Oxford Australian Children’s
2021 Word of the Year

Children’s stories illustrates desire to take back control following the pandemic

Data from Oxford University Press in partnership with Writing Legends, the largest story-writing platform in Australia, reveals ‘Power’ as the Oxford Australian Children’s Word of the Year (CWOTY) 2021.

After another disrupted school year of remote learning and virtual classrooms during the COVID-19 lockdowns and prolonged restrictions, it’s not surprising that Australian students have been preoccupied with reclaiming control of their lives through their writing.

Oxford Children’s Language Australia and children’s language experts analysed more than 76,000 short stories and over 9 million words written by Australian students aged seven to 13 years old. Shortlisted words included ‘love’, ‘kindness’, ‘choice’, ‘dragon’, ‘imagine’, ‘happiness’, ‘humanity’ ‘power’ and ‘environment’. The usage of the word ‘power’ had increased by 61.8 per cent compared to 2020.

Our research highlighted:

• There was a strong trend towards fantasy themes, such as superpowers and flying. During the pandemic, imagination could be used as escapism. It was fitting, then, that some young writers also reflected on the power of imagination.
• The use of power also indicates a desire from students to exercise their freedom of choice after a long period of lockdown restrictions. It may also suggest a feeling of disenfranchisement and lack of control on important issues such as climate change.
• Students wrote about electrical power, the power of nature, and political or social power, reflecting awareness of global issues. In fiction and non-fiction stories, students pondered what it means to have and use power in an unequal world.
• Other themes that emerged within the large body of writing included a strong feeling of positivity, an appreciation of connection and a degree of introspection following a year of upheaval.
• Many of the more complex popular verbs used within the students’ writing described thought processes and reflection, such as ‘decide’, ‘believe’, ‘realise’, ‘wonder’, ‘forget’, and ‘remember’. This indicates a level of introspection and reflection perhaps brought about by having less distractions due to lockdowns or by another year of disruption and unfamiliarity.
• We witnessed a significant change of mindset among students this year, especially when compared to last year, as the usage of the word happiness increased by 280%. Overall there is a distinctly more positive tone within the writing, which is a stark contrast to last year’s sentiment which saw ‘bored’ and ‘boring’ in the top 100 adjectives. This illustrates the surprising resilience our students’ have demonstrated this year, despite another year of continued restrictions and distance learning.

This year’s Oxford Australian Children’s Word of the Year shortlist also included ‘love’, ‘kindness’, ‘choice’, ‘dragon’, ‘imagine’, ‘happiness’, ‘humanity’ and ‘environment’.