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Readability
Tools Used
In This
Readability
Evaluation:
Fry
Readability
Formula (FRF)
This
widely used
readability
formula
estimates
grade
reading
levels from
grade 1 to
grade 17.
This
formula
compares
sentence
length and
number or
syllables in
three sample
passages of
100 words
each.
If a
text is
charted on
the Fry
Readability
Graph with a
score of
"9"
then the
readability
of the text
is at an
8th-10th
grade level.
(See
Figure 1 for
results
using this
assessment
tool)
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Figure
1:
Fry
Readability
Analysis
of
All
Documents
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Document
|
Subject
|
Mean
Syllable
Count
|
Mean
Sentence
Count
|
Fry
Readability
(Grade
Level)
|
|
1
|
A
Letter
to
President
Truman
from
the
Brother
of
Raoul
Wallenberg
|
179.4
|
2.9
|
15th
to
17th+
|
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2
|
Alex
and
Mela
Roslan
|
136.5
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7.1
|
5th
to
8th
|
|
3
|
Survivor
Testimonies
|
152.0
|
6.5
|
8th
to
10th
|
|
4
|
Rescuer
Testimonies
|
152.7
|
7.1
|
7th
to
9th
|
|
5
|
The
Enigma
of
the
Righteous
Persons
|
176.2
|
5.2
|
14th
to
17th+
|
|
6
|
Flight
and
Rescue
|
146.5
|
6.2
|
7th
to
9th
|
|
7
|
"Sweden
Offers
Aid
to
Denmark's
Jews"
New
York
Time
Article
|
162.7
|
3.1
|
12th
to
14th
|
|
8
|
Help
To
Jews
From
"Zegota"
in
Poland
|
166.5
|
3.3
|
13th
to
15th
|
|
9
|
Flight
from
Denmark
to
Sweden
by
Boat
|
135.2
|
6.1
|
6th
to
8th
|
|
10
|
A
Letter
to
Raoul
Wallenberg
from
J.W.
Pehle
|
178.3
|
4.7
|
15th
to
17th+
|
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Summary
of
Readability
|
|
|
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Lowest
|
6th
to
8th
|
|
|
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Highest
|
15th
to
17th+
|
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"Average"
|
9th
to
12th
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Fry
Readability
is a
formulaic
numerical
assessment
of reading
materials.
Advantages
of using the
Fry Scale
•
Formulas are
very
objective-standardized
•
Measures
sentence and
vocabulary
difficulty
•
Ease to
repeat and
easy to
perform
•
Can be
performed
without
evaluator
biases of
the text
Disadvantages
of Fry
•
Does not
consider
student
background
knowledge
•
Does not
consider the
context of
the material
•
Is not
subjective
•
Uses only
samples, not
full text
•
Formula can
be skewed by
large
numerals in
the text
Marshall's
Readability
Checklist
for
Comprehensibility
This
checklist
looks for
features of
the text
that a
readability
formula does
not reveal.
Unlike
formulae,
the data is
subjective.
Hence,
specific,
readability
scores are
not
provided.
Instead,
the
evaluator
answers
"Well
Done",
"Average"
or
"Poor"
to questions
under the
following
categories: Main
Ideas,
Vocabulary,
Concepts,
Related
Ideas,
Referents,
Audience.
(See
Figure 2 for
results
using this
assessment
tool.)
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Figure
2:
Marshal
Readability
Checklist
for
All
Documents
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Document
Number
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1
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2
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3
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