Conversation started Jul 29, 2015 at 4:31.
Jul 29, 2015 04:31
Just noticed this on Amazon.com!
> What is this?
A Lexile® measure represents either an individual's reading ability (a Lexile reader measure) or the complexity of a text (a Lexile text measure). Lexile measures range from below 200L for early readers and text to above 1600L for advanced readers and materials. When used together Lexile measure help a reader find books at an appropriate level of challenge, and determine how well that reader will likely comprehend a text. When a Lexile text measure matches a Lexile reader measure, this is called a "targeted" reading experience. The reader will likely encounter some level of
A Lexile® measure. Hmm...
So it made it to Amazon.com!
So we're going to have some sort of vocabulary/reading skill standard scale.
> Lexile measures are the GOLD STANDARD for college and career readiness.
Eww... lots of partners
They mean business!
> https://www.lexile.com/about-lexile/How-to-get-lexile-measures/
A book, article or piece of text receives a Lexile text measure when it's analyzed by MetaMetrics. We partner with over 200 publishing companies and have measured more than 150,000 books. We also partner with the nation’s largest periodical database service providers, including EBSCO, GALE and ProQuest, to provide Lexile measures for newspaper and magazine articles, as well as encyclopedia and reference content. Through these partnerships, more than 100 million articles and websites have received Lexile measures.
Soon to be big? Maybe it's like Google when Google was still young.
> This pangram contains four as, one b, two cs, one d, thirty es, six fs, five gs, seven hs, eleven is, one j, one k, two ls, two ms, eighteen ns, fifteen os, two ps, one q, five rs, twenty-seven ss, eighteen ts, two us, seven vs, eight ws, two xs, three ys, & one z.
An autogram (Greek: αὐτός = self, γράμμα = letter) is a sentence that describes itself in the sense of providing an inventory of its own characters. They were invented by Lee Sallows, who also coined the word ‘autogram’. An essential feature is the use of full cardinal number names such as “one”, “two”, etc., in recording character counts. Autograms are also called ‘self-enumerating’ or ‘self-documenting’ sentences. Often, letter counts only are recorded while punctuation signs are ignored, as in this example: This sentence employs two a’s, two c’s, two d’s, twenty-eight e’s, five f’s, three g...
A puzzle?
Anonymous
One of the things that can make a text very difficult to read is if the ideas are poorly conceptualized and organized.
Anonymous
Similarly, a text with more complex structure and less common words can present a clearly thought-out idea in an organized manner, and this can make it relatively easy to read.
@snailboat I wonder if the Lexile measure deals with that in some way. It probably does.
Anonymous
Jul 29, 2015 04:42
I have strong doubts.
Anonymous
Besides that, there's a very important aspect of "reading level" that they don't mention:
You'd need to see the logic it uses. I would imagine that it uses simple frequency counts and perhaps some collocation analysis.
Anonymous
The difficulty of a text isn't really scalar. It depends on the individual who's reading it and how their vocabulary, the ideas they understand, and so forth relate to the text.
Anonymous
One text can be very difficult for Adam but very easy for Barry, because Adam and Barry have studied different subjects, even though the book is identical for both of them.
BTW, I just realize that that's not a typical puzzle, it's an autogram! @jimsug
Anonymous
Jul 29, 2015 04:44
That doesn't mean Adam or Barry is a better reader than the other.
@snailboat Good point. Lexile meaure is just one number.
*s
Typical Reader Measures, by Grade

Grade     Reader Measures, Mid-Year
          25th percentile to 75th percentile (IQR)
1           Up to 300L
2           140L to 500L
3           330L to 700L
4           445L to 810L
5           565L to 910L
6           665L to 1000L
7           735L to 1065L
8           805L to 1100L
9           855L to 1165L
10          905L to 1195L
11 and 12   940L to 1210L
 
Conversation ended Jul 29, 2015 at 4:46.