It’s easy to make text readable, right? You just use the embedded check in Microsoft Word, and make sure the reading ease or grade level is what you want? Maybe.

What are they measuring and why?

The Flesch-Kincaid readability tests can help you to write more understandable and engaging content.

The tests can be used to assess the readability of a variety of texts and are calculated using two factors: the average sentence length and the percentage of words with three or more syllables.

  • The scores help identify areas where writing can be improved, such as by using shorter sentences or simpler words.
  • The tests were first used by the US Navy in the 1970s and are now used by all branches of the US military to evaluate the readability of a variety of military documents, including training manuals, technical manuals, and policy documents.

The Gunning Fog Index is similar – a readability test that measures the complexity of a piece of text.

  • The index is calculated by considering the average sentence length and the percentage of words with three or more syllables.

Okay great. So run them on your text and job done then, right? Nice a readable.

Well, not so much.

Let me show some two examples that have exactly the same text and yet are self-evidently harder and easier to comprehend despite having the same readability score:

Example 1

This is scored as:

Flesch–Kincaid Reading Ease 57,6
Flesch–Kincaid Grade Level 7,8

There are some things you might need to do to make an insurance claim: Contact your insurance company as soon as possible. This is especially important if the damage is significant or if someone has been injured; Gather documentation of the loss. This could include photos, receipts, or police reports; File a claim form with your insurance company. The form will ask you to provide details about the loss, such as when and where it happened, what was damaged, and how much it is worth; Work with the insurance company’s adjuster. The adjuster will be responsible for investigating your claim and determining how much you are owed; Be prepared to provide additional information. The insurance company may ask you for more information, such as repair estimates or appraisals. Here are some additional tips for making an insurance claim: Be clear and concise when describing the loss; Be as accurate as possible when providing information about the value of the lost or damaged property; Keep copies of all documentation related to your claim; Be patient. The insurance company may take some time to process your claim.

Example 2

This is scored as:

Flesch–Kincaid Reading Ease 57,6
Flesch–Kincaid Grade Level 7,9

There are some things you might need to do to make an insurance claim:

    • 1. Contact your insurance company as soon as possible. This is especially important if the damage is significant or if someone has been injured.
    • 2. Gather documentation of the loss. This could include photos, receipts, or police reports.
    • 3. File a claim form with your insurance company. The form will ask you to provide details about the loss, such as when and where it happened, what was damaged, and how much it is worth.
    • 4. Work with the insurance company’s adjuster. The adjuster will be responsible for investigating your claim and determining how much you are owed.
    • 5. Be prepared to provide additional information. The insurance company may ask you for more information, such as repair estimates or appraisals.

Here are some additional tips for making an insurance claim:

    • Be clear and concise when describing the loss.
    • Be as accurate as possible when providing information about the value of the lost or damaged property.
    • Keep copies of all documentation related to your claim.
    • Be patient. The insurance company may take some time to process your claim.

Both have the same Flesch–Kincaid score, both have very different levels of readability, huh? Evidently so.

This mirrors our work on comprehension where we found, consistently, that both (a) Reading ease, such as Flesch–Kincaid, or Gunning Fog, and (b) Structure, such as the bullet points above, have the greatest effect on comprehension.

To understand comprehension, one needs a set of questions that relate to the meaning the text, each question with one correct and some incorrect answers. For more on our work on this see this page here, or this work here, or this post about our Gold award here, or visit the Nielsen page on their website here.

To summarise, reading ease is a necessary but not sufficient condition to prove comprehension. Or, a good Flesch–Kincaid score is not enough because it does not test the combined property of the text and structure indicates whether a target audience actually understands the material’s meaning.

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Image by Freepik
Image by Freepik

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Behavioural science Comprehension DAS Flesch-Kincaid Gunning fog LV= Microsoft Word Nielsen Oliver Oliver Payne Reading ease Structure US Navy Word