Readability is the ease that a reader feels while going through a write-up. It is not a fixed measurement but changes from person to person depending on several factors such as age, education, profession, and prior experience of going through particular kind of write-ups. There is no and cannot be a single test that determines the readability of all the texts in the world because ‘readability’ is subject to several factors. Hence, experts designed different tests for different types of text and target audience such as children, students, businesspersons, medical practitioners and engineers. There are several readability tests, which are designed keeping the target audience in view.
While designing a readability test, we take into consideration several metrics and statistics, some of which are mentioned below:
• Average length of sentences
• Average length of words (in terms of characters)
• Average length of words (in syllables)
• Ratio of difficult words and simple words
• Ratio of difficult sentences and simple sentences
• Total number of passive sentences
• Ratio of passive sentences against total sentences
To calculate all the above metrics manually, it involves a large number of counting and calculations. Hence, researchers designed software tools to make such calculations and judge the readability of a document. You can simply cut and paste the text into a readability analysis tool to determine the grade level. You can get some of the readability tools online and free of cost. A readability-testing tool provides you with a greater insight into your document.
Best-known Readability Scores: The most commonly used readability statistics formulas are:
• Flesch Reading Ease
• Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level
• Coleman-Liau Grade Level
• Bormuth Grade Level
Flesch–Kincaid readability test: It is designed to indicate comprehension difficulty when reading a passage of contemporary academic English. There are two tests namely the Flesch Reading Ease and the Flesch–Kincaid Grade Level. Both systems were devised by Rudolf Flesch.
Flesch Reading Ease: In the Flesch Reading Ease test, easy to read to test is assigned with higher scores. The U.S. Department of Defense uses this test as the standard test of readability for its documents and forms. This test is most preferred readable test for companies such as IMB and Microsoft.
Flesch–Kincaid Grade Level: These readability tests are used extensively in the field of education. It translates the score into 0–100. It can also mean the number of years of education generally required to understand this text. E.g., a score of 9 means that the a student of 9th standard in the USA can understand the text with no difficulty. If all the sentences contain only single syllable words (which is impossible in reality), the score can be −3.40 and it is the lowest possible score. “Green Eggs and Ham”*, written by Dr. Seuss, averaging 5.7 words per sentence and 1.02 syllables per word, scored “−1.3 grade level”.
The Flesch reading ease score ranges from “0” to “100.” The lower score is an indicator of harder text while the higher score is an indicator of easier text.
Hamper - Gunning fog index: It estimates the years of academic education needed to understand the text on a first reading. Robert Gunning, an American businessperson, developed the test in 1952. A text with a fog index less than 12 is usually more reachable for a wide audience.
The Gunning fog index is calculated as shown below:
1. Find out length of the average sentence length. (Divide the number of words by the number of sentences.)
2. Count the "complex" words—those with three or more syllables. Do not include proper nouns and familiar jargon.
3. Add the average sentence length and the percentage of complex words
4. Multiply the result by 0.4.
More readable Less readable
Short sentences Long sentences
Commonly used words Rare words and words out of use
Active voice sentence Passive voice sentence
Words giving single meaning Words giving multiple meanings
Words with more syllables Words with less syllables
Popular words Technical words and jargon
(Note: “Green Eggs and Ham” is the best-selling and critically acclaimed book was published in 1960. It is one of the most popular "Beginner Books", written in a very simple vocabulary. The vocabulary of the text consists of just fifty different words and the book contains 62 pages. Bennett Cerf, a publisher by profession, challenged Seuss that one cannot write a book using just fifty different words. Taking it as a challenge, Dr. Seuss authored this book with just 50 words. It is the fourth best selling Children’s book (hardcopy) in English of all time)
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