About the Lexile Framework for Reading
The Lexile Framework for Reading is a scientifically proven approach to English reading and text measurement. A Lexile® measure is the numeric representation of a English language learner’s reading performance or a text’s difficulty, both followed by an “L” (for Lexile measure). The Lexile® scale is a developmental scale ranging from beginning reader measures below 0L to above 1600L for advanced text and performance.
The Lexile scale is independent. That means that the difficulty of books, articles and other reading materials from any source can be evaluated with Lexile measures. Likewise, multiple reading assessments can report a learner’s English reading performance in Lexile measures. The Lexile metric removes uncertainty by providing scientific reassurance regarding text difficulty and reading levels.
Learners receive a Lexile measure after the administration of a test that is linked to the Lexile scale. The learner’s Lexile measure marks the level of English text he or she can read with 75 percent anticipated comprehension. This is the level at which the learner can successfully navigate the material with the use of context clues and other comprehension strategies to fill in the gaps. While there are multiple ways to measure fluency and the fundamental components of reading, the Lexile Framework for Reading is unique in that it measures the outcome of a reader’s skills and the learner’s overall reading comprehension of real-world text, not just fluency and vocabulary knowledge. And because the comprehension rate can be adjusted based on level of challenge, the Lexile Framework is a perfect complementary tool for matching English language learners to texts and for monitoring their progress as they learn.
Lexile measures are:
✓ A measure of English text difficulty and reading performance
✓ Complementary to qualitative schemes, like CEFR
✓ Scientific and objective
✓ Applied to English reading material
✓ For English language learners
Lexile measures are not:
☓ A measure of narrative complexity
☓ A measure of appropriate content
☓ An instructional programme