Classic Readability Formulas Formulas of Readability

13 DRP = Degrees of Reading Power, on a 0 – 100 scale with 30 very easy to 100 very hard c Fry Readability Graph Fry Readability Graph is introduced by Edward Fry. One of the popular readability tests that use a graph. Then it is validated with comprehension scores of primary and secondary school materials and by correlations with other formulas. Directions of doing a measurement namely: 1 Select sample of 100 words. 2 Find y vertical, the average number of sentences per 100-word passage calculating to the nearest tenth. 3 Find x horizontal, the average number of syllables per 100-word sample. 4 The zone where the two coordinates meet shows the grade score. While scores that appear in the dark areas are invalid. 14 It can be seen in the following graph: Graph. 2.1 Fry’s Readability Graph 15 National Partnership for Women and Families describes the score shown by the intersection of x line horizontal and y line vertical of the Fry graph. The descriptions are: 1 4 th – 6 th grade means readable by most adults. 2 7 th – 8 th grade mean readable by half or more adults. 3 14 Dubay. Op. Cit., pp. 44 —46. 15 National Partnership for Women and Families. Fry Readability Formula; an Overview. 2009, p. 1. 14 High school and above mean readable by few adults. 16 The grades of readability level are equal with the grades of school ages. d The Listening Formula The Listening Formula is the other formula of readability for spoken sentence. Rogers published a formula for predicting the difficult of spoken text. As Dubay explained that the formula is: 17 G = .669 I + .4981 LD – 2.0625 Where:G = reading grade level I = average idea unit length LD = the average number of words in a hundred-word sampling that do not appear on Dale’s long list 3,000 words e SMOG Formula The other one is the SMOG formula, G. Harry McLaughlin as elaborated by Dubay, 18 published his SMOG formula in the belief that the word length and sentence length should be multiplied rather than added. By counting the number of words of more than two syllables polysyllable count in 30 sentences, he provides this simple formula: SMOG grading = 3 + square root of polysyllable count. McLaughlin validated his formula against the McCall-Crabbs passages. He used a 100 per cent correct-score criterion. f FORCAST Formula The FORCAST formula is one of readability formula used for measuring reading material for adults especially in the U.S. Army. This formula created by Caylor and friends under the requirements such as, 1 Based on essential Army-job reading material; 2 Adjusted for the young adult-recruit population; 3 Simple and easy for standard clerical personnel to apply without special training or equipment. The FORCAST formula is as follow: Grade level = 20 – N:10 Where N = number of single-syllable words in a 150-word sample. Since the formula does not use a sentence-length measurement, it can also use with short statements it is in accordance with what Dubay has elaborated in his overview of new readability formulas. 19 16 Ibid., p. 2. 17 Dubay. Op. Cit., p. 46. 18 Dubay. Op. Cit., p. 47. 19 Ibid., pp. 47 —48. 15 g The Army’s Automated Readability Index ARI The other formulas of readability which is used for the U.S Army is The Army’s Automated Readability Index ARI. As elaborated by Dubay, that this formula is created by Smith and Senter that used an electric typewriter modified with three micro switches attached to cumulative counter for words and sentences. The ARI formula produces reading grade levels GL as the following: 20 GL = 0.50 words per sentence + 4.71 strokes per word – 21.43. h The Navy Readability Indexes NRI The Navy Readability Indexes NRI is the recalculation of ARI, Flesch and Fog Count Formulas. Those readability formulas recalculated by Kincaid, Fishburne, Rogers, Chissom and Fishburne. They make the experiment aimed to recalculating the readability formulas and to validating the effectiveness of the recalculated formulas on Navy materials. In which they are measured by comprehension scores on Navy training manuals, and finding out the relationship of readability and learning time, as it is considered being an important measurement of readability. The results of the recalculations are as follows: 21 ARI simplified: GL = .4 words per sentence + 6 strokes per word – 27.4 Fog Count New: Where: Easy words = number of number of 1 and 2-syllable words per 100 words Hard words = number of words of more than 2 syllables per 100 words Sentences = number of sentences per 100 words Flesch Reading Ease formula which is simplified and converted to grade level GL and later on it is known as Flesch Kincaid Grade Level. GL = 0.39 ASL + 11.8 ASW – 15.59 Where: GL = position on a scale of 0 difficult to 100 easy, 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. 20 Ibid., p. 49. 21 Dubay. Op. Cit., p. 49.