Reading Level
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that 50 percent of U.S. adults can’t read a book written at an eighth-grade level. The medical industry actively uses an eighth-grade level as a benchmark for written guidelines. Consequently, Flesch readability scores and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level represent the most popular, widely tested, and used measures of reading level. These scales work by taking into account sentence, word, and syllable counts.
Grammatical Voice and Consistency
While sentence, word, and syllable counts are important, they do not address all issues affecting readability. Passive voice often creates unclear, less direct, and wordier sentences. Conversely, active voice creates clearer, more concise sentences. Furthermore, correct punctuation and consistent terminology also enhance readability.
Simplified Technical English (STE)
The goal of Simplified Technical English is to reduce ambiguity. This improves technical content clarity, makes content far more comprehensive for non-native English speakers, and creates better conditions for both human and machine language translation.
Content Governance
Readability should be a core part of any content governance strategy. Written style guides rely on the writer’s memory and awareness to drive readability. However, electronic style guides and checkers (like Acrolinx, Congree and HyperSTE) are much more effective at driving readability, because the programs perform checks during the authoring/editorial process and drive compliance consistently and programmatically.
Reducing Reading Level
By most measures, reading level functions based on the number of words in a sentence and syllables in those words. For the Flesch-Kincaid, an equation calculates the reading level, as shown here.
To reduce the reading level, JANA breaks long sentences into multiple shorter ones. We also change words with more syllables to words with fewer syllables, while maintaining the same meaning. We typically provide the Flesch-Kincaid reading level as received and reworked at a document level. Furthermore, we provide a ‘red-line’ version of the document so the customer can see exactly what changes occurred.
Improving Grammatical Voice and Consistency
Unfortunately, no standard score measures brevity and clarity. Content authors or sponsors typically determine the relative importance of using active voice (instead of passive voice), consistent terminology and acronyms, and other relevant factors. A passive sentence is one where the subject does not perform the verb’s action. Instead, the verb’s action happens to the subject.
A few examples:
| Passive Voice | Active Voice |
|---|---|
| The shoplifter was tackled by my cousin. | My cousin tackled the shoplifter. |
| The vase was smashed by Heidi. | Heidi smashed the vase. |
Using active voice for the majority of your sentences makes your meaning clear for readers. It also keeps sentences from becoming too complicated or wordy. Passive voice, on the other hand, can cloud your sentences’ meaning. Most electronic style guides identify a readability score based on the relative importance of readability factors. To improve readability, JANA utilizes a content checker and corrects items that violate the electronic style guide. We typically provide the readability score as received and reworked at a document level. Additionally, we provide a ‘red-line’ version of the document so the customer can see exactly what changes occurred.
Implementing Simplified Technical English
ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English is an international specification for preparing technical content in a controlled language. An overlap exists between STE, reading grade level, and readability. This standard sets rules to govern compliance in the following ways:
- Sentences should be no more than 20 words (for procedural sentences) or 25 words (for descriptive sentences)
- Paragraphs should contain no more than six sentences
- Avoid any type of slang or jargon
- Use active voice; avoid passive voice
- Sequential steps should be written in separate sentences or as bullets rather than in one long run-on sentence
- Gerunds and present participles should be avoided
- Articles “a” and “the” should be used wherever possible
- Simple verb tenses are preferable (i.e., past, present, future)
- Any instructions should be as specific as possible to avoid ambiguity
A few examples of Simplified Technical English:
| Standard English | Simplified Technical English |
|---|---|
| All levers must be turned slowly in order to prevent strong steam jets which can damage both hose lines and components. | Turn all levers slowly to prevent strong jets of steam. Steam can damage hose lines and components. |
| All levers must be closed manually. | Close all levers by hand. |
| Standing close to the levers when the system is under pressure is not recommended. | Do not stay near the levers, if the system is pressurized. |
| Eliminate all sharp edges. | Remove all sharp edges. |
To implement Simplified Technical English, JANA utilizes a content checker and corrects items that violate the ASD-STE9100 standard. We typically provide the STE compliance score as received and reworked at a document level. Additionally, we provide a ‘red-line’ version of the document so the customer can see exactly what changes occurred.
Summary
Words matter. Using words, sentence construction, grammar, and unambiguous terms improves reader comprehension and customer satisfaction. Content creators should make improving the user experience a core goal.
