research areas are Text Readability and Family Communication. He has also interest in Public Speaking and Legal Communication and hopes to commence research in these areas in the very near future. He is currently the Head of Department of Communication Studies at University of Cape Coast.

  • OPOKU-FOFIE, Gertrude

    OPOKU-FOFIE, Gertrude, is a Senior English tutor at Mfantsipim School which is in the Central Region of 
    Ghana and he was the immediate past Head of the Department. She is also the Chair of Cultural Society of Mfantsipim School; and in charge of grooming newly appointed prefects to give his maiden inaugural lecture at the first Speech and Prize giving day after his appointment. Getrude holds a Bachelor's Degree in English Education, a Master of Arts in Teaching Communicative Skills and a Master of Philosophy in Teaching Communicative Skills. She is a part-time lecturer in the Department of Communication Studies at University of Cape Coast. Some courses she teaches includes, English for the Media, Communicative Skills in English, Public Speaking and Introduction to Mass Communication.

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Published

2024-08-09

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 1 (2024): OLÓGÈ: LASUED INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES EDUCATION (OLIJHE)

Section

Articles