Words Children Write
An Investigation of High Frequency Words in Year 3 & 4 Students’ Writing
Development
Speaking our language: The story of Australian English
“...of all the markers of identity, language is by far the most significant. This language we speak, which gives voice to our Australian identity is not, however, a uni-faceted thing. It is...a multi-faceted entity. Australian English is central to the process of giving voice to our Australian identity: in important ways, we are WHAT we speak, and we are HOW we speak.” Bruce Moore
• 896 students– SA and Victorian Government Schools
• 2688 writing samples • 315 345 words
Data
Year 3: 1437 (479 students) Year 4: 1251 (417 students)School year (4th and 5th year of formal schooling)
GenderMale: 1332 (444 students) Female: 1356 (452 students)
School settingLow SES: 1170 (390 students)
Mid SES: 516 (172 students)
High SES: 1002 (334 students)
Location (Rural: 20% of total)
Rural: 537 (179 students) Urban: 2151 (717 students)
Language background
Indigenous (1.7% of total)45 (15 students)
English Speaking (ESB)1629 (543 students)
Non-English Speaking (NESB)1059 (353 students)
Demographics
R Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 421 51 78 104 133
Average word count per sample
Year 3%
Year 4%No. of words
<50 13.8 8.950 – 99 41.5 28.9100 – 199 38.0 45.8200 – 299 6.0 13.1300 – 400 <1.0 2.5>400 <1.0 <1.0
Word count spread
Word counts
Text types: R - 4
Reception%
Year 1%
Year 2%
Year 3%
Year 4%
Narrative 17 31 48 55.6 58.9Recount 58 50 40 25.1 22.8Description 15 7.2 5.6 10.6 10.6Discussion 0 <1 0 <1 <1Explanation <1 <1 <1 0 0Exposition <1 2.1 1.3 1.0 2.8Info Report 5.3 6 3.1 <1 1.3Poetry <1 0 <1 2.3 1.0Procedure <1 <1 <1 2.6 1.0Response 3.4 1.7 <1 <1 <1Other <1 <1 0 1.4 <1
any
anything
arrived
been
before
both
box
boys
brown
bus
can'tchocolateclassclothes
cold
cool
dark
days
decided
died
differentdoingdroveeacheatingendeveneverything
excited
eyes
facefeltfewfinallyfireforestfrontgettingghostgiantgirlsgive
goal
gold
gone
green
ground
gun
hair
hand
happenedhardhavinghearheardhit
hole
hot
hour
hours
I'llkeptkickedkidskingknewlandlaterleftlet
Words on OWL Plus but not on OWL: 1
let's
life
light
live
looking
minutes
money
most
mother
never
no onenothingopenopened
parents
person
pet
police
puppy
quickly
rainreadyrepliedrightrunrunningsamesat
say
screamed
secondshotshouldshoutedsixsmallsoonspacestaystopstopped
storystuff
suddenly
sunny
tell
ten
than
think
thought
throughtoptownunderused
wait wasn'tway
week
which
whilewholewindowyearyearsyelled
Words on OWL Plus but not on OWL: 2
Pre-assess students’ spelling knowledge of words in the 2008 Oxford Wordlist no matter what their year level
Implications for educators: 1
Pre-assess students’ spelling knowledge of words in the 2010 Oxford Wordlist Plus
Words that students can already spell should not be included in their spelling programs
Implications for educators: 2
Unknown words need to be taught
Words in the 2010 Oxford Wordlist Plus may be used as a springboard
Develop students’ spoken and written vocabulary
Teach students how to write more complex sentences
Implications for educators: 3
Consolidate students’ understanding of regular and irregular verbs
Tread carefully when putting quantity of words ahead of quality
Adverbs enhance verbs
Prepositions have a place!
Keep building knowledge about compound words
Implications for educators: 4
Expand pronoun knowledge
Increase expertise in the use of adjectives
Keep teaching comparatives and superlatives
Designated NAPLAN text types aren’t the only genre to be taught
Words form the thread on which we string our experiences Aldous Huxley
In summary...
http://www.oxfordwordlist.com/pages/search.asp
Free downloadableshttp://www.oup.com.au/primary/learning/thesuccessfult
eacher
• Oxford Wordlist Bingo• Oxford Wordlist Flashcards • Oxford Wordlist Memory Snap• Oxford Wordlist Take Home Words• Oxford Wordlist Desk Chart
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