READABILTY SOFTWARE SURVEY
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Publishing
SIG
READABILTY SOFTWARE SURVEY |
Following are the responses to a question Vicki Miller posed regarding readability software.
ORIGINAL QUERRY (4/23/03):
Do any of you use software that assesses the reading comprehension levels of your written material and suggests possible changes to help reach the desired reading level? Or do you ever use the readability features offered in Word Perfect or MS Word? If so, has the software been useful and what are the drawbacks? I would appreciate any advice you can offer.
Here's our situation: An extension educator is preparing a fact sheet for targeted local group of people and needs the message to be written at about the fourth grade reading level. She anticipates needing to write more of this information as she works with a program for low-resource families and she's wondering if software can help. She needs to determine the current reading level of her material and would like the software to suggest ways to adapt it for lower level readers.
Thanks in advance for sharing your wisdom.
Vicki
Vicki Miller, assistant coordinator
IANR News and Publishing
University of Nebraska
Lincoln, NE 68583-0918
Phone: 402/472-7999; 402/472-3030
Fax: 402/472-3093
E-mail: vmiller2@unl.edu
RESPONSES (5/1/03):
Publishing and Writing SIG folks:
You people are the best! Within minutes of posting the question about readability software, I received great responses from many of you wise editors and writers. Several people asked that I share a summary of the responses so I've done so below.
At the risk of summarizing others' opinions, the bottom line seems to be that while there are some helpful tools out there, nothing beats the judgment of a good editor. And I like that a bunch!
Thanks for the quick response,
Vicki
Response summary:
I use Guning's fog index to do this. I use it when I teach writing sometimes. It's easy and can be done in a few minutes by hand. Do you have this? Would you like me to send?
Linda Foster Benedict, Ph.D.
Associate Director and Associate Professor
LSU AgCenter Communications
125 Knapp Hall
Louisiana State University
lbenedict@agcenter.lsu.edu
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I'll be interested in your findings. I am using the old FOG Index whenever anyone is writing for a low-literacy audience.
Jane Honeycutt, LSU
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I use the readability features a lot in MS Word, particularly when I'm editing others' work. But then, as an editor, I also work with them to "bring" it down to a reading level, depending on their targeted audiences. A good example of that is with our Cradle Criers and Toddler Tales, age-paced newsletters for parents of newborns and toddlers. Our family development specialist, too, wanted about a fourth-fifth grade reading level, and you'd be amazed at how simple the writing gets, but yet how effective it can be (action verbs, etc.) Hope this helps. At one time, we did have a readability program we used, but that was eons ago, when I was a mere child!
Holly Young, University of New Hampshire
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Here's the Guning fog index. It's so easy and fun to do. My "students" get a kick out of it. The point is that a shorter average sentence length and fewer big words reduce the reading level and thus increase the speed and ease of reading. I usually have them do it with a Wall Street Journal article. They're always surprised at the low grade level they come out with -- usually 8th grade. I have done it in the past with a memo from an extension administrator. The grade level was 26!
1. Select a sample of at least 100 words. Count the number of sentences. Divide the total number of words in the sample by the number of sentences to get the average sentence length (ASL).
2. Count the number of words with three or more syllables in the sample. Don’t count: 1) proper nouns; 2) hyphenated words; or 3) two-syllable verbs made into three with –es and –ed endings.
3. Divide this number by the number or words in your sample. For example, 15 long words divided by 100 words gives you 15 percent hard words (PHW).
4. To get the fog index, add the average sentence length and the percent hard words and multiply this by .4. The formula looks like this: (ASL + PHW) .4 = Grade Level. This is the number of years of schooling the reader would have to have to understand the writing sample.
Linda Benedict, LSU
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In my "spare time" I've taken reading education courses here at Ohio State. In one of them, we had to "level" books - that's what you are talking about below.
Our professor had us use two readability formulas: Fry, and the Flesch-Kincaid. The latter is what comes with the Microsoft Word program.
If I remember our instructions correctly, for the Flesch-Kincaid, type in a 300-word sample and run a check. That will give you a grade level.
Your colleague should then compare this to the Fry Readability. It involves taking three different 100 word passages, one from the beginning, middle, and end of a written document. Then, you have to count the number of syllables, number of sentences, etc. etc. I can't recall the exact formula, but I'm sure you can find info. about Fry on the Web (do a Google search).
Using two different readability levels will give your colleague an idea of what level her writing is at - 4th or above.
If what she has written is too difficult, she can make it easier by:
keeping the sentences shorter, and reducing the number of multi-syllabic
words.
Let me know if you have any questions.
-Karen Ricker
Hi again,
I did a Google search and found the following web site:
http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/fry/fry2.html
She has a pdf file with the instructions and graph for interpreting your results. The graph may look a bit intimidating, but it is easy to use. And the instructions were fairly clear.
-Karen R.
