The Readability of Reading Texts in English Textbook Used by Senior High School Students in West Sumatera

Readability is one of the criteria to choose reading texts for students. Brown (2012) says that readability is a concept that describes the degree to which a text is easy or difficult to read. Also, Arias (2007) mentions that the material selected needs to be suitable for the students' level. This research was conducted to know the readability of reading texts in English textbook used by senior high school students in West Sumatera. Due to the fact that this textbook (Look Ahead: An English Course for senior high school students year XII Published by Erlangga Publisher) is still used at most of senior high schools in West Sumatera, it is needed to investigate the readability of the reading texts provided in this textbook. The research was done descriptively by using Reading Ease Formula by Flesch. The result of this research revealed that the reading texts in this textbooks do not fulfill the readability criteria. From 10 samples of reading texts, only 1 text is suitable for senior high school students year XII.