Determine the Reading Level of a Book

Reading levels of books vary greatly. While some are very challenging, others are intended for beginners or young children. Because of this, it is sometimes important to determine the reading level of a book. This way, you or your children can read books that are appropriate for your or their skill level. Ultimately, by using things like the Flesch-Kincaid scale or SMOG readability formula, consulting lists, applications, and other measuring systems, you’ll better be able to determine the reading level of a specific book.

Steps

Examining the Book and Using the Internet

  1. Examine the book. Many books, especially children’s books, will list the reading level somewhere on the book. Ultimately, this might be the easiest way for you to find out the reading level of a book. Check:
    • The front cover
    • The back cover
    • The first few pages of the book[1]
  2. Download apps that help you determine reading level. There are a variety of mobile device applications that you can use to determine a book’s reading level. These apps work by scanning the ISBN of a book and then cross-referencing it with different databases that address reading levels. Simply:
    • Search your specific app store for reading level applications, then download the app.
    • Some apps, like Levelit and Literacy Leveler, will allow you to scan the book’s ISBN and then view the book’s Lexile score, grade level equivalent, and other data.
  3. Consult book lists for a child’s specific age or grade. There are a wide variety of books lists available on the internet for your child’s age or grade. While every book might not appear on a given list, many lists are fairly comprehensive. Consider:
  4. Determine the Lexile level. The Lexile level of a book is a measure for determining its reading level. To determine the Lexile level of a book, you can use the search function on Lexile.com. Simply:
    • Visit https://www.lexile.com/
    • Enter the title, author, or ISBN of a book in the “Quick Book Search” box in the upper right of the website. Then, click “search.”
    • The website will return various versions of the different book, along with an age-range of the book, and the Lexile reading score.
  5. Use the Accelerated Reader search tool. Accelerated Reader is a database in which you can input the title of a book and it will return you relevant information, such as the reading level of that book. To access it:
    • Visit http://www.arbookfind.com/default.aspx
    • Enter the title of the book in the “Quick Search” box and hit enter.
    • The website will return information about the book including the “Interest Level” of the book, the readability book level, and the Lexile level of the book.

Using the Flesch-Kincaid Scale

  1. Select three passages from a book. After reviewing the number of pages in the book, pick three pages at random. Try to pick pages from different parts of the book. Then, verify that each page you’ve chosen has at least one full paragraph. If it does not, choose a paragraph from the next page.[2]
    • If the book has 80 pages, select page 5, 25, and 75. Then make sure each page has a full paragraph. If page 25 is an illustration, use a paragraph from page 26.
  2. Type the three paragraphs into Microsoft Word. Do so slowly and accurately. It’s important that you include all three paragraphs, since this will give you a large enough sample so you can get a true idea of the reading level of the book.[2]
  3. Hit “Spelling & Grammar.” After typing the three paragraphs you selected, you need to hit the spell check button in Microsoft Word. When you hit spell check, Word will check your spelling and then generate statistics on the passages you typed. Read through the list until you see “Readability.” Under that, you’ll see the Flesch-Kincaid grade level.[2]
    • If your Word does not display the Flesch-Kincaid Scale level, go to File, then go to Options, click on Proofing, and then click the box that says, “Show readability statistics.” Now, whenever you use the spell check function, Word will display the grade level of whatever you have typed.

Trying the SMOG System

  1. Choose 30 sentences from a book. Make sure to pick 10 from the beginning, 10 from the middle, and 10 from the end of the book. It is important that you choose sentences from all parts of the book, as that will give you a much more accurate idea of the level of the book.[3]
  2. Circle and count any word that has 3 or more syllables. Go through your chosen sentences and circle all words that have three or more syllables. This will include repetitions of the same word. Tally these words up. Count:
    • Hyphenated words as one word.
    • Long numbers that are spelled out.
    • Abbreviations as if they were spelled out completely.[4]
  3. Calculate-a-Square-Root-by-Hand of the 3-syllable words. Take the total number of 3-syllable words in the 30 sentences you selected and calculate the square root. Round the square root to the nearest whole number.[4]
    • To give you an example, if your 30 sentences had 45 3-syllable words, the square root would be 6.7. Round this to 7.
    • You can calculate square root by hand or by calculator.
  4. Add three to the square root. After you round the square root to the nearest whole number, you’ll need to add 3 to that number. This will give you the SMOG grade level (reading level) of the book you choose.
    • For example, if you had 45 3-syllable words with a square root of 6.7, you should round that to 7, and then add three. This will give you a SMOG grade level of 10. This means the book is appropriate for children in the 10th grade.[4]

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/reading_levels.htm
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 https://www.thoughtco.com/calculating-reading-level-1857103
  3. ↑ http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/reading_levels.htm#lexile
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/reading_levels.htm#smog

You may like

Retrieved from "https://kipkis.com/index.php?title=Determine_the_Reading_Level_of_a_Book&oldid=284182"