Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test
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The Flesch/Flesch–Kincaid Readability Tests are designed to indicate comprehension difficulty when reading a passage of contemporary academic English. There are two tests, the Flesch Reading Ease, and the Flesch–Kincaid Grade Level. Although they use the same core measures (word length and sentence length), they have different weighting factors, so the results of the two tests correlate imperfectly: a text with a comparatively high score on the Reading Ease test may have a lower score on the Grade Level test. Both systems were devised by Rudolf Flesch.
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[edit] Flesch Reading Ease
In the Flesch Reading Ease test, higher scores indicate material that is easier to read; lower numbers mark passages that are more difficult to read. The formula for the Flesch Reading Ease Score (FRES) test is
Scores can be interpreted as shown in the table below.[1]
| Score | Notes |
|---|---|
| 90.0–100.0 | easily understandable by an average 11-year old student |
| 60.0–70.0 | easily understandable by 13- to 15-year old students |
| 0.0–30.0 | best understood by college graduates |
Reader's Digest magazine has a readability index of about 65, Time magazine scores about 52, an average year 7 student's (eleven years) written assignment has a readability test of 60-70 (and a reading grade level of 6-7) and the Harvard Law Review has a general readability score in the low 30s. The highest (easiest) readability score possible is around 120 (e.g. every sentence consisting of only two one-syllable words); theoretically there is no lower bound on the score -- this sentence, for example, taken as a reading passage unto itself, has a readability score of about 14.3. This paragraph has a readability score of about 50.6.
Many government agencies require documents or forms to meet specific readability levels.
The U.S. Department of Defense uses the Reading Ease test as the standard test of readability for its documents and forms. [2] Florida requires that life insurance policies have a Flesch-Kincaid score of 45 or greater.[3]
Use of this scale is so ubiquitous that it is bundled with popular word processing programs and services such as Google Docs, KWord, Lotus, Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, and WordPro.
Long words affect this score significantly more than they do the grade level score.
[edit] Flesch–Kincaid Grade Level
These readability tests are used extensively in the field of education. The "Flesch–Kincaid Grade Level Formula" translates the 0–100 score to a U.S. grade level, making it easier for teachers, parents, librarians, and others to judge the readability level of various books and texts. It can also mean the number of years of education generally required to understand this text, relevant when the formula results in a number greater than 12. The grade level is calculated with the following formula:
The result is a number that corresponds with a grade level. For example, a score of 8.2 would indicate that the text is expected to be understandable by an average student in 8th grade (usually around ages 13-14 in the United States of America).
The lowest grade level score in theory is -3.40, but, since there are few real passages that have every sentence consisting of two one-syllable words, this rarely occurs in practice. Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss comes close, averaging 5.7 words per sentence and 1.02 syllables per word, with a grade level of -1.3. (Most of the 812 words are monosyllabic; "anywhere", which occurs 8 times, is the only exception.)
[edit] See Also
[edit] References
- Rudolf Flesch (1948); A new readability yardstick, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 32, pp. 221-233
- Kincaid, J. P.; Fishburne, R. P., Jr.; Rogers, R. L.; and Chissom, B. S. (1975); Derivation of new readability formulas (Automated Readability Index, Fog Count and Flesch Reading Ease Formula) for Navy enlisted personnel, Research Branch Report 8-75, Millington, TN: Naval Technical Training, U. S. Naval Air Station, Memphis, TN
- Farr, J. N., Jenkins, J. J., and Paterson, D. G. (1951), Simplification of Flesch Reading Ease Formula, Journal of Applied Psychology, Volume 35, Number 5, (October), pp. 333-337
[edit] External links
- Flesh free-standing, Java-based, multi-platform Flesch-Kincaid Readability and Flesch Reading Ease Level tool.
- GNU Style and Diction Command line programs to calculate score
- PlainLanguage.com All About Readability
- The Principles of Readability a brief introduction to readability research
- Wikipedia article Flesch-Kincaid grade level guessing game.
[edit] Web services
- Online readability tool based on the Perl Lingua::EN::Fathom module and the GNU Style program. Text to be analyzed must be on the web with a URL ending in ".txt". Originally written as a resource for National Novel Writing Month participants.
- Eula Analyzer – online end-user license agreement analyzer; tests for readability and highlights areas needing scrutiny.
- Readability calculators – displays six readability statistics.
- Readability analyzer and terminology extraction.
- Check Text Readability – PHP-based web form based on the open source php-text-statistics project.
- Online Readability Testing Tool – Test all or part of a webpage by web address or referer
- Check readability by URL
