Oxford Wordlist for Australian children to be launched at University of Melbourne
Media Release, Tuesday 29 April 2008
A report revealing the 307 words most relevant to children’s writing in their first three years of schooling will be launched by Victorian Minister for Children and Early Childhood Development Maxine Morand MP at the University of Melbourne this Wednesday 30 April at 11:15am.
Authors and researchers from Oxford University Press and the University of Melbourne’s Graduate School of Education collaborated on the design, research and analysis of the project, which has shown that Australian children share a strong common verbal culture despite gender, ethnic, socio-economic and geographic differences.
The project aimed to investigate the words most frequently used in young children’s writing and was conducted in 2007 in Victoria and South Australia by analysing the written work of 1,000 young school children.
Five writing samples were collected from children in their first year of school and three from children in their second and third years. The objective of the study was to tap into children’s relatively unconstrained expression to show evidence of their preferred word choices and to throw light on their personal lives, skills and interests.
“When Australian children write stories and convey images and messages about their lives, experiences and values they are speaking more than a common language, they are expressing a shared communal and national culture,” according to Professor Joseph Lo Bianco, the Chair of Language and Literacy Education at the University of Melbourne, who was one of the collaborators on the project.
He explains that the results of the study provided a data base of children’s words which have been used to create the Oxford Wordlist. Wordlists are used in classrooms on a daily basis and often form the basis for reading and writing tasks. They are also used by authors and teachers in designing educational texts.
The research examined 73,430 words from boys and 86,808 from girls taken from writing where the children had decided what they would write.
The most commonly used word was ‘I’ followed by ‘the’ with ‘mum’ coming in at number 34 and ‘dad’ at number 35; words such as PlayStation® and Xbox® were omitted from the list as technology-related words quickly date.
“One interesting finding from the study is the generational differences we see in Australian children compared to the last such study undertaken 30 years ago. There is much less formality now with the virtual disappearance of terms such as Mr. and Mrs, Mother and Father and a big increase in technological language due to the digital world children now inhabit,” Professor Lo Bianco says.
It is only after the first 100 words in the list that the differences between children emerge, providing an insight into specific groups.
The study reveals stereotypical gender differences: “girls’ imaginative worlds are less dangerous, more empathetic, social and interactive and full of fantasy with the most dangerous character being a witch while the boys’ imaginary worlds are filled with danger and heroism - even the animals are potential sources of threat and the boys are called upon to evict the danger,” Professor Lo Bianco says.
Children from homes where English is not the only language frequently uses words which are about family networks and events. “The children from non-English speaking families write more about food and their familial relationships than other children, repeatedly using the words ‘cousin’ and ‘ate’,” Professor Lo Bianco says.
The Oxford Wordlist can be found at www.oup.com.au/thesuccessfulteacher
WHO:
• Victorian Minister for Early Childhood Development, Maxine Morand MP
• Professor Jo Lo Bianco, Chair of Language and Literacy Education at the University of Melbourne.
• Ms Julie Baillie, Researcher Manager, Primary Division: Oxford University Press
WHEN:
Wednesday 30 April at 11:15am – 12 noon
WHERE:
Yasuko Hiraoka Myer Room, Level 1, Sidney Myer Asia Centre (Building 158) opposite the Swanston Street tram ‘superstop’
MEDIA and PHOTO OPPORTUNITIES:
Interviews with Professor Lo Bianco and Ms Baillie, and picture opportunities of Minister Morand, Professor Lo Bianco, Ms Baillie and children aged 4-8 reading and writing together, will be available immediately following the formal launch of the Oxford Wordlist.
For further information:
Professor Jo Lo Bianco
Chair, Language and Literacy Education
Melbourne Graduate School of Education
University of Melbourne
Tel: 8344 8346
Email: j.lobianco@unimelb.edu.au
Media enquiries:
Katherine Smith, Media Officer: Mobile 0402 460 147
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