Plain language vs. Easy English

Plain language’s aim is to ensure that people can access (understand and use) the information they need to lead better lives. But there’s also Easy English. The two share core principles but Easy English specifically helps people with low literacy skills.

Plain language principles help everyone access (find, understand, and use) the information they need to lead full lives. So how is it different from Easy English, which also aims to help more people access the written word?

[Edited 29 October 2024: This article was revised to incorporate the kind guidance of Cathy Basterfield. Any remaining errors are mine. Originally published 21 October 2021.]

I had never heard of Easy English until I listened to Cathy Basterfield of Access Easy English speak about it at the 2021 Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading conference.

She shared data that shocked me: Of the population of OECD countries, only half have the literacy proficiency to manage a range of day-to-day reading skills. In other words, half the population do NOT have the reading skills to manage daily living and work.

This was much lower than I had imagined. It made me reflect on my own experience, with Thai.

What’s Easy English?

Easy English is designed for anyone with low literacy, irrespective of the reason. It can help people with lifelong or acquired disabilities, mental illness or learning disabilities, older people, early school leavers, people from different cultural backgrounds, among others (for more examples, see Access Easy English’s About Easy English).

Easy English was started in Australia in the mid-2000s, and Cathy Basterfield points out that it is different to and more inclusive than content developed as Easy Read. I’m not at all knowledgeable about Easy Read or similar approaches in other languages (like Einfache Sprache in German, やさしい日本語 in Japanese), but you can see Cathy’s research outlining how Easy Read continues to be linguistically complex (PDF 318KB) and is promoted as being for people with intellectual disabilities.

Plain language vs. Easy English: How are they similar/different?

On some levels, plain language and Easy English sound similar. However, Easy English has a specific audience and fairly clear characteristics.

▶ Plain language is about writing to match your intended audience.

Plain language is about choosing words and organizing them (including use of design elements) so it’s easy for the intended reader to find, understand, and use that information.

In terms of reading level, if you’re targeting a “general” audience, the US government suggests aiming at an 8th-grade reading level. But this level will differ depending on your intended audience. For example, the same research study would be described using different language in an academic journal versus in a lay summary (I love the research summaries on NeuroscienceNews.com, for example).

▶ Easy English is designed for people with low literacy.

Easy English has specific features designed to help people with low literacy. These include using

• the audience’s everyday words
• simple sentence structure
• meaningful and clear images to support the messages
• effective layout

That could, for example, mean writing sentences with an average of 5 to 8 words, using bullet points, and using large fonts and plenty of white space. You can see some great examples at Read Easy English.

From my perspective as a plain language practitioner, Easy English is still very much in agreement with plain language principles in that it’s

… communication in which the wording, structure and design are so clear that intended readers can easily: find what they need, understand what they find, and use that information.

ISO 24495-1 Plain language

What’s powerful about Easy English is that it is rigorously tested and developed with the people it seeks to serve. As a plain language practitioner (I’m sorry for the appropriation but I can’t help it!), I see it as a beautiful example of plain language principles in action.

Resources

• Access Easy English
• How to Meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) (Quick Reference): Detailed guidelines on how to make an accessible website. (I need to study this…!)
• Australian Government Style Manual: Easy Read
• People First (UK): Easy Read Information: An example of Easy Read in action.
• Other plain language resources (from this blog)

Cover image by MasterTux from Pixabay