Readability
What Is Reading Comprehension? How Readability Impacts Comprehension
Readability is directly related to reading comprehension because readable content, by design, is easily understandable to a wider range of reading levels.
Reading comprehension is the ability to process the information from written text and understand its meaning.
Readers have varying levels of language knowledge, experience, and skills, so reading comprehension levels vary.
Writing readable content, by design, aims to increase understanding for a wider range of reading levels.
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To understand written content, a reader must be able to recognize the individual words on a page, know the individual meaning of each word, and comprehend the collective meaning of the words written together in a sentence.
According to the ETS (a leading educational testing and assessment platform), identifying individual words is also referred to as decoding. It refers to understanding letters, pronunciation, and meaning.
Comprehending at the sentence level involves knowledge of vocabulary, grammar, and syntax. A reader’s understanding of the parts and how they work together impacts their ability to grasp the meaning of the whole.
According to the National Center on Improving Literacy, reading fluency is a key part of reading comprehension. Specifically, fluency deals with the mechanics of reading.
A reader’s fluency refers to how quickly and accurately they can read the words in front of them.
It also includes whether a reader can read smoothly and with expression. Fluent reading is a building block to comprehension.
There are many variations of reading comprehension measurement. Education Week notes that many reading comprehension tests involve reading a passage of text and then answering questions based on what was read.
Some assessments ask questions after reading, others during reading. Both approaches strive to measure how well a reader has processed and understood the meaning of the written content.
Schools used standardized tests and national and state benchmarks to measure the reading comprehension levels of individual students and median reading levels of all students.
These levels are also recorded at the state and national levels. Some tests produce scores in terms of reading level, such as Lexile scores that help individuals select level-appropriate books.
Collectively, reading levels at the national or state level are referred to as literacy rates or literary proficiency.
Literary proficiency is monitored and discussed within many contexts: education, publishing, and marketing, for example. These cumulative reading levels are typically referred to by educational grade levels (K-12 and beyond).
Reading comprehension varies from person to person because so many factors go into how easily and quickly someone can process the meaning of the written words in front of them.
Some of these factors include a reader’s level of knowledge with:
Not to mention factors that can vary for a single reader, such as mood, interest, reading environment, and motivation.
Interpreting and understanding what we read takes focus. Anything that impacts our focus, including how content is written, can impact reading comprehension.
Writing is integral to discussions of reading comprehension because words can be put on the page in different ways.
How something is written directly relates to how easily a reader can understand it.
Sentences and paragraphs can vary in:
How these criteria relate to a reader’s ability to comprehend written content is referred to as readability.
Readability means how easily written text can be understood by readers.
Whereas reading comprehension is connected to the reader, readability is connected to the writing itself.
If text is written in complex language with advanced vocabulary, it stands to reason that the written material will require a certain level of reading comprehension to grasp its meaning quickly and easily.
When text is written simply with common words, more people can comprehend it easily. That is, it is accessible to a wider range of reading comprehension levels.
Content written to reach a broader range of reading comprehension levels is considered to have higher readability. Part of achieving good readability is writing to the average reading level.
Studies in the U.S. have found that the average adult reading level is estimated to be around the sixth grade or a low reading level.
Typical elements of text with high readability include:
When a writer takes the time to address readability in writing, it can go a long way toward improving reading comprehension for readers.
Considering reading comprehension and readability in writing is part of creating reader-focused content.
In all writing, it’s essential to keep your readers in mind to ensure you are doing your best to reach them. This is particularly true in marketing writing.
When creating marketing content, you must know your audience and do all you can to attract, engage, and retain them. This is a key reason why monitoring readability is important in marketing.
The very first step in communicating with your audience is being easily understood.
Keeping reading comprehension and readability in mind is like giving yourself a superpower to connect with more of your audience.
Conveniently review the readability of your content with the Originality.ai Readability Checker.
Then, learn more about readability in our top guides: