An Effectiveness Evaluation Between Manual and Automated Readability Counting Techniques.

摘要

A statistical comparison was made between two automated devices which were used to count words, sentences and syllables (data points which are needed in the Flesch Reading Ease Score to determine the reading grade level of written material). The devices are the Automated Flesch Count (AFC) developed by Kincaid and McDaniel and the Navy Automated Counter (NAC) developed by the Navy to conduct a readability study of rate training and correspondence manuals. Comparisons were made between the speed and reliability of the automated devices, and between the speed and reliability of each device and the manual method of counting data points. Similar reliabilities were found for both of the devices and for the manual method.