Readability Statistics
Readability
statistics are something I have used with secondary students to check that
their writing is at a suitable level. It is a feature that is available in
Microsoft Word. After you have performed a spell check it will tell you at
what grade level you are writing at and what the
readability
score is. You do need to turn on the
readability
feature and you can do this by going to Tools - Options,
click on the Spelling and Grammar tab and select the
'Show the
Readability
Statistics'.
This example of a Year 5 student has a Grade
level of 6.5 and the Reading ease is 76.9%
US Grade level comparison to NZ levels are
Grade 1 =to NZ Year 2 or Grade 6 = NZ Year 7.
Reading Ease rates text on a 100-point scale;
the higher the score, the easier it is to understand the document.
For most standard documents, aim for a score of approximately 60 to
70.
This would also be a useful tool for teachers
when they preparing written text for their students as it will guide
their level of writing.