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Subject:Re: Word lists for reading levels? From:WRONECKI Frederic DG <frederic -dot- wronecki -at- FRANCETELECOM -dot- FR> Date:Mon, 25 Nov 1996 11:21:29 +0100
Kris wrote :
> The discussion (on TECHWR-L) of Latinisms prompts me to ask:
> Does anyone have access to a reference that lists the reading level (for
> example, 8th grade, 10th grade, etc.) for words?
The Flesch-Kincaid index is designed to assess a written text on the basis
of the number of syllables per word and the number of words per sentence,
according to the following formula :
0.39 (average words per sentence) + 11.8 (average syllables per word) -
15.59
The formula gives a figure which is supposed to be the "grade level of
difficulty" of the text (the lower the better).
WinWord uses the Flesch index in its Grammar checker, but with reversed
coefficients, so that the result is a percentage (the higher the better).
I use it from time to time, but WinWord seems to be puzzled when sentences
are split into lists or tables.
Besides, the interpretation of the result must be different according to the
language (words are much longer in German than in French, and much longer in
French than in English, for instance).
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Frederic Wronecki
France Telecom, Paris, France
mailto : frederic -dot- wronecki -at- francetelecom -dot- fr
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