Published Paper Details:

Creating appropriate reading and listening materials is crucial in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) education, particularly for assessment purposes. Readability tools are a potential solution to know text difficulty by providing the quantitative measures of text complexity. This study compares the efficacy of six widely-used readability tools--Flesch Reading Ease, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, Gunning Fog Index, SMOG Index, Coleman-Liau Index, and the Automated Readability Index--in assessing the readability of texts designed for EFL assessments. A set of exam texts from a higher education institution in Oman was analyzed using these tools. Results were compared to identify discrepancies and determine the reliability of each tool. Findings show some variations among the tools' readability scores, highlighting the challenges of relying on a single tool for accurate readability assessment in EFL contexts. The study provides practical recommendations for educators and test developers to ensure the appropriateness of reading materials based on multiple readability metrics, enhancing the alignment between text difficulty and learners' capabilities.