“The art of art, the glory of expression and the sun of the light of letters, is simplicity.”
Walt Whitman, 1819-1892, American poet
The client said, “We want this written at a 10th grade reading level.” I said, “What is a 10th grade reading level and how is it measured?” The customer said, “Hey, can you look at the time? I have to go right now.”
Similar experiences on various occasions made me think that people use the phrase reading level without really knowing what it means. They read it somewhere and think they sound smarter if they can bring it into the conversation. That sent me on a quest to find out what it means and how it’s measured. This is what I discovered.
First of all, this is an important topic, and one that many customers and the technical writers who work for them do not fully understand or consider carefully. For very experienced writers writing for a wide range of audiences, it becomes second nature. They know their audiences. They know how to write in a way that readers can understand. They make adjustments for the specific audience they are writing for. For writers new to the business or with experience writing for a limited audience, it can be a problem when they need to write for an audience they are unfamiliar with.
Then, when people say that something is written in a tenth grade reading level target audiences reading ability that concerns us. someone could read “Uber der Welt so hoch” and not yet understand he. The goal is to write in such a way that the target audience can understand. That means using a vocabulary and sentence structure that matches the reading comprehension level of the audience. , is a misnomer. What they really mean is that it is written in 10th grade. comprehension level or what is called a readability level. It’s not
Finally, the good news. Readability can be measured. Experts in the field of linguistics know what a 10th grade level of readability is and how it differs from another level. It’s not an exact science, but it’s developed enough that writers can use it to help them hit the bull’s-eye more accurately. We won’t get into the really technical aspects of the topic, but we will provide enough background and illustrations to let you know how to learn more about it.
readability forms
Readability formulas are used to determine if a document is written at the appropriate level of comprehension for the intended audience. There are a number of readability formulas used by various language groups. For now, we will focus on the Gunning Fog Index because it is one of the most famous and that any writer can use. The index was developed by Robert Gunning in 1952. The basic idea is that the bigger the words and the more complex the sentences, the more difficult it is to understand the document. Small words and short sentences are still the easiest to understand.
For convenience, the Fox Index levels equate to the number of years of formal education a reader needs to understand the material. By the way, this is based on the American system of twelve grades of elementary and secondary school with the number of years of college education thirteen and up. A secondary education is a level 12. A master’s degree would be a level 16.
To put this in perspective, a typical big-city newspaper is written at a level 7 or 8. The belief in most industries is that anything above level 12 is too difficult for most readers to understand. . Remember, the Fox Index is not an absolute measure. However, when used on a variety of samples, it is a very good indicator. Here are some Fox Index tiers for popular posts.
Atlantic Monthly = 12
news week = 10
Reader’s Digest = 9
true confessions = 7
Most comics = 6
(This article = 11.6)
The applied fog index
Here’s an example of the same information written at two different readability levels as measured by the fog index.
Example one: Untold numbers of eternally optimistic people buy multi-million odds lottery tickets against their chances of success. They are sustained by a level of ignorance that prevents them from recognizing that the probability of such an unrealistic eventuality occurring is an order of magnitude beyond their ability to comprehend. They cling to the notion that if an event is possible, it must certainly happen, regardless of how great the statistical odds are against it. His cry is always, “Well, someone’s got to win,” which is enough to block out even the brightest glare of reason’s cold light.
The level is reached by counting the number of words, the number of sentences, and the number of words that are three syllables or longer. A formula is then applied that gives the readability index level. In this example, there are 103 words, 4 sentences, and 20 three-syllable words. Using the formula, the fog index level is 18. That means the reader should probably have a PhD to ensure understanding.
Example two: Many people who never give up hope buy lottery tickets even though the chances of ever winning are enormous. What keeps them buying tickets is that they can’t understand that the odds against them are so great that they can’t really hope to win. They believe that because something is possible, then it must happen regardless of the odds against it. Saying, “Well, somebody’s got to win,” is enough to keep them from seeing the reality of the situation.
Using the same method, the 86 words, 4 sentences, and 6 three-syllable words in this example give a fog index level of 11. That’s a high school student.
now you try
Choose a text sample from a font you are familiar with. It helps if it’s a fairly large block of text. The larger the sample, the more accurate the index figure. For example, I selected two blocks of text from the guide that came with my Nikon camera. Follow me through the process:
1. Count the number of words in sample If there are hyphenated words, count each part as one word.
(My count: 120) (Your count: )
2. Count the number of prizes in the sample
(My count: 5) (Your count: )
3. Count the number of big words in the sample: 3 or more syllables.
(My count: 3) (Your count: )>
4. Calculate the average sentence length. To do this, divide the number of words by the number of sentences. For example, 120 divided by 5.
(My number: 24) (Your number: )
5. Calculate the percentage of big words. To do this, divide the number of big words by the total number of words. For example, 3 divided by 120 = 0.02 = 2%.
(My number: 2) (Your number: )
6. Add the average sentence length toward % of big words.
(My number: 26) (Your number: )
7. Multiply the result by 0.4.
fog index (My level: 10th grade) (Your level: )
Now try it on something have written. Based on what you know about your audience, does your Fog Index match your readers’ comprehension level? It is a very important question and this formula can help you answer it.
For more information on readability formulas, use any search engine to find sites related to readability formulas, passive index, Flesch-Kincaid index, or lexical density test.