A Study Of Readability Of English Introduction Texts On Famous Local Specialties In Northwest China

With the globalization of economy, the cooperation and connection between China and the rest of the world become more and more intense, which brings an increasing communication in both width and depth. Having participated in WTO, Chinese exports have continued to strongly outpace world trade with the improvement of technique. In fact, China witnesses its most dramatic increase in international trade for the decade after the 16 th national people's congress of communist party, during which the average annual increase of exports and imports is over 20%. The foreign trade with major economic bodies presents a fast growing tendency, however diverse with new economic bodies. Though China shows mostly a rising trend in its foreign trade, different areas and different category present a quite different picture. The mid-western part of the country is developing at a faster pace than the eastern part, and gradually becomes the main power and highlight of China's foreign trade.However, this glory could meet its end if China can't adjust to the complex change both domestic and overseas. Therefore, China should not only limit herself to processing trade, but actively promote her own brands to the whole world. The western China is, though, comparatively behind on promoting its specialties and making its brands known to the world. In order to keep the fast increase in its foreign trade, the western area should do its best to strengthen cooperation and connection with the rest of the world by introducing its own products more effectively and establishing its famous brands. English, as a tool, plays a critical role in international communications. With regard to the indispensable function of English text, the requirement placed on its quality becomes more and more demanding. Therefore, it is necessary to scientifically and effectively evaluate English texts to improve the quality and effectiveness in written communication.Both quantitative and qualitative analysis involved, this thesis attempts to give a description and evaluation of English introduction text of the famous local specialties in Northwest China by testing the selected samples with five most popular Readability Formulas: Flesch Formula, New Dale-Chall Formula, SMOG formula, Gunning Fog Formula and Spache Formula. Tested by the five formulas, the selected samples of the famous local specialties were evaluated, and analyzed. Firstly, the analytical results suggest that the present English introduction texts for the five chosen specialties are not easy to understand. Although some English introduction texts are short in words, they lack a good organization in context. Secondly, the analytical results suggest that for some specialties which have gained some reputation domestically, the lack of promotion with a readable introduction text could be a problem to drag them behind and has a negative effect on sales. For other specialties which are still strange for potential foreign buyers, it is necessary to improve the quality of the introduction text, so that they would be known and accepted. Thirdly, the factors that influence the result of readability are the number of syllables, words and sentences, ASL(average sentence length), ASW(average number of syllables per word), PHW(Percentage of Hard Words), the total words of single syllables, double syllables and the total words of more than three syllables. It is hoped that this paper could serve to improve the quality of such texts and further raise awareness of those products.This paper consists of five chapters. The First Chapter includes the need of the study, the purpose and significance of the study and the layout of the study. In Chapter two, literature review, the previous studies on Readability are presented starting by identifying the term and related research that has been done by scholars home and abroad. It also take a look at Readability Formulas dated back to its early studies. Chapter Three is the research methodology employed by the present study, which illustrates the research instrument—five classic Readability Formulas. Also data collection and the evaluation procedures are included in this chapter. The following chapter reports the analytic results after the evaluation of the selected data by five Readability Formulas, and then draws the conclusion in the last chapter by discussing the implications, limitations for current research and suggestions for future study.