Abstract

Clear communication between government administrations and citizens is a challenge in democratic societies. Public administration texts often contain technical legal terms, essential to convey specialized knowledge with precision but often impenetrable to non-experts. The plain language movement provides guidelines for simplifying legal-administrative texts, recommending avoiding, explaining, or replacing technical terms with more transparent synonyms. This study assesses the effect of plain terminology on the processing and comprehension of administrative texts in Spanish. We conducted a self-paced reading experiment in which participants (N = 117) read texts with legal-administrative terms and their plain synonyms and answered comprehension questions. Results showed that plain terms significantly improved comprehension but did not reduce reading times. Mixed linear regression analysis revealed that other term properties—length, frequency, and comprehensibility—also influenced reading speed and comprehension. These findings suggest that these factors should be considered when proposing clear alternatives to legal terminology. © 2024 The Author(s). International Journal of Applied Linguistics published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.