As part of an ongoing programme of language research, the department of Children’s Dictionaries & Children’s Language Data at 51șÚÁÏÍű has analysed children’s creative writing submitted to the BBC 500 WORDS story competition in 2023 and the results are out today!

You can find all the details about the winners of the 500 words story competition on the , and download the full for all the language analysis from OUP.

The analysis is undertaken by a team of lexicographers, editors and teachers, and is based on the Oxford Children’s Corpus, the largest children’s language database in English.

Key Findings from the Report

‱ Themes around contemporary conflicts feature more prominently in the stories than in previous years.
‱ There is a shift away from the topic of Brexit, with very few mentions of this word (and none in a political context).
‱ There is a substantial increase in the frequency of AI in the stories – often in relation to a dangerous entity that could take over the world.
‱ The stories indicate an increasing awareness of neurodiversity, and conditions are often portrayed as a strength.
‱ Barbie occurs twice as frequently in stories from 2023 than 2020.
‱ TikTok is seen as a more established app and part of everyday life in 2023.
‱ Lioness(es) increased in frequency compared with 2020, and over half of the mentions were in reference to football. In 2020, almost all mentions of lioness(es) were references to the animal.
‱ The 2023 stories are the first to demonstrate a lived experience of Covid in the UK, and the pandemic is evidently still a reference point for children.

Insights from the 2023 stories

‱ The proportion of boys and girls who submitted a story in 2023 was 39% and 61%respectively. Excluding names, words that are used much more frequently by boys than girls include: Madrid, titan, league, Godzilla and champions. Meanwhile, words that are used much more frequently by girls than boys include: gymnastics, pony, foal, makeup and tiara.
‱ Words that appear much more often in stories from the 5-7 age category than the 8-11 age category include: mammy, baddy and teddybear. Meanwhile, words that are used much more frequently in stories by children in the older age group than the younger age group include intrigue, commander and murder. Adverbs, including practically, seemingly and sincerely, are also used more frequently in this age group.
‱ Words which had much higher frequency in stories from 2023 than 2020 include seasonal trends such as pumpkin and Halloween, footballers such as Haaland and Raya, and animals such as capybara and axolotl. Camilla is also used much more often in stories from 2023 – both in reference to the Queen and as a general character name.
‱ Meanwhile, words which had much higher frequency in stories from 2020 than 2023 include ps4, bushfire, trump, Brexit and coronavirus.

Do check out the full report for more interesting facts about how children used language in the 2023 500 words competition, and congratulations and well done to everyone who took part and submitted a story, as well as to the well-deserved winners.Ìę

Blog: 4 top tips for writing great plots

Blog: 4 fun ways to develop characters for a short story

Blog: How to find the perfect words for your story

Blog: Using storytelling to help develop reading and writing skills

Climate Change is the Oxford Children’s Word of the Year 2023.

A third of children chose climate change as their word of the year, narrowly followed by war and almost a quarter choosing coronation.

Why did children chose climate change?

The research, which asked over 5,000 children across the UK aged 6-14, revealed young people’s desire for action with emotive words such as ‘need’ and ‘important’ occurring frequently in their statements. Impact on the wider world, their current lives and the future were cited as the main reason for the word choice, whilst ‘sad’, ‘scared’ and ‘worried’ were the most common responses by young people when asked how the word makes them feel.

Analysis of the of the Oxford Children’s Corpus, the largest children’s English language database in the world containing over half a billion words, showed the topic of climate change is regularly written about by children. Studying the most recent addition to the Children’s Corpus, the stories submitted for the BBC 500 Words 2023 story competition, ‘stop’ is revealed as the most common word used in the context, underlining children’s resolve to alter the course of climate change.Ìę

The research also demonstrated how much current affairs affects children’s language. Of the children who selected war (31 per cent) as their chosen word, more than one in ten (13 per cent) mentioned the ‘news’ when asked why. The crowning of King Charles III was another key event in current affairs which impacted children, with many citing ‘celebration’ in relation to almost a quarter (24 per cent) choosing the word coronation.

What about slang words?

Other findings revealed bro to be the top slang word chosen by 42% of children followed by lol (24%) and slay (17%). Along with bro being used as an informal term to address friends, research found children also use it as a ‘positive politeness’ strategy to confirm solidarity with another person whilst expressing admonishment.

