More and more learning providers are using Google Docs with their learners.

Below is a handy little feature in the Google Docs Tools menu, which practitioners may find useful...

• Select the word count option (in the Google Docs tools menu)
• There users will find three indicators of the reading level of the document being viewed/creating. Google Docs has calculated...
  • the Flesch Reading Ease,
  • the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flesch-Kincaid_Readability_Test>and
  • the Automatic Readability Index <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automated_Readability_Index>. It is this Index that most practitioners will find useful - adding 5 to the index gives an estimate of the typical reader's age.

Could the Google Docs reading level indicators be useful to learning providers who are sending letters/information etc., to learners where English is not the primary language? The reading level indicators could perhaps help administrators/managers/practitioners formulate letters so that they can be read by all learners.