Various researches have been carried out regarding lexical density and readability. Prawinanto and Bram (2020) conducted a study of English high school textbooks. The outcome of this research indicated that the grade-X textbook of English by the Indonesian Government was convenient for students. Purnomo (2016) investigated the difficulties that arise as a result of complex grammatical use of descriptive and narrative texts in the English book of Grades VII, VIII, and IX of Private Junior Islamic High School in Medan. Satriwan (2018) analyzed the content and grammatical words of English reading texts from junior high school. The results showed that three were under the low category, and two had high lexical density. Costantini and Fuse (2022) examined the readability of textual knowledge on COVID-19 vaccination that was present online in articles in newspapers in Asia. Sari and Ekawati (2021) applied a quantitative method by highlighting the lexical density in Reader’s Digest Magazine. Pratiwi, Farikah, and Indriani (2018) analyzed the lexical density and readability of textbooks of level 4. To, Fan and Thomas (2013) examined the lexical density and readability of texts from English textbooks. These textbooks were known as Active Skills for Reading at elementary and intermediate, pre-medium, and upper levels. This study used three methods Ure (1971) and Flesch (1948) for finding lexical density and readability. Lukmana and Gunawan (2021) took the contended disputed articles from the UU Cipta Kerja to highlight the lexical density. The results showed that a high lexical density index, namely 10.81 was found in disputed articles related to employment. This showed complexity in content thus making it difficult for the common reader. The lexical density level of different textbooks could be different in different sectors like public and private schools which in turn could be appropriate or not to the level of students learning a second language (Fadhil, Gunawan, & Wirza, 2023), which is further influenced by type of language and genres understudy (Liu, 2022) and level of students (Rizkiani, Mahdi, & Sujatna, 2022). So, to consider the needs of the reader, it is necessary to clarify the language, reduce the formality of the text, and improve the understanding of the reader. The current research will be new and significant in analyzing the lexical density and readability of English Newspaper Dawn.

Methodology

Table 2 Level of Lexical Density

The lexical density of the sports genre that contains text 1 and text 2 was 57.25 and 52.42 respectively. Text 3 and text 4 of the education genre had a lexical density of 54.05 and 57.95 respectively. Text 5 and text 6 likewise had a lexical density of 60.62 and 61.15 respectively, which were taken from the business genre. Science genre having text 7 and text 8 had lexical densities of 61.28 and 55.20, respectively. Based on Ure (1971), all texts of all sections had high lexical density because their value exceeded 40%. Following are the details of the readability indices of each text found in the newspaper and the suitability of the text for different grades. 

Table 3 Readability Indices

The readability value of sports genres was 58% and 55.9%, respectively. The first text contained 656 words, 30 sentences, and 943 syllables. The second text contained 848 words, 47 sentences, and 1308 syllables. By comparing the readability value with the Flesch Reading Ease Scale as shown in Table 2, it was concluded that texts 1 and 2 of the sports correspondent were fairly difficult in style and suitable for 10-12 grade students. Text 3 and text 4 of the education genre had readability indices of 60.9% and 36.3%. the first text contained 528 words, 27 sentences, and 810 syllables. The second text contained 455 words, 20 sentences, and 785 syllables. Interestingly, the first text of the Education Correspondent was standard in style and suitable for grade 8-9 level students but the second text of the Education Correspondent was difficult in style and suitable for undergraduate-level students. The data shows that different texts of the same correspondent have suitability for different grade levels. Text 5 and text 6 had readability values of 31% and 37.2% that were taken from the business genre. The readability value of the first text was 31%. It contained 549 words, 21 sentences, and 1023 syllables, while the second text contained 288 words, 11 sentences, and 475 syllables. Both the texts by comparing the readability value with the Flesch Reading Ease Scale as shown in Table 2, of the business correspondent were difficult in style and suitable for undergraduate-level students. Science genre having text 7 and text 8 had readability values of 45.1% and 38.9%, respectively. The first text contained 295 words, 11 sentences, and 463 syllables, while the second text contained 341 words, 11 sentences, and 557 syllables. By comparing the readability value with the Flesch Reading Ease Formula as shown in Table, it is concluded that both texts of the Science Correspondent were difficult and suitable for undergraduate-level students. Lexical density was constituted of the number of lexical items as proportional to the total number of items in the text. These levels showed whether the text consisted of narrow or large consideration of vocabulary words. If the text contained a greater number of content-carrying lexical items as compared to non-content-carrying items (grammatical items), it means the text consisted of a greater extent of vocabulary words.

