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Picking the Right Book: How to Use Readability Scores

Want to pick just the right reading material for your child or grandchild? Learning or teaching English as a Second language and need some help picking out readers? Readability scores can help.

The scores provide a way of assessing the reading difficulty level of a book or article. There are a number of different methods for assessing reading difficulty, each one providing a unique insight. The U.S. government uses the Flesch-Kincaid Readability Tests and government agencies require their documents meet specified levels. These tests are also commonly used in industry and education. Pilinut Press provides you with the Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level scores for all its publications.

The Flesch Reading Ease scores range between 0 and 100 with a higher score indicating easier reading. Examples of the scores and what they mean include:

The Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level translates the Flesch Reading Ease score into a U.S. grade level equivalent. So each score equates to a number of years of education, for example, a score of 5.2 indicates material which anyone with a 5th grade education or higher would understand.

Pilinut Press books are special because they combine entertainment and easy readability with college-level vocabulary liberally sprinkled throughout the text. This writing approach helps students pick up new vocabulary in a relatively painless way. Glossaries are included in all books over 52 pages to provide a ready reference for the advanced vocabulary. In addition to college-level vocabulary, some of words are listed in the glossary because the meaning used in the story is one of the lesser used definitions of the word, i.e. List—to lean to one side. Short phrases which are not literal are also included, i.e. His heart was in his throat — a phrase meaning he was very excited and fearful at the same time. These books are of particular interest to teachers and parents looking for advanced readers and for ESL (English as a Second Language) Students.

Celia Webb, President of Pilinut Press, Inc., publishers of advanced readers for children and ESL students. Check out http://www.pilinutpress.com for more free articles on developing reading-related skills, word games and puzzles, and activity sheets for the company's entertaining and educational books.