Vocabulary sophistication in children’s L2 school writing

Abstract

This paper tests three hypotheses about written vocabulary in child L2 English. Specifically, as children mature: 1) the mean frequency values of the nouns they use increase; 2) the mean frequencies of other parts-of-speech decrease; 3) use of academic vocabulary increases only in certain types of writing. Using a corpus of writing by children in Norway, hypotheses 1 was confirmed up to the mid-teenage years. Mean frequency values of nouns then decreased. Analysis showed that the early increase is due to decreased repetition of low-frequency topic words. After age 15, frequencies drop as the main source of vocabulary moves from a region around the 150th most frequent lemma to one around the 550th. Hypotheses 2 and 3 were partially confirmed. Mean frequencies of non-nouns decreased in non-stories after Year 9. Non-stories became more academic across years. Stories had much lower scores overall but also showed an increase at Year 10.