Reading for a Reason Student Book 1: Expanding Reading Skills by Laurie Blass and Elizabeth Whalley Copyright @ 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
By using Fry readability metric, developed by Edward Fry, one of the more popular reading formulas, we are able to know the approximate grade of giving reading materials.
Plot the averages on the Fry Graph
According to Fry Readability Formula, the approximate grade level of "The Reading for a Reason 1" is for the 7th Grade level - see the red dot on the graph below.
Conclusion: Since Fry readability metric is designed to determine its reading level based on the school system of the United States, we need to convert it to how ESL/EFL text books are categorized.
Based on the publisher, Reading for a Reason 1 is designed for high-beginning level and its reading passage word count 150-600; therefore, it is very close to my finding from Fry readability metric.
Chapter 1 Friendship Reading 2: The Benefits of Friendship (p.13)
What is friendship? What is a friend? The answer depends on you. What do you like? What do you believe is important? Often friends like the same things. For example, friends often enjoy the same sports, the same movies, or the same music. They enjoy these activities together. Often friends believe the same things, too. For example, two friends might both believe that family is very important, or that it is important to do volunteer work or help save the environment. Two friends might also have similar political ideas.
There are many definitions of “friend.” But everyone agrees that it is good to have friends. Friends make you happy. And friendship is good for your health.
Chapter 2 Finding Lost Loves Reading 2 The Lost Loves Study (p.33)
Sociologists and psychologists study human emotions, such as love and romance. Sociologists are usually interested in emotions and social groups. Psychologists are usually interested in emotions and individuals. Studies of human emotion help us to understand ourselves and the people around us better.
One psychologist, Dr. Nancy Kalish of California State University, was interested in a kind of love called “lost love.” She wondered about lost loves. She knew lost loves were people who were in love, separated, and met again later in life. Sometimes they met after 20 years, and sometimes after 30 years. Sometimes they even met 50 years later. Dr. Kalish wondered what happened after they reunited.
Chapter 3 Food Names Reading 2: The Language of Food (p.55)
English has many foreign words. Many of these words are food names. How do foreign food words come into English? Some food words come with immigrants. Immigrants come to English-Speaking countries. They bring their favorite foods from their countries, and they also bring the names. These foods often become popular. English speakers like the foods and use the original “foreign” names. Sometimes there is an English word for the same thing, but people like the original name for the food. For example, the Italian word pasta means about the same thing as the English word noodles, but English speakers often use the Italian word.