In many countries, laws mandate that public agencies use plain language to increase access to programs and services.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities includes plain language in its definition of communication.
[5] Writing in plain language does not mean oversimplifying the concepts, but presenting the information in a way that makes it easier to understand and use by a wider audience.
[7] Using plain language in communications ultimately improves efficiency, because there is less ambiguity for the readers, and less time is taken for clarifications and explanations.
[10] Simple design elements like leaving white spaces, using bullets, and choosing contrasting colours encourages a user to read the text and increases readability.
[6] Proponents of plain language adoption argue that it improves reading comprehension and readability, and grants readers greater access to information.
Willerton proposes the BUROC framework for identifying situations requiring the ethical action of plain language: bureaucratic, unfamiliar, rights-oriented, critical.
[16] Cicero argued, "When you wish to instruct, be brief; that men's minds take in quickly what you say, learn its lesson, and retain it faithfully.
The plain, or native style, was, in fact, an entire literary tradition during the English Renaissance, from John Skelton through Ben Jonson and include such poets as Barnabe Googe, George Gascoigne, Walter Raleigh, and perhaps the later work of Fulke Greville.
Two 1921 works, Harry Kitson's "The Mind of the Buyer", and Edward L. Thorndike's "The Teacher's Word Book" picked up where Sherman left off.
Thorndike wrote: It is commonly assumed that children and adults prefer trashy stories in large measure because they are more exciting and more stimulating in respect to sex.
In 1935, educational psychologist William S. Gray teamed up with Bernice Leary to publish their study, "What Makes a Book Readable".
[21] Lyman Bryson at Teachers College in Columbia University led efforts to supply average readers with more books of substance dealing with science and current events.
Access to health information, educational and economic development opportunities, and government programs is often referred to in a social justice context.
[13] Concerned about the large number of suits against its customers to collect bad debts, the bank voluntarily made the decision to implement plain language policies in 1973.
[24] That same decade, the consumer-rights movement won legislation that required plain language in contracts, insurance policies, and government regulations.
In 1972, the Plain Language Movement received practical political application, when President Richard Nixon decreed that the "Federal Register be written in layman's terms".
On March 23, 1978, U.S. President Jimmy Carter signed Executive Order 12044, which said that federal officials must see that each regulation is "written in plain English and understandable to those who must comply with it".
[26][27] In June 1998, President Bill Clinton issued a memorandum that called for executive departments and agencies to use plain language in all government documents.
[28] The Act's sponsor, U.S. Representative Bruce Braley, noted upon its passage that "The writing of documents in the standard vernacular English language will bolster and increase the accountability of government within America and will continue to more effectively save time and money in this country.
[30][31] California was the first state to adopt plain language court forms and instructions, for which it received the 2003 Burton Award for Outstanding Reform.