“This year marks the tenth year of Children’s Word of the Year, and over the decade we have seen the significant role current affairs plays for children’s language development. The choice of ‘climate change’ not only demonstrates how attuned children are to the news and their environment, but the research also reveals their willingness to engage with meaningful change. Whether it’s understanding how children use slang phrases or what word reflects the past year, it’s imperative we continue to support children’s language development so they have the means and vocabulary to express themselves.”Ìę Helen Freeman, Director of Oxford Children’s

“Through our work with young people, we’ve seen first-hand how willing children are to learn and engage with topics like climate change, so we’re not surprised to see it selected as Children’s Word of the Year. Sometimes we greatly underestimate children’s abilities to understand complex issues, so it’s encouraging that this research shows children are engaged and understand the impacts of climate change. We also mustn’t ignore the findings from the language research which demonstrate young people’s desire for action. Young people not only recognise that climate change is an issue, but they’re also seeing the importance of tackling it. No-one will feel the negative effects of climate change more than the next generation – or the positive effects of the action we take against it now.”Ìę Amy Meek, CEO and co-founder of Kids Against Plastic

How does it work?

Over 3,000 children aged 6-14 across the UK were asked for their suggested word of 2023 via our Education Research Forum. Based on the most common responses and themes in their answers, three words –Ìęclimate change,ÌęwarÌęandÌęcoronationÌę– were shortlisted. A further 1,450 children were asked for their favourite slang word of 2023 via a CHILDWISE survey. The three words, along with the three shortlisted slang words, were then put to vote by a further 1,000 children via market research agency Opinium to decide their overall word of 2023.

Climate and Vocabulary

IfÌę you are looking to explore topics in the world around you with your child at home, the following links may help:

• Blog: Talking about Climate change at home
• Page: Little Oxford: Explore your world
  • This page links to the Little Oxford app for 3-5 year olds, but also contains book recommendations for exploring the natural world with little ones
• Books: Big Words for Little People
• Kids Against Plastic: for more information about the charity Kids Against Plastic, please visit

Books to build Vocabulary

As a Headteacher of a primary school, I see the huge difference that a child’s vocabulary makes to their learning every day.

A rich vocabulary allows children to say exactly what they mean. Knowing and using lots of words helps them to understand what others are saying, to talk and write in an engaging way, and to better understand the world around them.

Support from parents makes a massive difference to the number and variety of words a child knows. One of the best ways to improve your child’s vocabulary is to play word games and activities at home. Not only is this an effective way to boost your child’s future success – it can also be fun and engaging for the whole family!

Here are some ideas for fun games you can play to build your child’s vocabulary and confidence with words.

Building your toddler’s vocabulary

• Ask questions about stories. For example, ‘Is Buzz helpful to Woody? Is the Gruffalo really scary? Do you think the mouse is a clever mouse? How do you know?’
• From nursery onwards, encourage your child to answer questions in developed phrases rather than in one or two words.
• Try to add more description to your own speech. For example, saying ‘Please could you pass me the large blue spoon with the wooden handle?’ exposes your child to more words than just saying ‘Please could you pass me the spoon?’

Building your child’s vocabulary at primary school

Ideally, a new word needs to be used six to twelve times, in different ways, to be remembered long term. Here are some ideas for repeating and reusing words in interesting ways.

1. Play word games

You could explore synonyms (words that mean the same thing) together. See how many different words your child can think of forÌęnice,Ìępretty, orÌętall. Some healthy competition with friends or siblings can help to make this fun.

2. Act out abverbs

Ask your child toÌęscamper silently,Ìęcrawl slowly,Ìęscuttle rapidly,Ìęsmile sweetly, orÌęspeak menacingly. Children love this!

3. Master meaning

When reading together, ask your child questions focusing around a particular word, such as:

• ‘Could we say that Verruca Salt isÌęselfish? Why? Why not?’
• ‘Could aÌęselfishÌęperson ever be kind? Can you give an example?’
• ‘Is Charlie BucketÌęselfish? Could we say he isÌęunselfish?’
• ‘When have you beenÌęunselfish? DoesÌęunselfishÌęmean the same thing as kind?’

4. Talk at the table

• Talk about food when you’re at the dinner table. Use interesting words to describe what you are eating: ‘My peas are not just nice and tasty – they areÌędelicious, they areÌęscrumptious. Do you think they areÌęscrumptious?’
• Dinnertime is also a good opportunity to ask your child about their day. For example, you could ask, ‘What do you remember from your lessons today?’ and encourage lots of detail. You can model this by talking about your own day first.

5. Use interesting words

• When you talk to your child, try to use interesting words. For example, ‘When I gave my friend her present, she was delighted. Delighted is a strong word for happy. I’m always delighted when you help me tidy up – what makes you delighted?’
• Try to model using adjectives (words that describe nouns, like ‘yellow’ or ‘smooth’) and adverbs (words that describe verbs, like ‘happily’ or ‘quickly’) in your day-to-day speech. For example: ‘Can you smell the freshly cut grass?’

6. Discover language on the go

Visit your local museum and ask your child to describe the pictures or exhibits they see. Take your child along with you as you head off to the bank, the grocery shop, or the post office, and see what new words you can discover.

7. Play ‘word/not word’

Another way to stretch your child’s use of new words is to play ‘word/not word’. This works by choosing a word (for example, ‘delightful’), and seeing what ideas your child associates with it. For instance, you could say to your child, ‘If I say something that you love, say “delightful”. If you don’t love it, say “not delightful”.’ Then ask your child why they responded as they did.

For example, you could try these ideas: opening presents on your birthday; eating sprouts; laughing at the puppy; eating ice cream; going to bed early; reading a book; riding your bike.

Now you can vary the game, using ‘beautiful/not beautiful’, ‘hilarious/not hilarious’, ‘exciting/not exciting’, and so on.

Things worth remembering

• Try to make time for your child to give full answers. Encourage them to answer in full sentences, or starting withÌębecause.
• It’s okay for your child to make mistakes, and it’s okay for you to correct them. A gentle way to do this is to say something back to them the correct way. For example, if your child says ‘It weren’t me!’, you could respond, ‘It wasn’t you?’.
• A good idea to boost vocabulary is to watchÌęBBC NewsroundÌęwith your child and discuss the issues involved. This is great for improving your child’s understanding of the world too!
• Teach the correct word for things as they come up in conversation (for example, ‘helmet’ instead of ‘hat’ or ‘rabbit’ instead of ‘bunny’).
• Have a simple dictionary or thesaurus to hand and explore word meanings together. Googling on your phone can also be helpful if you’re not sure.

Above all, have fun and remember that children learn at different speeds!

This article was originally published in 2019.Ìę

More from Oxford Owl

• Blog:ÌęThe word gap: How to build your child’s vocabulary at home
• Blog:ÌęCarry on reading aloud: the benefits of sharing books with older children
• Web page:ÌęVocabulary at primary school

Last year’s 51șÚÁÏÍű report, , looked at why so many children start secondary school without the word skills they need, and how to solve this problem. It reported that students with a limited vocabulary – or word gap – struggle to understand what is being taught at school and that this can mean they do less well in exams. This can affect their job prospects in the future and can also damage their confidence and sense of wellbeing.

At secondary school students face up to four times as much language as they did at primary school. While new words which are part of the subject being taught (such as maths or science terms) are explained by teachers, it is the general academic vocabulary – sometimes referred to as Tier 2 vocabulary – which is trickier. This is a general background vocabulary often used in educational settings and in many workplaces. Adults working in these environments instinctively use this type of vocabulary, often assuming that young people understand more of it than they do.

In the report, OUP asked leading educational experts and teachers to share their ideas for ways to help students at this crucial transition time. It also highlights how parents and carers can help build up their children’s vocabulary to make the move from primary to secondary school that bit easier. Here are some ideas to try at home:

1. Talk to each other

The more talking we do with children at home, the more language and vocabulary they come across. Encourage lively conversations about things that interest them, what is going on in their world, and in the world around us. Try watching a documentary together or listen to the news in the car, or point out a newspaper headline and then encourage them to express their opinions and ideas about it. Even if you disagree, let them speak and show that you appreciate hearing their views!

2. Try using different words

One way to expose your child to more general academic vocabulary is to try to use it yourself. For example, instead of, ‘Tell me what you think’, try ‘Can you explain your opinion?’ Instead of saying ‘I don’t know why’, say ‘I’m uncertain of the reason’.

While you don’t want to sound like a dictionary, using different words from time to time will help embed them into your child’s own vocabulary and make the language of secondary education less daunting.

Here are some everyday words with their alternatives to try using instead:

• next to/adjacent
• the same as/equivalent
• mistake/error
• facts/evidence
• look into/examine
• tidy/organize
• suggest/imply
• show/indicate
• think about/consider

Good luck!

3. Encourage reading

Reading is brilliant because it introduces far more words than we ever use in general conversation. The key is finding something to read that is interesting. Try giving your child different books or magazines, borrow library books, or friends’ books, or send them links to online articles, websites and blogs. Make sure they have a bit of time and space to read at home and it really helps if you show how much you like reading too.

4. Support your school’s efforts to increase students’ confidence with vocabulary and language

Take an interest in your child’s homework and try to help with tasks such as spellings or looking up definitions. Having a dictionary and a thesaurus at home will make it easier for both of you when unfamiliar words come up. If you need help in finding resources at a suitable level, use the age filters on Oxford Owl’s dictionary book finder.

5. Show them how to work out what new words mean

Encourage your child to enjoy the challenge of unfamiliar words. When you come across a new word being used, talk about what it might mean together. Share your thinking – what is the rest of the sentence about? What is the topic? Are there any other clues you can pick up to help you work out the meaning, or at least to gain the gist of the meaning?

It’s worth remembering that some words have different meanings in different contexts. For example, a ‘solution’ to a problem is very different from making a ‘solution’ by dissolving something in a liquid!

6. Talk about different types of language

Talk about how we use certain types of language when we are in different situations. Your child probably uses particular words with their friends that you won’t understand and sharing these can be fun. Point out the formal language used by news reporters and in documentaries, and the informal, conversational language used in dramas. Students who learn to ‘code switch’ between different styles of language will find it easier to fit into different working and social environments.

Moving from primary school to secondary school can be daunting and it’s easy for children (and parents!) to feel out of their depth sometimes. Trying any of these ideas will help to build your child’s confidence with words and even the most everyday conversations can make all the difference!

More vocabulary and reading support from Oxford Owl

• Blog: Why the word gap matters: information about OUP’s 2018 report and what you can do at home to close the word gap.
• Blog: Building a strong vocabulary: tips and ideas from headteacher Tracey Smith.
• Blog: The wonder of words: how learning new words can help your child.
• Activity sheets: free activities from Oxford Children’s Dictionaries.
• Reading comprehension: how to help your child understand what they’re reading.
• Bookfinder: Oxford Children’s Dictionaries: find an age-appropriate dictionary or thesaurus for your child.
• Bookfinder: Oxford Children’s Fiction: our children’s fiction range has been created to inspire a life-long love of reading.

Books from 51șÚÁÏÍű

Browse more language books in our bookshop.

Reading for pleasure is so important for children’s vocabulary development, and a great opportunity to escape into the world of the imagination too.

Whether your child is a keen or reluctant reader, use the list below to find an idea (or two!) to inspire your child to keep on reading as they move from primary to secondary school.

1.ÌęRandom acts of (book) kindness

Some young people are inspired to read more if they know it will be helping others. Reading with younger children can be a great way to develop vocabulary skills, and can boost your child’s self-confidence and communication skills too.

2.Ìę13 before you’re 13

If your child is motivated by targets or prizes, set them a reading-based challenge. Can they read 13 books – in a category of their choice – before they are 13? These could be classic novels, comics, famous books, etc. Decide whether there’s a prize at the end. (check our list of recommendations).

3.ÌęAudiobooks and apps

Try audiobooks if your child is a reluctant reader or even just for a change. You can access thousands of audiobooks online or via apps like Hoopla and Audible, and many libraries also offer a free service such as BorrowBox or RBdigital. Try the BBC Sounds app for music, podcasts, and radio shows as an alternative.

4.ÌęNew books for free

Book review websites such as Toppsta and Lovereading4kids invite children to sign up to become reviewers. Your child can select the books they are interested in reading, and publishers will send a free copy to your home in return for writing a short online review.

5.ÌęBook club

Encourage your child to set up a book club with friends and take it in turns to host. Chatterbooks has free downloadable resources to kick-start conversations. (use some of our hive resources too?).Ìę

6.ÌęReading for charity

Take part in a Readathon or other sponsored reading event to raise money for good causes and funds for school books. And if your child has caught the fundraising bug, they could organise a book sale of donated books, a book quiz, or a ‘Big Book Off’ challenge, all with reading at the heart of the event.

7.ÌęReading ambassador

Sometimes it takes time to settle at a new school, but a good way to make friends and have something to do during lunchtimes is to help out in the school library or find ways to get involved as a reading ambassador.

8.ÌęCreative competitions

There are lots of short, fun writing and book-themed competitions for children, including reviews, short stories, journalism, handwriting, and poetry. Look online for something that will appeal. (link to our creative writing tips).

9.ÌęJust 100 words

If your child likes writing stories as well as reading, encourage them to share their work with the 100 words audience. They just have to write five sentences or 100 words, and someone from the team will comment.

10.ÌęStage and screen

If there’s a film adaptation of a novel at your local cinema, or a play by the school drama club or local theatre, see if you can get tickets. Alternatively, watch a film or TV version of a book at home.

These ideas have been adapted from a resource pack created by 51șÚÁÏÍű in collaboration with Teachit. For more ideas about increasing vocabulary and closing the word gap, visit our page.

More vocabulary and reading support from Oxford Owl

• Blog: Why the word gap matters: what you can do at home to close the word gap.
• Blog: Building a strong vocabulary: teacher tips on how you can help at home.
• Activity sheets: free activities from Oxford Children’s Dictionaries.
• Reading: Age 10–11 (Year 6): information on what your child will learn at school and how you can help them develop their reading skills at home.
• Reading comprehension: how to help your child understand what they’re reading.
• Bookfinder: Oxford Children’s Dictionaries: find an age-appropriate dictionary or thesaurus for your child.
• Bookfinder: Oxford Children’s Fiction: our children’s fiction range has been created to inspire a life-long love of reading.

One of the most basic, but also the most valuable, skills we can give our children is the ability to communicate well. Research shows that children who can use language well and confidently not only get better results at school, but also are more likely to succeed in later life.

At its heart, this means being confident with words – how to read them, what they mean and how to spell them. This link between phonics, vocabulary knowledge and spelling is crucial. Children who are excited to learn new words and spellings will continue to expand their vocabulary, which in turn, means that they will happily take on new learning across different subjects. Children who are anxious about unfamiliar words tend to stick to the vocabulary they know and can spell, which restricts their learning and ability to communicate well with others.

So, what can you do to help your child develop a healthy attitude towards early language skills?

1. Show them how much fun words can be

Try to find time to talk together and as you do, encourage them to ask questions so that you can chat back and forth. Point out words whose sound describe what they are such as crunchy or crumbly or words beginning with s- that can sound like soft, smooth or squishy things. You could create a list of favourite words together. Try finding small words inside big words, such as together, and see who can find the most. Tell jokes, use rhymes, read lots of stories and poems. You could even make up words that are particular to your family. Show your child a positive attitude towards words and language.

2. Use dictionaries to explore new words

Why let your child’s dictionary gather dust on the shelf when you could challenge each other to bring a new word into your everyday language? A ball, for example, could be described as ‘round’ but it is also a ‘sphere’. Repeat the word, say how much you like the sound of it. Encourage your child to say the word, too. See if you can find it in a dictionary together. You’ll need to listen carefully to the initial phonemes (sounds) in the word, talk about what letters can make up these sounds, and then use the alphabet to find the word. Point out how the dictionary explains the meaning of the word.
 

3. Get familiar with phonics – consonant sounds

At school, your child will follow a phonics reading programme. Each week they focus on different sounds and the letter, or letters, used to make the sounds. Try to keep track of which sounds your child is learning and practise at home. If they are learning the sound /b/ made by the letter ‘b’, have fun trying to spot things in your home which start with that sound, e.g. bed, beans, or book. Encourage your child to draw the letter or group of letters and then add pictures around it that start with that sound. If you use a phonics dictionary, you will find the words in it are ordered by their sound.Ìę When your child is learning the /s/ sound, you can use it to discover that both ‘sun’ and ‘Cinderella’ both start with the same sound but can be spelt either with the letter ‘s’ or the letter ‘c’. Try thinking of other words beginning with the /s/ sound and think about their spellings.
 

4. Ee, ea or ey – phonic vowel sounds

As well as learning about the initial (first) sounds in words, which are usually consonant sounds, your child will also learn about short and long vowel sounds. These are often, but not always, found in the middle and end of words. Some of these sounds can be spelt in many different ways. For example, the long vowel sound /ee/, can be spelt using the letters ee (bee), ea (dream), ey (donkey), ie (thief), y (funny), or e (me).

Once you know what sound your child is focusing on at school, have fun noticing that sound in other words. For example, if you come across the word donkey in a story, pause and think about other words that end with the same sound and spelling (e.g. key, money, trolley). You can use a phonics spelling dictionary to come up with these other words for you.
 

5. Be creative in learning tricky spellings

Some words are just tricky to spell so their spelling has to be learnt. Your child will come across many common words that just need learning, such as the, are, friend, one, or said. Try to pick out words that your child struggles to spell and find engaging ways to help them learn these spellings. Some children learn through chanting and repetition, others find it helpful to link actions to letters to help them remember spellings. Sometimes inventing a rhyme or saying can help children remember spellings, for example, ‘because’ (big elephants can always understand small elephants).

Read this when thinking about which dictionary will suit your child.

There has been much in the news recently about the increasing numbers of children in England who are starting school without the language skills expected for their age. Perhaps the most stark research finding is the link between early language skills and life chances.

One in four (23%) children who struggle with language at age five do not reach the expected standard in English at the end of primary school, compared with just 1 in 25 (4%) children who had good language skills at age five.¹ At 51șÚÁÏÍű, we partnered with the National Literacy Trust and the All Party Parliamentary Group on Literacy to publish a report that highlights this link between children’s early language skills and life chances.

The report, called , also draws together best practice on how teachers and nursery workers can help young children to develop early language skills. But many of the report’s suggestions are simple things that parents can do at home. Here, we have pulled together a few ideas that you could try with your child to boost their communication, language and reading skills.

1. Take it in turns to talk

Parents have long been advised to talk to our babies and young children as early and as much as possible. But research has found there is a particular benefit in turn-taking in conversations between adults and children. A recent study showed that children who were given lots of turns to talk in conversations with adults had increased spoken language skills and greater brain activity.²

2. Say things in different ways

It goes without saying that parents talk to their children all the time. But research with very young children shows that if we use richer language, children’s vocabulary increases dramatically³ (e.g. instead of ‘Pick that up and bring it over here’, say ‘Walk slowly to the kitchen, carefully pick up the fork and return it to me’). Try using alternative words for the same thing – instead of saying ‘it’s hot’, say ‘it’s scorching’ or ‘it’s blistering’ or ‘it’s sizzling’.

3. Sing and rhyme

Songs and nursery rhymes are a brilliant way to build a child’s vocabulary and give them a love of language. Nursery rhymes also help children to learn about the features of stories – characters, structure, setting, and so on. If you are stuck for ideas, have a look at the

4. Read together every day

By listening to stories, children hear and learn words that we don’t tend to use as much in everyday conversation. It’s a great way to build their vocabulary and help them to develop a love of books. For a bit of variety, try listening to audio books in the car or take a look at some of the free eBooks on Oxford Owl.

5. Talk about the story

When your child is old enough, talk about the story together. You could talk about the pictures, ask questions about what is going to happen next, or discuss how a character is feeling. This all helps them to build their language, literacy and reading skills.

6. Let your child be the storyteller

Why not let your child tell the story? It is often said that if you read your child one book a day, then they will have heard over 1800 books by the time they are five. But it doesn’t have to be a different book every day. We all know how much children love to hear favourite stories over and over again! Ask your child to retell a well-loved story to you for a change, in their own words. Research has shown that this not only builds their language skills, but also their confidence and enthusiasm for storytelling.⁴

Don’t panic!

You can easily check your child’s language development in the first 5 years, using the guide, produced by the Department for Education and 4Children.

If you have any concerns about your child’s language development you could talk to your local children’s centre, your child’s key person, a childminder or health professional.

More from Oxford Owl

• Blog post: The wonder of words: How learning new words can help your child >
• Blog post: The word gap: How to build your child’s vocabulary at home >
• Blog post: Early years: Getting ready to write >
• Blog post: Cerrie Burnell’s top tips for reading bedtime stories >
• Website:
• YouTube playlist:

1. Ainscow et al (2012) An Evaluation of The Communication Trust’s ‘Talk of the Town’ Project. Centre for Equity in Education, University of Manchester.
2. Romeo R., Leonard J., Robinson, S., West, M., Mackey A., Rowe, M., & Gabrieli J. (2018) Beyond the 30-million-word gap: children’s conversational exposure is associated with language-related brain function. Psychological Science 29(4) February 2018.
3. David Reedy explores this study in , page 1.
4. Nicolopoulou, A. ‘Promoting oral narrative skills in low-income pre-schoolers through storytelling and story acting in Cremin’, T et al (2017) (eds) Storytelling in Early Childhood: Language Literacy and Classroom Culture. Routledge, London.

Words are powerful things. They are the keys we use to unlock meaning, allowing us to understand new information and ideas. They are the tools we use to construct and share our own thoughts, giving us a voice.

A broad, rich vocabulary – the words we recognise and know how to use – allows a child to understand and enjoy the things they read, to learn about the world around them, and to express themselves and their thoughts so that people will listen. Research suggests that a strong vocabulary in childhood is linked to future success and happiness, both at school and in later life. A rich vocabulary allows children to understand the books they read and the ideas the teacher shares at school, meaning they can take an active part in lessons and make good progress.

If we want our children to grow their vocabularies, here are four things to think about when supporting them:

1. A little more conversation

TalkingÌętoÌęyour child is great. TalkingÌęwithÌęyour child might just be even better.

Genuine two-way conversation (dialogicÌętalk, as it’s known) is related to children’s later language development, especially when children are very young. So asking a child a question or asking what they think about something, listening to their reply, and then responding is one of the simplest ways of building their vocabulary and language skills. It might be about something educational – a book you’re reading or a game you’re playing – but it could just as easily be about which loaf of bread to buy at the shop. The back-and-forth of genuine conversation helps children to learn the words and patterns that make up language.

2. Reading together

While talk is the foundation of a child’s growing vocabulary, books provide another crucial source of language learning. The language of books, even books aimed at the very youngest children, is different to spoken language, so reading widely and being read to is a wonderful source of new words and new patterns of language. Children will also come across the same words in different contexts, helping them to form a better idea of their meaning.

Storytime can be very special and the longer we can keep it going with primary-aged children the better. Depending on your child’s age and where they are on the journey to learning to read, some time to read to them and some time to listen to them read is likely to be useful. Also, carving out some time to talk about books will help to unpick any misunderstandings and will help them to use the language and words of the text.

3. Recasting language

A popular approach used in primary schools to help children learn new words or phrases is to recast children’s comments back to them, using a slightly different pattern of language. This might be to help them learn a quirk of grammar:

Child: The rabbitÌęgoedÌęaway!
Teacher: That’s right, the rabbitÌęwentÌęaway. HeÌęwentÌęinto his hole.

Or to introduce them to a new word:

Child: She’s so tired.
Teacher: Yes! She looksÌęexhausted, doesn’t she?

This is a nice, easy way of modelling words for children without correcting them or turning language learning into a big thing.

4. Keeping it fun

The last thing we want as parents is to be constantly correcting our children or giving them great big lists of words to learn. Learning to use language should be a joyful experience and, for most children, playing with words and language is a source of great fun. It is no coincidence that many jokes rely on a pun, such as our current household favourite:

Did you hear the joke about the wrapping paper? It was tearable.

Playing with language, whether through jokes (even ones like that), keeping an eye out for unusual words, or playing word games is a fun, simple way of encouraging an interest in language that will serve your child well for their whole life.

Most children’s vocabulary will grow naturally as they get older, soaking up new words and phrases from conversations with you, their friends, and their teachers, and from the books, programmes, games, and websites they enjoy. As with everything, this happens at a different rate from person to person and situation to situation. If you have any concerns about your child’s language development, talk to their teacher and they should be able to offer advice and support.

If you are interested in the importance of vocabulary development in education, you can find out more in the free report,Ìę.

More from Oxford Owl

• Blog:ÌęWhy the word gap matters and what you can do at home to close it
• Activities:Ìę
• Reading together:ÌęChoose a book to share from our free eBook library
• Blog:ÌęHow to find the right dictionary for your child