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The Kyoto Scale

 

The "Kyoto Scale" is loosely based on reported headword counts, but further adjusted by close inspection of the text series, with reference to the "Yomiyasusa Levels", created by Akio Furukawa. The Kyoto Scale divides all books into ten levels of increasing difficulty.

 

This table below shows a very rough correspondence between the Kyoto levels and other language level criteria. You can use this to determine initial (tentative) reading levels for your students. Note that it is desirable for their reading level to be somewhat below their actual current ability.

 

Kyoto TOEIC TOEFL C E F R ERF Scale Lexile Yomiyasusa Level Xreading
Starter
200
300

BE
50-200
0.4-0.6
1
Level 1 250 350 A1 BM 100-300 0.7-0.9
2
Level 2 280 365 A1
BH 175-400 1.0-1.1
3
Level 3 320 380 A1
EE 250-500 1.2-1.5
4
Level 4 380 400 A2 EM 325-600 1.6-2.5
5
Level 5 450 430 A2
EH 400-700 2.6-3.1
6
Level 6 500 450 B1 IE 475-800 3.2-3.7
7
Level 7 650 550 B1 IM,IH,UE 600-900 3.8-4.4
8,9,10
Level 8 850 600 B2 UM,UH,AE 700-1000 4.5-5.4
11,12,13
Level 9 950 677 C1 AM,AH+ 900+ 5.5-6.5
14+

 


 

Chart equating the reading levels of some major reader series

For a full listing of available quizzes see our Master List

 

 

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