For a critique
of readability formulas and metrics, see Walter Kintsch & Douglas Vipond, Reading Comprehension and Readability in Educational Practice and Psychological Theory, in Perspectives on Memory Research 329 (Lars - Göran Nilsson ed., 1979).
To understand what constitutes more «readable» writing according to these formulas, we look to advice from longtime readability researcher Edward B. Fry.45 Fry explained how to improve a readability score without merely «gaming the system»
of readability formulas.46 Fry's advice will be familiar to teachers of writing in general and legal writing in particular:
Readability is an interesting topic, and there are a number
of readability formulas that can be used to test the readability of text.
- We can trace the origin
of readability formulas during the late 19th Century in the United States.
Not exact matches
«I can muster little enthusiasm for basal readers, those homogenized and bowdlerized grade - school texts, edited according to
readability formulas and syllable schemes, that constitute the bulk
of the average child's officially sanctioned reading material in American schools,» comments Ms. Ohanian, a senior editor
of Learning87 and a former teacher.
This program uses four types
of quizzes (reading practice, vocabulary practice, literacy skills, textbook quizzes) to assess students» daily progress, measuring the quality, quantity, and level
of difficulty they are reading using the Advantage TASA Open Standard, a
readability formula that provides reading levels based on the entire contents
of books.
1 Binkley and Kelly
of the assessment division
of the National Center for Education Statistics applied two separate
readability formulas to the 2002 NAEP 4th grade reading assessment.
The New Dale - Chall
Formula is an accurate readability formula for the simple reason that it is based on the use of familiar words, rather than syllable or letter
Formula is an accurate
readability formula for the simple reason that it is based on the use of familiar words, rather than syllable or letter
formula for the simple reason that it is based on the use
of familiar words, rather than syllable or letter counts.
In response to the Common Core requirement for a more accurate measure
of text complexity than offered by standard
readability formulas, Pearson's Knowledge Technologies researchers developed Reading Maturity Metric (RMM) based on empirically derived growth in individual word meanings.
The ATOS book level is a
readability formula used by the Accelerated Reader program to represent the difficulty
of a book.
It should be remembered, however, that no
readability formula can account for everything students bring to the task by way
of interest in and knowledge
of the topic.
You can also find a detailed explanation
of the Flesch Reading Ease score on
Readability Formulas.
Researchers have developed hundreds
of different
readability measures based on structural and content features of text.41 Structural features include the average numbers of syllables per word, words per sentence, and sentences per paragraph.42 Content features include the average number of prepositional phrases, «easy» or «hard» words (based on a predetermined list), and first - person, second - person, or third - person pronouns.43 Readability measures use different formulas that combine structural features, content features, or both, to generate a readabili
readability measures based on structural and content features
of text.41 Structural features include the average numbers
of syllables per word, words per sentence, and sentences per paragraph.42 Content features include the average number
of prepositional phrases, «easy» or «hard» words (based on a predetermined list), and first - person, second - person, or third - person pronouns.43
Readability measures use different formulas that combine structural features, content features, or both, to generate a readabili
Readability measures use different
formulas that combine structural features, content features, or both, to generate a
readabilityreadability score.44
at 10 — 55 (describing dozens
of different
readability measures and their
formulas).