Testing My Articles.

When i write testing, i mean seeing if the text is the right reading age for my target audience's demographic. As my audience is educated, they are sure to know intricate words and complex sentences. I am going to do one of these tests on my articles to see if the way it is written is suitable for my target audience.

I was given the names of different readability tests such as:

• Flesch-Kincaid readability test
• Gunning fog index readability test
• SMOG readability test

I have done a bit of research about them to help me to decide which one/s to use.

Flesch-Kincaid

This test indicates how difficult a piece of English text is to read. There are two types of this test: The Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level. Although they use the same core measures (word length and sentence length), they have different weighting factors, so the results of the two tests correlate approximately inversely: a text with a comparatively high score on the Reading Ease test should have a lower score on the Grade Level test.

The Flesch Reading Ease - In this test, the higher scores indicate text that is easier to read, therefore a lower score represents a hard read. Here is the formulae to find out  the Flesch Reading Ease score:

Scores are then transferred to the table below for the results:


 
The Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level - These tests are usually used in the area of education. The "Flesch–Kincaid Grade Level Formula" translates the 0–100 score to a U.S grade level, making it easier for teachers, parents, librarians, and others to judge the readability level of various books and texts. The level is calculated by this formula:

The result is a number that corresponds with a grade level, usually U.S levels.
Gunning fog index

This test also measures the readability of an English text. The index estimates the years of formal education needed to understand the text on a first reading. The fog index is commonly used to confirm that text can be read easily by the intended audience. Texts for a wide audience generally need a fog index less than 12. Texts requiring near-universal understanding generally need an index less than 8.

There is a certain step-by-step calculation to use to find out the amount of years of formal education needed to understand the text:

The Gunning fog index is calculated with the following algorithm:



1.Select a passage (such as one or more full paragraphs) of around 100 words. Do not omit any sentences;


2.Determine the average sentence length. (Divide the number of words by the number of sentences.);


3.Count the "complex" words: those with three or more syllables. Do not include proper nouns, familiar jargon, or compound words. Do not include common suffixes (such as -es, -ed, or -ing) as a syllable;


4.Add the average sentence length and the percentage of complex words; and


5.Multiply the result by 0.4.




Most of these tests are based on American grades, therefore can be quite confusing for me. Even though this index is a good formulae to use as it can identify a hard text, it doesn't always work because not all complex words are difficult. A short word can be difficult if it isn't used very often.

SMOG

This readability test is similar to the Gunning Fog however it is more accurate and more easily calculated therefore more widely used. This test estimates the amount of years needed to understand a piece of writing. Here is the formulae:

 To calculate SMOG



1.Count a number of sentences (at least 30)


2.In those sentences, count the polysyllables (words of 3 or more syllables).


3.Calculate using:

I'm guessing that the final number out of the equation is the amount of years needed to understand a piece of writing.

 

 

Conclusion

 

I'm sure that there is many other ways to calculate how difficult a piece of text is, but i have decided to stick to these. I know for definite which one i am going to use: The Flesche-Kincaid reading Ease.

 

This is because i am not interested in finding out how long (how many years of formal education) it will take for a reader to be able to read my articles, instead i want to know how difficult is it to read. Finding out how many years of education it will take for somebody to read my article would work for me as my target audience had probably already left school and are in a career and the test suggests that somebody who is still in education should be the main subject of the test.

 

I understand that the test i have chosen to use puts the lowers results into a table which is college years, therefore my results have to be on this level or lower than a score of 9. I will use this formulae and put the results on the bottom of this post.

I think it will take a long time to count the syllables and words of the articles. I am going to do all of the articles in one calculation instead of each article separately. This is because i made it so each article is written very similarly, with the same style of language and structure.

Testing My Articles
I used the Flesche-Kincaid Reading Ease testing and calculated that the solution to the equation is:  

                          44.786

Meaning that my articles all put together are 'DIFFICULT'. Making it suitable for readers who are educated, yet wouldn't be intimidated by the way it is written. I don't know how reliable i can class this as. One part of my articles may be hard to read and another part may be really easy, making the solution meet in the middle. However, i can tell that i haven't written in two extremes.