A Computer Program for Assessing Readability

摘要

A computerized program for assessing the readability of technical documentation is presented. This program is particularly useful to Army personnel responsible for the readability of Army publications. The program is designed to provide the user with an analysis of the text that includes: (a) the complete text, (b) a listing of words containing 3 or more syllables and the number of times each multi-syllable word appears in the text, (c) the number of sentences, (d) the average sentence length, (e) the number of words, (f) the number of syllables, (g) the average syllables per word and (h) the Flesch-Kincaid reading grade level score. An appendix provides the reader with both a complete program listing (BASIC) and sample input and output files.