Sian Gooding

Textual Complexity is in the Eye of the Beholder

Talking about the importance of text simplification using complex academic language.

The difficulty of a text is highly subjective, yet this factor is often neglected in text simplification and readability systems which use a “one-size-fits-all” approach. In this talk, I will discuss what contributes to text complexity, emphasising how this is dependent on the intended audience. Furthermore, I will present work showing how on-device reading strategies also differ based on a reader’s first language and proficiency.


Sian is a PhD student at the University of Cambridge studying readability and text simplification.

Presentation Materials

Talk Video
Talk Slides
Text Simplification Slack