Editing Plain language (section)

===1951 to 2000===
[[Lyman Bryson]] at Teachers College in Columbia University led efforts to supply average readers with more books of substance dealing with science and current events. Bryson's students include Irving Lorge and [[Rudolf Flesch]], who became leaders in the plain-language movement. In 1975, Flesch collaborated with [[J. Peter Kincaid]] to create the [[Flesch-Kincaid readability test]], which uses an algorithm to produce grade level scores that predict the level of education required to read the selected text.<ref>Kinkaid, J.P., Fishburne, R.P., R.L., & Chissom, B.S. (1975). Derivation of New Readability Formulas (Automated Readability Index, Fog Count, and Flesch Reading Ease formula) for Navy Enlisted Personnel. Research Branch Report 8-75. Chief of Naval Technical Training: Naval Air Station Memphis.</ref> The instrument looks at word length (number of letters) and sentence length (number of words) and produces a score that is tied to a U.S. grade school level. For example, a score of 8.0 means that an eighth grader can read the document.

Others who later led plain language and readability research include educator Edgar Dale of Ohio State, [[Jeanne Chall|Jeanne S. Chall]] of the Reading Laboratory of Harvard, and George R. Klare of Ohio University. Their efforts spurred the publication of over 200 readability formulas and 1,000 published studies on readability.

Beginning in 1935, a series of literacy surveys showed that the average reader in the U.S. was an adult of limited reading ability. Today, the average adult in the U.S. reads at the 9th-grade level.

Access to health information, educational and [[economic development]] opportunities, and government programs is often referred to in a social justice context. To ensure more community members can access this information, many adult educators, legal writers, and social program developers use plain language principles when they develop public documents{{Citation needed|date=February 2009}}. The goal of plain language translation is to increase accessibility for those with lower literacy levels.

In the United States, the movement towards plain language legal writing began with the 1963 book ''Language of the Law'', by David Mellinkoff.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=D.|first=Johnson, Lori|date=2015|title=Say the Magic Word: A Rhetorical Analysis of Contract Drafting Choices|url=http://scholars.law.unlv.edu/facpub/897/|journal=Scholarly Commons @ UNLV Law|language=en}}</ref> However, the movement was popularized by Richard Wydick's 1979 book ''Plain English for Lawyers.''<ref name=":0" /> This was followed by famous plain language [[promissory note]]s by Nationwide Mutual Insurance and Citibank in the 1970s.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last=Kimble|first=Joseph|date=December 1992|title=Plain English: A Charter for Clear Writing|url=https://www.michbar.org/file/generalinfo/plainenglish/pdfs/92_dec.pdf|journal=Michigan Bar Journal}}</ref>

Concerned about the large number of suits against its customers to collect bad debts, the bank voluntarily made the decision to implement plain language policies in 1973.<ref>Asprey, M., (2003). Plain language around the world. Plain language for lawyers. The Federation Press. Retrieved September 23, 2008, from {{cite web |url=http://www.federationpress.com.au/pdf/AspreyCh4Exp.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2008-09-24 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080728112934/http://www.federationpress.com.au/pdf/AspreyCh4Exp.pdf |archive-date=2008-07-28 }}</ref> That same decade, the consumer-rights movement won legislation that required plain language in contracts, insurance policies, and government regulations. American [[law school]]s began requiring students to take legal writing classes that encouraged them to use plain English as much as possible and to avoid legal jargon, except when absolutely necessary.  Public outrage with the skyrocketing number of unreadable government forms led to the [[Paperwork Reduction Act]] of 1980.

In 1972, the Plain Language Movement received practical political application, when President [[Richard Nixon]] decreed that the "Federal Register be written in layman's terms". On March 23, 1978, U.S. President [[Jimmy Carter]] signed Executive Order 12044, which said that federal officials must see that each regulation is "written in plain English and understandable to those who must comply with it".<ref name=plainwriting>
[http://www.plain-writing-association.org/plain-writing-background-legislative-history.htm "Background: Plain Writing Legislative History, 2007-2010"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120317110810/http://www.plain-writing-association.org/plain-writing-background-legislative-history.htm |date=2012-03-17 }}, 2010, Irwin Berent, Plain Writing Association</ref> President Ronald Reagan rescinded these orders in 1981, but many political agencies continued to follow them. By 1991, eight states had also passed legislation related to plain language. Plain Language Association International (PLAIN) was formed in 1993 as the Plain Language Network. Its membership is international; it was incorporated as a non-profit organization in Canada in 2008.<ref>{{cite web|title=About PLAIN |url=http://plainlanguagenetwork.org/networkindex.html |publisher=Plain Language Association International |access-date=2008-11-13 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081110220806/http://www.plainlanguagenetwork.org/networkindex.html |archive-date=2008-11-10 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Speech by SEC Commissioner: Remarks at the Plain Language Association International's Fifth International Conference|publisher=[[Securities and Exchange Commission]]|year=2005|url=https://www.sec.gov/news/speech/spch110405cag.htm|access-date=2008-11-12}}</ref> 
In June 1998, President [[Bill Clinton]] issued a memorandum that called for executive departments and agencies to use plain language in all government documents.<ref name=plainwriting/> Vice President [[Al Gore]] subsequently led a plain language initiative that formed a group called the Plain Language Action Network (PLAIN) to provide plain language training to government agencies.