A
score that rates a document as to the ease of
readability and is based on the average sentence length and average number of syllables per word. Text is rated on a 100-point
scale. The
higher the score, the easier it is for one to
understand the document. Standard writings should score from 60 to 70.
The formula for the Flesch Reading Ease Score is:
206.835 – (1.015 x ASL) – (84.6 x ASW)
where:
ASL = average sentence length
(the number of words divided by the number of sentences)
ASW = average number of syllables per word
(the number of syllables divided by the number of words)
Similarly, the
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score
computes the
grade level of the document. For
instance, a score of 8.0 means that an eigth grader can easily understand the document.
The formula for the
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level is:
(.39 x ASL) + (11.8 x ASW) – 15.59
A
widespread word processing
application that utilizes these ratings is
Microsoft Word.
Incidentally, this writing obtained a Flesch Reading Ease score of 64.9 and a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of 9.1. 8)