Presently, there are more than 200 readability formulas developed by various
scholars since the 1940s. Only a handful of these formulas are reliable to determine the
reading-level of a sample text. This article will help you to decide which readability
formula or formulas to use on your documents. Identify your industry, then select the
appropriate formula.
EDUCATION
The primary role of the education sector is to distill good education to students at
different grade levels. Written text in the form of textbooks, journals, literature and so on,
forms the backbone of a good education system. Here are different readability formulas to
use on your documents according to the grade level:
1. Dale-Chall: Dale-Chall Readability formula is a general formula suitable
for all kind of texts.
2. Spache: Spache Readability Formula is ideal for the texts aimed at up to
3rd grade level students.
3. Powers-Sumner-Kearl: The Powers-Sumner-Kearl Readability Formula is
ideal for text geared towards primary age children (age 7-10).
4. SMOG: McLaughlin’s SMOG Readability Formula is appropriate for the
text aimed at secondary age (4th grade to college level) readers.
5. Flesch Reading Ease: The Flesch Reading Ease Readability Formula is a
general formula suitable for all kind of texts.
6. Gunning Fog: The Gunning Fog Index Readability Formula is ideal for
education material aimed at business houses, like business magazines and journals.
7. Fry Graph: The Fry Graph Readability Formula is a general formula
suitable for all kind of texts.
8. Coleman-Liau: The Coleman-Liau Readability Formula is ideal for the
text aimed at 4th grade to college level readers.
9. McAlpine EFLAW: The McAlpine EFLAW Readability Formula is ideal
in determining the ease of reading English text for ESL/EFL (English as a
Second/Foreign Language) readers.
HEALTH CARE
The Health Care Industry produces a large amount of literature relevant to patients,
doctors, pharmacists, researchers, and so on. Here are some tips to decide which
readability formula or formulas to use:
1. Dale-Chall: Useful for any kind of text.
2. Flesch Reading Ease: Useful for any kind of text.
3. Fry Graph: Useful for any kind of text.
4. Gunning Fog: Ideal for business publication and journals
5. New Fog Count: Useful for technical documents and manuals
6. FORCAST: Ideal for technical manuals and forms
7. Raygor Estimate Graph: Useful for any kind of text, including literature
and technical documents.
MILITARY AND GOVERNMENTAL AGENCIES
The military and government agencies developed several important readability
formulas to measure the readability of enlistment applications and technical manuals. The
most important Readability formulas used by military and governmental agencies include:
1. Automated Readability Index (ARI): Ideal for technical documents and
manuals.
2. Flesch Reading Ease: Useful for any kind of text.
3. Flesch-Kincaid: Ideally suited for manuals, forms and other technical
documents.
4. FORCAST: Most appropriate for multiple-choice quizzes, applications,
entrance forms, etc.
5. Linsear Write: Ideal for technical manuals.
PUBLISHING
The publishing industry includes newspapers, magazine, books, journals, and
online media. Publishers mostly use the following readability formulas to make their
documents readable:
1. Dale-Chall: Useful for any kind of text.
2. Flesch Reading Ease: Useful for any kind of text.
3. Fry Graph: Useful for any kind of text.
4. Spache: Ideal for the texts aimed at up to 3rd grade level students.
5. Powers-Sumner-Kearl: Ideal for text geared towards primary age children
(age 7-10).
6. SMOG: Appropriate for the text aimed at secondary age (4th grade to
college level) readers.
7. Gunning Fog: Ideal for business publication and journals.
8. Coleman-Liau: Ideal for the text aimed at 4th grade to college level readers
9. Raygor Estimate Graph: Useful for any kind of text, including literature
and technical documents.
10. Laesbarhedsindex (LIX): Useful for documents of any Western European
language.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Brian Scott is a contributing writer for Literacy News and a writing tutor for Writing Answers.
