Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Flesch/Flesch–Kincaid Readability Tests are readability tests designed to indicate how difficult a reading passage is to understand. There are two tests, the Flesch Reading Ease, and the Flesch–Kincaid Grade Level. Although they supposedly use the same measures, just placed into a different scale, the results of the two tests do not always correlate (a text with a better score on the Reading Ease test over another text may end up with a worse score on the Grade Level test). Both these systems were devised by Rudolf Flesch.
Contents |
[edit] Flesch Reading Ease
In the Flesch Reading Ease test, higher scores indicate material that is easier to read; lower numbers mark harder-to-read passages. The formula for the Flesch Reading Ease Score (FRES) test is
where total syllables/total words = average number of syllables per word (ASW) and total words/total sentences = average sentence length (ASL).
As a rule of thumb, scores of 90.0–100.0 are considered easily understandable by an average 5th grader. 8th and 9th grade students could easily understand passages with a score of 60–70, and passages with results of 0–30 are best understood by college graduates. Reader's Digest magazine has a readability index of about 65, Time magazine scores about 52, and the Harvard Law Review has a general readability score in the low 30s. The highest readability score possible is 121 (every sentence consisting of a one-syllable word); 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 -6.
This test has become a United States governmental standard. 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.
Most states require insurance forms to score 40–50 on the test.
Use of this scale is so ubiquitous that it is bundled with popular word processing programs such as KWord, Lotus WordPro and Microsoft Word.
Long words affect this score significantly more than they do the grade level score.
[edit] Flesch–Kincaid Grade Level
An obvious use for readability tests is 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.[1] 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.
[edit] See also
- Rudolf Flesch
- Automated Readability Index
- Fry Readability Formula
- Gunning fog index
- Raygor Estimate Graph
- Readability
- SMOG Index
- Zipf's law
[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
- Plain English Campaign The campaign for clearer english language
- PlainLanguage.com All About Readability
- Online readability tool
- Eula Analyzer online EULA Flesch-Kincaid Readability and highlights areas needing scrutiny.
- Check text readability
- Leicht Lesbar A Swiss site (in German) to calculate the text score
- GNU Style and Diction Command line programs to calculate score
- Readability Studio Windows based program that can calculate these scores
- 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.
- Bullfighter A plugin for MS Word. It will calculate the index and provide some other measures of readability.
