Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-x4r87 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T02:25:49.827Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

8 - Developing Computerised Health Translation Readability Evaluation Tools

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2019

By
Meng Ji  and
Zhaoming Gao
Edited by
Meng Ji  and
Michael Oakes
Meng Ji
Affiliation:
University of Sydney
Michael Oakes
Affiliation:
University of Wolverhampton
Get access

Summary

Health translation readability assessment represents an important yet largely underexplored research area in translation studies. This chapter introduces an integrated analytical system developed for the computer-aided assessment of the readability of Chinese health translations. The system comprises two components which are a computerised Chinese text lexical profile analyser; and a data-driven statistical instrument that can be used to diagnose and label the readability level of Chinese translations and non-translated health education materials. The online Chinese lexical profile analyser was informed by recent research in corpus linguistics and Chinese educational literacy. It includes thirty-nine individual and compound lexical features to enable in-depth and systematic analyses of the lexical complexity and textual coherence of Chinese health education and promotion materials. The statistical instrument was developed using a large Australian Chinese Health Translation Corpus. The statistical instrument built contains two measurement scales which are related to the information load and the lexical technicality as two important indicators of the readability of Chinese health education resources. The study demonstrated the viability and effectiveness of developing digital analytical tools and instruments for the objective assessment of the readability of health materials, especially health translations which hold the key to the success and sustainability of health promotion and communication in multicultural societies with diverse population groups.

Keywords

Chinese health translationreadabilityinformation loadlexical technicalityfactor analysis
Type
Chapter
Information
Advances in Empirical Translation Studies
Developing Translation Resources and Technologies
 , pp. 145 - 163
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Caperchione, Cristina M., Kolt, Gregory S., Tennent, Rebeka and Mummery, W. Kerry (2011). Physical activity behaviours of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) women living in Australia: A qualitative study of socio-cultural influences, BMC Public Health 11(26). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1186/1471–2458-11–26; www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/11/26.Google Scholar
Crossley, Scott A., Greenfield, Jerry and McNamara, Danielle S. (2008). Assessing text readability using cognitively based indices, TESOL Quarterly, 42( 3), 475–493.Google Scholar
Crossley, Scott A., Allen, David B. and McNamara, Danielle S. (2011). Text readability and intuitive simplification: A comparison of readability formulas, Reading in a Foreign Language 23(1), 84–101.Google Scholar
Dale, Edgar and Tyler, Ralph W. (1934). A study of the factors influencing the difficulty of reading materials for adults of limited reading ability, The Library Quarterly 4(3), 384–412.Google Scholar
Doak, Cecilia Conrath, Doak, Leonard G. and Root, Jane H. (1985). Teaching Patients with Low Literacy Skills. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott.Google Scholar
Friedman, Daniela B. and Hoffman-Goetz, Laurie (2006). A systematic review of readability and comprehension instruments used for print and web-based cancer information, Health Education and Behaviour 33(3), 352–373.Google Scholar
Graesser, Arthur C., McNamara, Danielle S., Louwerse, Max M. and Cai, Zhiqiang (2004). Coh-Metrix: Analysis of text on cohesion and language, Behaviour Research Methods 36(2), 193–202.Google Scholar
Jowsey, Tanisha, Gillespie, James and Aspin, Clive (2011). Effective communication is crucial to self-management: The experiences of immigrants to Australia living with diabetes, Chronic Illness 7(1), 6–19.Google Scholar
Kreps, Gary L. and Sparks, Lisa (2008). Meeting the health literacy needs of immigrant populations, Patient Education and Counselling 71(3), 328–332.Google Scholar
Lively, Bertha A. and Pressey, Sidney Leavitt (1923). A method for measuring the ‘vocabulary burden’ of textbooks, Educational Administration and Supervision, 9, 389–398.Google Scholar
Sung, Yao-Ting, Chen, Ju-Ling, Lee, Yi-Shian, Cha, Jih-Ho, Tseng, Hou-Chiang, Lin, Wei-Chun, Chang, TaoHsing and Chang, Kuo-En (2013). Investigating Chinese text readability: Linguistic features, modelling, and validation, Chinese Journal of Psychology 55(1), 75–106.Google Scholar
Thorndike, Edward L. (1921). The Teacher’s Word Book. New York City, NY: Columbia Teacher’s College, Columbia University.Google Scholar
Anne Marie, Thow and Anne-Marie, Waters (2005). Diabetes in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Australians: Identification of Communities at High Risk. Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×