Readability
From Free net encyclopedia
Readability is a measure of the accessibility of a piece of writing. Both the reading level of the audience and the complexity of the passage in question factor into readability. A rough idea of readability is useful for people who want their writing to be reached by a broad audience.
Presentation factors unrelated to the language of the text also affect readability, for example choice of typeface, text size, layout and colours.
Readability tests' are formulas designed to give a rough indication of a passage's readability. These generate a score based on sentence length, the number of syllables within words, and relative complexity of sentence structure. Scores are compared with scales based on relative difficulty or age level. Since most readability tests do not factor in meaning or grammar, they should not be considered definitive measures of readability. Some word processing programs have some of these formulas built in. Readability formulas are often validated using the McCall-Crabbs passages.
Some readability tests for English are: