1. Words Children Write An Investigation of High Frequency Words in Year 3 & 4 Students’ Writing Development

2. 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

3. 896 students –SA and Victorian Government Schools 2688 writing samples 315 345 words Data

4. Year 3: 1437 (479 students)Year 4: 1251 (417 students) School year (4 th and 5 th year of formal schooling) Gender Male: 1332 (444 students)Female: 1356 (452 students) School setting Low 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

5. RYear 1Year 2Year 3Year 4 215178104133 Average word count per sample Year 3 % Year 4 % No. of words <5013.88.9 50 – 9941.528.9 100 – 19938.045.8 200 – 2996.013.1 300 – 400<1.02.5 >400<1.0 Word count spread Word counts

6. Text types: R - 4 Reception % Year 1 % Year 2 % Year 3 % Year 4 % Narrative 17314855.658.9 Recount 58504025.122.8 Description 157.25.610.6 Discussion 0<10 Explanation <1 00 Exposition <12.11.31.02.8 Info Report 5.363.1<11.3 Poetry <10 2.31.0 Procedure <1 2.61.0 Response 3.41.7<1 Other <1 01.4<1

7. any anything arrived been before both box boys brown bus can't chocolate class clothes cold cool dark days decided died different doing drove each eating end even everything excited eyes face felt few finally fire forest front getting ghost giant girls give goal gold gone green ground gun hair hand happened hard having hear heard hit hole hot hour hours I'll kept kicked kids king knew land later left let Words on OWL Plus but not on OWL: 1

8. let's life light live looking minutes money most mother never no one nothing open opened parents person pet police puppy quickly rain ready replied right run running same sat say screame d second shot should shouted six small soon space stay stop stopped story stuff suddenly sunny tell ten than think thought through top town under used wait wasn't way week which while whole window year years yelled Words on OWL Plus but not on OWL: 2

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. Words form the thread on which we string our experiences Aldous Huxley In summary...

14. http://www.oxfordwordlist.com/pages/search.asp

15. Free downloadables http://www.oup.com.au/primary/learning/thesuccessfulteacher Oxford Wordlist Bingo Oxford Wordlist Flashcards Oxford Wordlist Memory Snap Oxford Wordlist Take Home Words Oxford Wordlist Desk Chart

16. www.oup.com.au/thesuccessfulteacher