Fry Readability Formula

By Author: Anthony W Bills
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Fry Readability formula

Fry Readability formula is a process by which readers are tested their ability to read a given sentence as well as having the score for that sentence. They are used especially by the teachers to introduce the students or scholars to the use of English with less grammatical errors. The readability level of a passage can be checked by Flesch Reading Ease and the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level that is built through the latest Microsoft Word versions.
We are going to select a passage from the book of Dr. Bill Bright, which is as follows.
That is why churches too often struggle when they lose a good pastor. If the position is left vacant too long, there can be significant problems to continued growth and stability. It is a rare church that is able to survive untouched if it remains too long without a pastor. Just a child can survive without a parent, so a church can survive without a pastor, but not the same level of competence. This is how God has designed his church. The pastor “parents” the local body and becomes to it much of what Jesus is to the universal body.
We can use a graph ...
... in the fig 1.1 below to estimate the approximate reading ages (grade levels).In our case the reading level is 5.
Step-by-step process of determining reading level using fig 1.1
First you draw graph with number of syllables at the horizontal axis while the number of sentences are in the vertical axis. Having the long words at the top right and long sentences at the bottom left and grade the numbers from the top you will be able to come up with the readability level. Count the total number of sentences in 100 word passage as well as the total number of syllables. Enter graph with number of sentence and total number of syllables. A dot can be plotted in the intersections of the two lines. A grade level will be given by the area where the dot is plotted.
Croze Procedure
Cloze procedure is referred as a technique in which some words are erased from a given passage in regard to word-counting formula or according to other various criteria. The passage is then given to students, who are supposed to insert some words as they read through to give a complete and constructive meaning from that particular text. The procedure is commonly used as a technique of diagnostic reading assessment. It is a "fill-in-the-blanks" activity which requires the learner to use clues from the context to give words that have deliberately been removed from the text. (Susan, 2005)
Its purpose
• To determine students' understanding as well as knowledge in the reading process.
• To determine the cueing systems that is effectively employed by the readers to construct meaning from the given passage.
• To determine the extent of students' vocabularies use and knowledge in the subject.
• To encourage students to gather the meaning of the subject as they read.
• To encourage students critically think and analyze the text and content.
How to do it?
To prepare materials for Cloze exercises, any of the following techniques may be used:
• Selecting the words to be omitted using the formula of word-count
• By leaving the first and last sentence’s punctuations intact
• In the preparation the final draft of the passage, all blanks should be of equal length avoiding any visual clue about the lengths of the words omitted.
• The passage selected should be self-contained of appropriate length for the grade level of the assessed students
• The students should read the entire passage before filling in the blanks
• Suggest that students reread the completed passage
In our case we are going to select a passage from the same book we selected our first passage. The passage is as follows.
Think of the influence ----- a pastor. Good one can leave ---- healthy, thriving church as he ----- on to a new congregation. But ----- his replacement comes, if he is not up to ---- standard the church needs, then church may and usually----- go downhill very quickly. In fact, you can say that the church----- similar to a lighthouse in its community.
The test is administered into two students of different grade level. Here are the answers of the two students. We are going to give the two students numbers, and the first one is given A while the second one is B. Student A has the following answers; of, the, move, what, the, do, is. Student B has the following answers; of, the, moves, when, that, does, is. The correct answers are given by bold for each student. Here is the answers for the whole passage; of, a, moves, the, does, is. The Cloze test is administered in to two student in respective grade level and their performance are scored as following three categories, frustrations (less than 40% correct), instructional (40%-60% correct) and independent (more than 60% correct). By grading the two students the first student (A) is frustration(less than 40% correct) while the second student (B) has independent (more than 60% correct).
Comparison of the two tests
The two tests i.e. Cloze and Fry’s Readability are similar in that they try to give the grade level of the student. They can also be used to educate students while they are young in the introduction of understanding the English. Another similarity is that they try to enhance and improve the grammar of the student.
The different of the two tests is that Fry’s Readability use graph in determining the reading level while the Cloze omits some words of which the learner will fill in the correct answers.
The explanation for the discrepancies is that the two tests are good for a beginner or a person who is starting to learn English. Discrepancy is made large due to the use of different approach for each test. Like Fry’s Readability try to capture the reading level or reading capacity of the student while the Cloze procedure will try to give us the understanding capacity of the student to a given passage. For Fry’s Readability it can be used for young fellows because it deals with the reading which is the starting level of the learning scholar while Cloze procedure can be use for grown ups who know how to read but they do not have the understanding capabilities. (Bacorn, 2006)
Conclusion
Evaluating text books using the assessment tools actually gives the reader moral to continue having the study for long hours. It is even easier to introduce a student to a given field even if it difficulty in nature. In our discussion you will find that Fry’s Readability will give the results of the student, which will make the student not to go below the grade that he/she got in the last test
The following is the figure used i.e. fig 1.1

Fry Graph for estimating reading ages (grade levels)

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
Key
• Horizontal line is number of syllables
• Vertical line we have number of sentences
The following is the complete passage used in Cloze procedure
Think of the influence of a pastor. Good one can leave a healthy, thriving church as he moves on to a new congregation. But when his replacement comes, if he is not up to the standard the church needs, then church may and usually does go downhill very quickly. In fact, you can say that the church is similar to a lighthouse in its community.
Reference:
Susan, P. (2005) Linking Reading Assessment to Instruction, Routledge
Bacorn, B. (2006) Essentials of Patient Education, NY, Jones & Bartlett Publishers

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