Chapter 3 explores the criteria educators can use for determining what instructional materials (such as texts) will be appropriate for their learners. Initially, Ruddell (2008) takes on the ongoing debate between textbooks and trade books. Ruddell (2008) acknowledges the purpose of textbooks as a means of organizing learning information and supplementing students understanding, but pushes that trade books are a better alternative for students to read to learn. Having clarified the utility of textbooks versus trade text, Ruddell (2008) surveys the various evaluative instruments and philosophies educators can use to determine texts for their class; these instruments/philosophies include: readability formulas (Fry Readability Graph, SMOG Formula), reader-text relationship concerns (cloze testing, Group Reading Inventory), the readability checklist, the friendly text evaluation scale, and the Carter G. Woodson book award checklist. …show more content…
Additionally, Ruddell (2008) lays out criteria that educators can utilize for evaluating electronic and software based texts, particularly those texts pulled from or located directly on the internet. Lastly, the author calls on teachers to have a voice in the task of text selection but also to remain ever sensitive to the various issues and needs surrounding text