The Automated Readability Index (ARI) is a readability test designed to gauge the understandability of a text. Like the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, Gunning Fog Index, SMOG Index, Fry Readability Formula, and Coleman-Liau Index, it produces an approximate representation of the US grade level needed to comprehend the text.
The formula for calculating the Automated Readability Index is given below:
Characters are the number of letters and numbers.
As a rough guide, US grade level 1 corresponds to ages 6 to 8. Reading level grade 8 corresponds to the typical reading level of a 14 year-old US child. Grade 12, the highest US secondary school grade before college, corresponds to the reading level of a 17 year-old.
Unlike the other indices, the ARI, along with the Coleman-Liau, relies on a factor of characters per word, instead of the usual syllables per word. Although opinion varies on its accuracy as compared to the syllables/word and complex words indices, characters/word is often faster to calculate, as the number of characters is more readily and accurately counted by computer programs than syllables.
References
- Senter, R.J.; Smith, E.A. (s/d). Automated Readability Index.. http://stinet.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=AD0667273. Retrieved 2008-01-10.
External links
- Online readability tests - finds ARI and other indices, suggestions how to improve readability
- Readability calculators - six readability statistics
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
