This lesson introduces the principles and importance of plain language in communication, emphasizing clarity, reader comprehension, and accessibility, particularly in legal and governmental contexts. It argues that plain language is essential for effective communication with all audiences, not just those with lower literacy skills.
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hello and welcome to our plain language
and readability lesson my name is
Jessica Bullock Frank and I am the
program coordinator here at the Center
for access to justice and technology at
chicago-kent on our agenda today we have
an introduction to plain language the
definition of plain language the history
of the plain language movement some
statistics steps to plain language and
readability and a couple practice exercises
exercises
for an introduction to plain language we
look to the northwest literary councils
plain language handbook right for your
reader the literary council is a
canadian organization that works with
individuals and groups to promote and
support literacy and other essential
skills they develop this plain language
handbook as a guide as you write for
your readers plain language means that
you think about your readers and pay
attention to first how you organize the
information that means you tell your
readers what the document is about you
help them find the information they need
you pay attention to what you write you
include only the information your
readers really need you pay attention to
how you write you use words and grammar
your readers understand you speak
directly to your reader and finally you
think about how you present the
information you use design techniques to
help people read more easily they also
found that there were two myths about
the plain language movement first that
plain language is simple minded and
talks down to people when in fact plain
language includes and respects people
people understand what they read they
get the information they need and not a
lot of extras the second myth was that
plain language isn't necessary for
people who read well when in fact plain
language helps everyone understand what
they read people with good literary
skills still skip over information
understand less or just won't read a
document that is too complex wordy or technical
technical
professor eagleson from the University
of Sydney has directed numerous projects
for private and government organizations
to rewrite documents in plain English he
defined plain English as clear
straightforward expression using only as
many words as are necessary it is
language that avoids obscurity inflated
vocabulary and convoluted sentence
construction it is not baby talk nor is
it a simplified version of the English
language writers of plain English let
their audience concentrate on the
message instead of being distracted by
complicated language and they make sure
that their audience understands the
message easily in the 1990s the Clinton
administration was determined to make
the government more responsive
accessible and understandable in its
communications with the public because
of that they dictated that the federal
government's ratings must be in plain
language by using plain language we send
a clear message about what the
government is doing what it requires and
what services it offers the Clinton
administration defined plain language as
documents that have logical organization
are easy to read with design features
and use common everyday words except for
necessary technical terms that use you
and other pronouns the active voice and
contains short sentences in 2010
President Obama signed the plain writing
app its purpose was to improve the
effectiveness and accountability of
federal agencies to the public by
promoting clear government communication
that the public can understand and use
it required federal agents used to use
plain language in every covered document
of the agency that the agency issues or
substantially revises let's watch a
short clip from ABC News marking the
announcement nothing Republicans and
Democrats can both agree on the need for
government documents to make some sort
of sense if you've ever tried to fill
out an income tax return you know how
confusing federal documents could be so
Congress has now stepped in and out
John Berman quite literally has both
sides of the story the aquatic
vertebrate propels forwarded
manipulating its complex musculature in
other words the fish is swimming yes
there is something to be said for
simplicity even in Washington so last
week President Obama signed the plain
writing Act of 2010 the idea is that
government documents should be written
in clear understandable language it's
been a problem since the time of the
honeymooners and who willfully fails to
pay site estimated tax or attacked make
such return keep such records or
supplied such information why Ralph it
sounds like you are in trouble trouble I
don't even know what I'm talking about
what will the new law mean for you a
Medicare letter that used to say
investigators at the contractor will
review the facts in your case and decide
the most appropriate course of action so
on and so forth if the practice
continues the contractor may conduct
special audits of the providers medical
records now it reads we will find out if
it was an error or fraud 53 words 211 a
win for those against wordiness John
Berman on behalf of my employer of the
american broadcasting company which is
the division of the walt disney company
signing off from the west side of 66
tree in the borough of manhattan in
other words John Berman ABC News New
York the cry for plain language has even
arisen in court opinions a bankruptcy
judge in Texas denied the defendants
motion because quote the court cannot
determine the substance if any of the
defendants legal argument nor can the
court even ascertain the relief the
defendant is requesting the defendants
motion is accordingly denied for being
incomprehensible the judge then quoted
this game is seen from Billy Madison in
his footnote what you just said is one
of the most insanely idiotic things I
have ever heard at no point in your
rambling incoherent response were you
even close to anything that could be
considered a rational thought everyone
in this room is now dumber
for having listened to it I award you no
points and may God have mercy on your
soul in 2002 the National Center for
Education Statistics completed a 5-year
14 million dollar study this was the
most comprehensive study of literacy
ever commissioned by the US government
over 90,000 adults were interviewed and
the National Center found that nearly
fifty percent of adults are functionally
illiterate that means they cannot
balance their checkbook they cannot read
a drug label and they cannot write an
essay for a job 21 to 23 percent of
adults were not able to locate
information in text could not make
low-level inferences using printed
materials and were unable to integrate
easily identifiable pieces of
information 41 to 44 percent of those US
adults with the lowest level of literacy
we're living in poverty the study also
showed that more than twenty percent of
adults read at or below a fifth-grade
reading level that is far below the
level needed to earn a living wage 21
million Americans cannot read it all 45
million are marginally illiterate one in
five high school graduates cannot read
their diploma and they noted that there
are almost 750,000 words in the English
language but one-third of all of our
writing is made up of only 25 words so
how do we deal with this when we are
creating our ADA Jake I two interviews
first you write for your audience
consider their age education culture and
language as you script and create the
questions use familiar words and
phrasing if you have to use specialized
terms explain them that is what the pop
ups and learn more czar meant for avoid
foreign archaic and noun heavy phrasing
use the active voice and direct address
eliminate surplus words and omit
unnecessary detail boil the information
down to what your reader actually needs
to know
to complete the form and aim for a fifth
grade reading level the next five slides
are a series of practice exercises you
can see here on the left a list of eight
legalese words I'm going to pause for 10
seconds so that you can translate those
words into plain language if you need
more time feel free to pause this video
and resume when you are ready to see my suggestions
