Improving Linguistic Accessibility of Fire Risk Reduction
| dc.bibliographicCitation.firstPage | 29 | |
| dc.bibliographicCitation.lastPage | 40 | |
| dc.bibliographicCitation.volume | 42 | |
| dc.contributor.author | Myung, Heiyeon | |
| dc.contributor.author | Ji, Meng | |
| dc.contributor.editor | Adone, Dany | |
| dc.contributor.editor | Gosebrink, Anna | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-08-29T09:16:15Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2025-08-29T09:16:15Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2025 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Australia is a country where many culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities reside, with more than 300 languages spoken. In order to bridge language barriers in the nation, the provision of language services has received ample attention from scholars. However, different cultural and linguistic backgrounds are not the only contributing factors to a communication barrier. According to the 2011-2012 Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), about 44 per cent of Australians are reported to have literacy level two and below. Against this backdrop, researchers, especially in the UK and Australasia, have recently shown an increased interest in accessible information. ‘Accessible information’, ‘easy-to-read’ or ‘easy-read’ are interchangeable terms commonly used to describe information specifically designed for people with literacy needs. Despite a growing body of literature on the accessibility of information, the research to date has tended to focus on health information accessibility and there is still insufficient data for accessibility of fire risk reduction information. This paper seeks to fill the research gap by measuring the level of accessibility of existing online fire and rescue information in NSW, collected in 2023, revising texts that do not score an ideal reading level and suggesting key strategies to improve the readability of information. Linguists reviewing community-targeted fire risk reduction information produced by authorities in the country will help assess community accessibility of current information, provide a practical writing style guideline to different stakeholders and create a cost-effective approach to writing future fire risk reduction information in Australia. | |
| dc.identifier.doi | 10.35515/zfa/asj.42/2025.03 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://resolver.sub.uni-goettingen.de/purl?fidaac-11858/3653 | |
| dc.language.iso | eng | |
| dc.relation.journal | Zeitschrift für Australienstudien / Australian Studies Journal | |
| dc.rights | CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 | |
| dc.subject.ddc | ddc:420 | |
| dc.subject.field | australianstudies | |
| dc.subject.field | linguistics | |
| dc.title | Improving Linguistic Accessibility of Fire Risk Reduction | |
| dc.title.alternative | Information in Australia | |
| dc.title.specialissue | Contemporary Australia and Emerging Challenges | |
| dc.type | article | |
| dc.type.version | publishedVersion | |
| dspace.entity.type | Publication |