"What makes a text readable" can be defined differently in various situations.  Readability cannot be understood as a permanent set of criteria, but rather as a target that shifts with the needs of readers and their learning goals.  Figuring out which texts are readable for a particular curricular situation is a prerequisite for implementing reading into any kind of instruction;  a sensititivity to readability is particularly crucial to FL reading. 

     In putting together an instructional sequence using reading, a teacher is likely to use authentic materials (that is, texts written for a native-German-speaking audience).  There are comparatively few textbook collections with authentic materials, so figuring out "what makes a text readable" is the key to using authentic materials (now easily and cheaply available on the WWW) at virtually all levels of second language (L2) instruction. 

     This unit will highlight some of the factors which make a text readable, as a prelude to introducing how a teacher can use authentic texts from the German literary canon as well as from popular media available in print and online as a flexible basis for L2 curricular planning. In later units we will discuss how materials from readers can be integrated more fully into the language curriculum.