Table 4 The Level of Dense Vocabulary in Texts

In the first text, the lexical density level contained large vocabularies, having 351 content-carrying items and 262 grammatical items. Thus, the lexical density was 57.25. In the second text, the lexical density level contained large vocabularies, having 378 lexical items, 343 non-content carrying items, and a lexical density was 52.42. The third text contained 280 lexical items and 238 functional items. It contained a large number of vocabularies and lexical density was 54.05. The fourth text contained 255 lexical words and 185 grammatical words. Lexical density level contained larger vocabularies. The fourth text had a lexical density of 57.95. The level of lexical density of the fifth text constituted vocabularies in large numbers containing 348 lexical words, and 226 functional items and had a lexical density of 60.62. The sixth text had dense vocabularies. It contained 170 content-holding items and 108 non-content-holding items. It had a lexical density of 61.15. The lexical density level of the seventh text contained dense vocabularies. It had 201 content-holding lexical items 127 non-content-holding words and a lexical density was 61.28. The lexical density level of the eighth text had dense corresponding vocabularies containing 159 content lexical words and 129 noncontent functional words. Thus, had a lexical density of 55.20. 

Table 5 The Row of Highest to Lowest Lexical Density in Texts of Dawn Newspaper

The above table highlights that the highest level of lexical density was 61.28 in the seventh text in the Science Correspondent news. The lowest lexical density level of 52.42 was observed in education correspondent news. A total of 8 texts based on four genres of Dawn Newspaper were analyzed. According to Ure's (1971) formula, if the lexical density of written text is above 40% it accounts for high lexical density. If the level of lexical density is below 40%, it accounts for low lexical density. Readability was obtained through online text analyzer software based on the Flesch Formula. The readability indices were analyzed by comparing them with the Flesch Reading Ease Scale which contained values ranging from 0-100. The table below displays the distribution of lexical density and readability for text.

Table 6 Average Lexical Density Values of Genres of Dawn Newspaper

The above table shows the average values of lexical density of the genre of Dawn Newspaper as follows: The first genre of sports correspondent had an average value of lexical density of 54.83. The second genre of education correspondent was 56. The third genre of business correspondent was 60.88. The fourth genre of science correspondent was 58.24.

Table 7 Average values of Content and Non-Content Carrying Lexical Items

The above table shows average values of content and non-content carrying lexical items of the genre of Dawn Newspaper. The average value of content carrying lexical items of the First genre of Sports Correspondent was 364 and non-content carrying lexical items was 302.5. The education genre had 267.5 content-holding words and 211.5 non-content-holding items. The business genre had 259 lexical items and 167 non-content-carrying items. The content carrying lexical words and grammatical words of the science genre were 180 and 128 respectively.

Table 8 The Level of Dense Vocabulary in Texts

In the first text, the lexical density level contained large vocabularies, having 351 content-carrying items and 262 grammatical items. The lexical density was 57.25. In the second text, the lexical density level contained large vocabularies, having 378 lexical items, and 343 non-content carrying items, and lexical density was 52.42. The third text contained 280 lexical items and 238 functional items. It contained a large number of vocabularies and lexical density was 54.05. The fourth text contained 255 lexical words and 185 grammatical words. Lexical density level contained a large vocabulary. The fourth text had a lexical density of 57.95. The level of lexical density of the fifth text constituted vocabularies in a large number containing 34 lexical words, and 226 functional items, and had a lexical density of 60.62. The sixth text had dense vocabularies. It contained 170 content-holding items and 108 non-content-holding items. It had a lexical density of 61.15. The lexical density level of the seventh text contained dense vocabularies. It had 201 content-carrying lexical items 127 non-content holding words and a lexical density was 61.28. The lexical density level of the eighth text had dense corresponding vocabularies containing 159 content lexical words and 129 functional words. Thus, had a lexical density of 55.20.

Table 9 Average Readability Values of Genres of Dawn Newspaper

The above table shows average values of readability of the genre of Dawn Newspaper. The first genre of sports correspondent had an average value of readability was 56.95. The second genre of education correspondent was 48.6. The third genre of business correspondent was 34.15. The fourth genre of science correspondent was 42. By comparing the average values with the Flesch Reading Ease Scale, it was concluded that the first genre of sports correspondent having an average value of 56.95 was fairly difficult for Grade 10-12 level students. The second genre of education correspondent had an average value of 48.6 and was difficult for Undergraduates. The third genre of business correspondent had an average value of 34.15 and was difficult for undergraduate-level students. The fourth genre of science correspondent had an average value of 42 and was difficult for Undergraduate level students.

Conclusion