By Dana P Skopal, PhD
Government departments and companies produce many documents for their communities. The information in those documents should be clear and enable a reader to understand the message. However, research shows that this is often not the case (Skopal & Herke, 2017). This leads to the term many use when aiming to communicate clearly – plain English. However, what is ‘plain English’, and should that be a set way to write?
Plain (simple, easy) English can be difficult to define, especially if you need to write a range of texts for a broad audience such as the public. In Australia, the Law Reform Commission of Victoria in 1990 defined plain English as ordinary English that was expressed clearly to convey a message simply and effectively. The US Federal Plain Language Guidelines provide more specific advice, and list writing steps such as:
- use active voice
- use pronouns to speak directly to readers
- use short, simple words
- write short sentences
- keep subject, verb, and object close together.
In Australia there is currently no law relating to how governments need to communicate. The Australian Government Style Manual states that ‘Plain language can express complex ideas. Engage people with words they can understand quickly …’ Yet the issue remains: do government officials understand how to communicate in plain English? Does this need to be legislated?
The New Zealand Parliament is currently debating the Plain Language Bill. This bill promotes the use of ‘plain English in official documents and websites’. The bill states: ‘plain language means language that—(a) the intended reader can easily understand after 1 reading; and (b) is clear, concise, and well-organised, and follows recognised guidelines of plain language writing ‘ (see https://www.legislation.govt.nz/bill/member/2021/0070/latest/DLM4357608.html). This reflects a positive start, but any organisation will need to ensure that staff understand the key elements of writing in plain English.
Let’s step back to basics. We need to re-think our approach to teaching writing and get across the steps a writer needs to go through to write clearly. Think about the proverb: If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach a man how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Be proactive and teach good clear writing early in the educational system, and workers can then have the skill set to communicate in plain English.
Australian Government Style Manual. https://www.stylemanual.gov.au/writing-and-designing-content/clear-language-and-writing-style/plain-language-and-word-choice
Law Reform Commission of Victoria (1990). Appendix 1. Guidelines for drafting in Plain English. Melbourne: Victorian Government.
New Zealand Parliament. (2022). Plain Language Bill. https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/bills-and-laws/bills-proposed-laws/document/BILL_115953/plain-language-bill
Plain Language Action and Information Network. (2011). Federal Plain Language Guidelines. http://www.plainlanguage.gov/howto/guidelines/FederalPLGuidelines/FederalPLGuidelines.pdf
Skopal, D. P. & Herke, M. (2017). Public discourse syndrome: reformulating for clarity. Text & Talk, 37 (1), 141–164, doi: 10.1515/text-2016-0041.
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