About Diction Dog

---

This Site Is In Alpha State and Has Several Nonfunctioning Functions

---

Hello, fellow diction enthusiast(s). I designed this site to help me fill a niche in teaching adult English students to read and write English. I tutor a student who has good oral-language skills, with a vocabulary of typical dimensions for his age. However, his sight (or “print”) vocabulary is quite limited, with spelling terribly problematic and sonic parsing of little help so far. Any book that is designed to build vocabulary almost invariably involves childish themes that would embarrass my adult student. Looking for reading material with age-appropriate themes but with an elementary vocabulary, I found nothing.

Because I am a retired professional writer, I decided to write a graphic novel for my student, with exciting, adult action and humor expressed in a simplified vocabulary. However, I do not trust my psychological filters to produce a bias-free, appropriately worded story about adults doing adult things expressed in simple language (what is “simple”?). As my student’s mother said, he needs to feel “success” when he reads. He needs more linguistic confidence to carry him to more difficult words, beyond learning to read, and then, finally, to the finish line: reading to learn.

This software, developed under the auspices of the Craven Literacy Council in Craven County, North Carolina, analyzes a word to predict its level of difficulty. “Level of difficulty” can be adjusted by slider controls and turning on and off various rules to employ during analysis. The tapestry of these controls represents the reading problems of a particular student, and as the student progresses, the controls can be adjusted to reflect the student’s progress.