An Introduction to The National Language Research Institute: A Sketch of its Achievements
Third Edition(1988)/ HTML Version(1997)

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II.4.3 Youth and Mass Communications

(1956. 252 pages) Senior high school pupils in full-time schools and those in part-time schools have greatly different living environment. Young people who enter business after graduation from junior high school without entering higher school are still more different from both of the first two groups. Following the previously mentioned survey, "High-School Pupils and Newspapers," we examined how pupils of part-time high school and young workers come in contact with mass communications and how well they understand them; we centered our study on newspapers. The subjects (1,500 in all) were pupils of part-time high schools and young workers in Tokyo and at Watarai-mura, Mie Prefecture. The items examined were almost the same as those of "High-School Pupils and Newspapers." In general, 1) We examined for general knowledge obtained through mass communications. 2) We examined for the real interests and anxieties of young people. 3) We examined the readability of papers experimentally from two points: the content coefficient of kanzi and the length of sentences. In observing the real conditions of the young people's approach to papers and their understanding by groups, we found three groups of different characters: the group composed of the pupils of part-time high schools in Tokyo, the group composed of young workers in Tokyo, and the group composed of the pupils of part-time high schools and young workers in Watarai-mura. The degree of their contact with papers and their understanding fell in this order. As to the content coefficient of kanzi in sentences, we examined their opinions through five kinds of sentences, which were 5%, 15%, 25%, 35%, and 45% kanzi. Generally the subjects regarded the 35% sentences as the most readable. Young workers who did not enter senior high schools, however, regarded the 25% sentences as the most readable. As to the length of sentences, we examined this point by means of five kinds of sentences, composed on the average of 15.3, 25, 50, 100, and 200 characters. In all the groups the sentences of 50 characters were regarded as the most readable. This survey was made in the second year of the previously mentioned general survey by almost the same members. The report, written by HAYASI Siro~ of the Institute and by KAMEI Kazutuna, MIYATI Singo of the Association, was also published under the joint auspices of the Institute and the Japan Newspaper Association.

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