Flesch Reading Ease

My notes from a Cathy Moore article on writing tips...

We all agree the elearning should be concise, but what does this mean? If we use readability statistics to quantify style it's easier to guide writers.

What does this chart tell us?

The highest-circulation magazines tend to have the highest readability scores.

What score should you aim for?

Many plain-English advocates suggest aiming for a score in the 60s. I would settle for the 50s if necessary. Unfortunately, a lot of elearning ends up in the 40-something “Suits” category thanks to corporate drone.

De-drone to improve your score and motivate learners

The reading ease formula considers sentence length and the number of syllables in words, so short sentences with short words score better.

• Say “you” and “we” (human beings in a conversation)
• Cut 98% of adjectives and adverbs
• Write active sentences that make clear who does what
• Use strong verbs instead of wimpy “is”
• Look for tacked-on clauses (”blah blah, which…blah blah, because…”). Turn them into standalone sentences.

How to check your score in Word

The readability check is part of Word’s spelling and grammar check, so check your spelling. If you don’t see a window with readability statistics, you need to turn the feature on:

1. Select Tools > Options
2. Choose Spelling and Grammar
3. Check the box next to Show readability statistics
4. Check your spelling. You should see the readability results.

Be sure to check a big chunk of text–500 words or more. Short snippets give unreliable results.

Check both on-screen text and narration scripts

All the text associated with your material should be concise, easy to understand, and direct. A lot of narration sounds dull and de-motivating because it’s coming from the “Suits” category.

Why not use grade level?

1. Grade-level statistics have too much baggage. People worry about offending their audience by writing “below” their educational level. For example, a stakeholder could say “Our learners all finished college. Therefore, we should write at grade 16. Writing lower than that dumbs down the material.” Using the reading ease score and keeping the conversation focused on magazines read by adults avoids these issues.
2. Grade levels aren’t global. “Seventh grade” means different things in different cultures, while the reading ease score isn’t tied to any specific educational system. You can really localise the process by determining the reading ease scores of local magazines and comparing your materials to them.