Factors Affect Readability--Rix Readability Test

Factors Affect Readability--Rix Readability Test

1. Count the sentences. Use at least 10.
2. Count the long words ( 7 + letters.)
3. Divide the number of long words by the number of sentences.
4. Locate the reading level on table below.

FIGURE                                                                                READING LEVEL

7.2 ( and above)                                                         College level
6.2                                                                                           Year 12
5.3                                                                                           Year 11
4.5                                                                                           Year 10
3.7                                                                                           Year 9
3.0                                                                                           Year 8
2.4                                                                                           Year 7
1.8                                                                                           Year 6
1.3                                                                                           Year 5
0.8                                                                                           Year 4
0.5                                                                                           Year 3
0.2                                                                                           Year 2
below 0.2                                                                                 Year 1

 This test gives teachers who may be uncertain of their own professional judgement an objective measure. The major flaw in the test is of course the fact that a long word is not necessarily a difficult one.

other factors which affect Readability..

...and thus the ease with which a reader can comprehend the text are:

• Interest and Motivation – text appeal and presentation, topic
• Print Features – size, font, margins, white space, colour
• Page Layout – blocks, columns, length of line
• Diagrams, maps etc – must match text, need labels, require abstract knowledge and spatial awareness
• Vocabulary – the closer to oral language the easier it is to comprehend. Information texts have content specific vocabulary which children may not have encountered. Texts need contextual explanations or glossaries.

• Concepts – informational texts carry a heavier concept load than narrative texts. Teachers need to assist children by establishing appropriate schema to activate background knowledge prior to reading the text.
• Ideology – issues of race, gender and class are often present within texts and readers need to be encouraged to use their critical practices to discover bias, values, judgements, viewpoints, opinions, stereotypes and to evaluate an author’s purpose.
• Cohesion – text cohesion is achieved by function words (prepositions, articles, pronouns, conjunctions) linking the content words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs).

This explanation shows how cohesion can be achieved within a text and how such manipulation of the language can affect comprehension for a reader.