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I tend not to trust software that supposedly "examines" writing as if it were an exact, mathematical sequence of symbols. I have, however, written educational pieces targeted to a "lower" reading level in the past --and would be happy to help by reading the fact sheet this educator is preparing and making any suggestions. Nothing scientific, just common sense. Good luck,
Mauricio Espinoza
Associate Editor
The Ohio State University
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If she has a targeted local group in mind, maybe a couple of them would be willing to read the material and comment on it in the draft stage. The particular group may not have the same vocabulary as the average fourth grader. For instance, I'm pretty sure that I knew what veal was by the time I was in the fourth grade, but one of our interns didn't know what it was when she was a University junior. Apparently it wasn't on the menu at her home.
Amy Hartman
Electronic Document Librarian
Dept. of Ag. Communications
Kansas State University
307 Umberger Hall
Manhattan, KS 66506
ahartman@oznet.ksu.edu
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Word. But mostly, I try to use Common Sense (not a trademark).
Alberto Hauffen
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I've used the WordPerfect "Grammatik" for years for exactly that purpose and have found it quite helpful as a quick-and-easy check of the readability level, using the Flesch-Kincaid formula. I haven't used the Word program as much, but it does much the same as Grammatik and also provides the F-K reading grade level. Neither program is particularly good at making suggestions that would be especially useful for a first-time user. More helpful would be the general advice to use very short sentences and use hard words sparingly. Robert Gunning defines "hard words" as those with more than two syllables, and that's easy to remember. To get a fourth-grade readability level by Gunning's "Fog Index" model, you'd need to write with an average sentence length of 8 words and with no more than 1 out of 50 words being 3 or more syllables.
Dan Rahn, Georgia
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I've only used the readability statistics in Word. It's pretty easy for me to tell which words/phrases are responsible for the higher levels of my documents. Sometimes I'll use the thesaurus to find simpler or different words for some of those in question. I haven't used other sources.
Sherry Hoyer, Iowa State
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WordPerfect used to include Grammartik (sp?) with its older versions. It assessed the reading levels of documents. It could also be purchased separately. I don't know if it is still on the market. It did a pretty good job. I used it to spot check our publications when I was publications editor at the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service. I retired five years ago and am now a writer/editor (state employee rather than federal)with the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff School of Agriculture,Fisheries and Human Sciences.
Carol Sanders (Reiner) home email carolsr@juno.com
Or, you can always apply the reliable, time proven Flesch formula. It's accurate and pretty easy to use.
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Here is a link to a software that does what you are looking for. I have not used it, but you can read about it at http://www.micropowerandlight.com/
Myriam
University of California-Riverside
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I use the readability stats in Word whenever I run Spellcheck, which is rather important in my case because of my long-standing tendency to transpose letters without noticing. You have to select "readability statistics," however, because they won't come up unless you ask for them.
I like the fact that it tells me the grade level and a readability index. One problem with the grade level, however, is that once you reach the 12th grade level, it doesn't distinguish any farther. In other words, if you write something at the 12th grade level and something else that would supposedly grade out at, say, the graduate school level, it still just says "12th grade." Of course, I try to write below that level, but much of what I'm given to edit is way above that, and it's a struggle to bring the reading level down to 10th grade or below. But when I succeed, it's a good feeling!
One other thing I like about Word's readability statistics is that they tell you the percentage of passive voice sentences in your text. In fact, you can enable another feature to point them (as well as instances of bad grammar) out as you write or edit your text.
Dave McAllister, USDA-CSREES
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Although I use the readability feature in MS Word as a starting point, having a grade school teacher give feedback is very helpful. My wife teaches K-3 and has been a great help. I do, on occasion, work with some other teachers at her school as well. Teachers not only help with wording, but with the approach/format you are using, things you'll never get from software. And, you could take the money you would spend on the software and donate it to the school.
Hope this helps.
Oscar Nagler III, Editor
Ag Communication Purdue University
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Vicki....every now and then we use the readability software in Word or Word Perfect. We mostly use it as a backup if we know specifically that the audience is 6th grade or lower and we need to justify our stance with the author.
Debby Weitzel
Publications and Promotions Specialist/Cooperative Extension
Colorado State University
dweitzel@ur.colostate.edu
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One more idea: as you colleague writes her materials for low level readers, she should consider including a glossary of unfamiliar terms. ....just a suggestion.
-Karen Ricker, Ohio State
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wow, writing at a fourth grade level? Pick up Gear, Stuff, GQ or watch any FOX-news broadcast and then aim slightly higher.
Or, on a more serious note, I have had better luck consulting with our elementary education department and those professors who specialize in reading education. The readability software seems to be more based on journalism than education and it sounds like your fact sheets are geared more towards education. There is a lot of research on this age group because it is generally felt that if they don't grasp reading by the third or fourth grade, it will severely hamper the rest of their education.
...thus forcing them into a life of politics and/or professional sports.
Dennis Hinkamp, Utah State
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Folks,
Here are a couple of Web sites I found. Not surprisingly, they're from land-grant ag communications units.
Web sites: PowerPoint slides from Barb Minnick at Iowa State --
http://isu.indstate.edu/bminnick/asbe336/PowerPoint/fog-index.htm;
and from
Missouri -- http://muextension.missouri.edu/explore/comm/cm0201.htm
Vicki
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