WJEC Educas Component 2 Section B: The American Frugal Housewife

This analysis of the second extract ‘The American Frugal Housewife’ from the WJEC Educas sample assessment material (SAM).  This builds on a series of posts that begin with my quest, then move onto analyse AQA 1 and AQA 2 extracts and then Edexcel 1 and Edexcel 2.  I have already analysed the first extract from the Edexcel SAMs.

I’ve accepted that I’m not going to be able to fully analyse the OCR extracts in time for my research presentation at the NATE Conference, Saturday 24^th June 2017, 09.15 Research slot but I will have some initial findings.

This extract has a slightly higher number of Tier Two words than the AQA extracts (60+76) but Edexcel still has the highest overall (156 + 73).  Magazine features more highly as a context again, like the other WJEC extract, due to the lifestyle nature of the article.

82 Tier Two words
aged	art	avarice;	baked	beef
charity	coals	collected	Cotton	creditors
deserves	despised	dinner	doubtful	earning
economical	economy	employed	employment	ensure
etc	expenditure	experience	feeling	fragments
frugal	gathering	generally	generous	housekeeping
Housewife	however	impulse	injury	instinct
knit	knitting	lard	laying	materials
member	merely	mince	minced	nor
obeys	odd	opportunity	otherwise	overlooked
owes	per	permanent	persons	power
praise	purchased	readiness	recommend	saving
savoury	selfish	simply	skins	stew
stockings	sufficient	sundries	supper	tending
thoughtlessly	thrown	Total	trifling	ungenerous
vegetables	virtue	wants	wasted	woollen
woven	yarn

 

No glossary

 

There was no glossary again for this extract, like the first WJEC one, not even for ‘frugal’ which I feel is central to the meaning and a quite unusual word (frequency of 79).

 

Contexts

 

Despite the nature of the article the largest context is still academic (21/82).  Newspaper as a context is low but magazine higher.  Fiction continues to feature as an important context for Tier Two words in general and for the least frequently occurring too (19/82 and 10/30) with magazine having about the same numbers.

 

Other knowledge/Tier 3

 

Like the first WJEC text units of measurement and currency feature: 1b, cents and dollars. I would have thought most students would assume ‘soda’ meant fizzy drinks but that probably wouldn’t be crucial.  Although ‘economy’ as a Tier Two word features quite frequently in the corpus it probably doesn’t feature as meaning being thrifty or reducing expenditure in a budget predominantly.

 

Range of Tier Two words across all six texts

 

A small body of repeated Tier Two words is emerging:

28 words have now appeared in two texts (assignment(s), attention, crumpled, dinner, during, earliest, favour(ed), housekeeping, however, information, intelligence, intend(ed), latest, manage(d), memories, merely, nor, official, opportunity, plain, powers, received, recommend, text, thrown, whether, worship, worth).  Only 3 words appear in three texts (increasingly, typical, interview).

This leaves 515 Tier Two words to know across the six texts. (549-28-3-3) of which 192 have frequency scores below 1000.  Quite a large body of words required to comprehend this relatively small group of extracts.

I expected a larger number of repeated words to emerge to allow some targeted vocabulary instruction but 515 seems almost too large to work with.

OCR

I’ve done some preliminary work on the OCR extracts to present on Saturday and will analyse fully next week.

Tier 2 Words – alphabetical order

Tier 2 Word	Type of word – in context	British National Corpus Frequency	Largest context (per mill)
aged	Adjective	4584	Newspaper
art	Noun	14987	Magazine
avarice	noun	49	Fiction
baked	Noun	644	Fiction
beef	Noun	1481	Magazine
charity	Noun	3627	Newspaper
coals	Noun	248	Coals
collected	verb	3442	Academic
Cotton	Noun	2348	Magazine
creditors	Noun	1106	Academic
deserves	Verb	883	Magazine then newspaper
despised	Verb	399	Fiction
dinner	Noun	5858	Fiction
doubtful	adjective	1202	Academic
earning	verb	1133	Newspaper then spoken
economical	Adjective	489	Magazine
economy	Noun	10174	Non-academic
employed	verb	5001	Academic
Employment	Noun	10562	Academic
ensure	Verb	10137	Misc
etc	Adverb	4393	Misc
expenditure	noun	5408	Misc
experience	Noun	20924	Academic
feeling	noun	12308	Fiction
fragments	noun	1317	Academic
frugal	Adjective	79	Magazine then fiction
gathering	verb	1811	Fiction
generally	Adverb	11352	Academic
generous	adjective	2234	Magazine
housekeeping	Noun	341	Magazine
Housewife	Noun	621	Non-academic
however	Adverb	58967	Academic
impulse	Noun	713	Fiction
injury	Noun	4556	Academic
instinct	noun	1057	Fiction
knit	verb	1081	Magazine (by far)
knitting	Verb	1611	Magazine
lard	noun	84	Magazine
laying	Verb	1322	Fiction (just)
materials	Noun	6691	Non-academic
member	Noun	17107	Misc
merely	Adverb	7372	Academic
mince	noun	295	Spoken
minced	Verb	88	Magazine
nor	Conjunction	11879	Academic
obeys	Verb	48	Non-academic
odd	Adjective	4255	Fiction
opportunity	Noun	10026	misc
otherwise	Adverb	8558	Academic
overlooked	Verb	797	Academic
owes	verb	631	Academic and newspaper
per	Preposition	52333	Non-academic
permanent	Adjective	4410	Non-academic
persons	Noun	3943	Academic
power	noun	31134	Academic
praise	noun	1563	Misc
purchased	verb	1664	Magazine
readiness	Noun	583	Non-academic
recommend	Verb	1754	Magazine
saving	Verb	2310	misc
savoury	Adjective	164	Magazine
selfish	Adjective	648	Fiction
simply	adverb	17099	Academic
skins	Noun	623	Magazine
stew	Noun	325	Fiction
stockings	Noun	453	Fiction
sufficient	Adjective	5827	Academic
sundries	noun	16	Misc
supper	Noun	1390	Fiction
tending	Verb	423	Non-academic
thoughtlessly	Adverb	42	Fiction
thrown	Verb	2861	Fiction
Total	Noun	17097	Misc
trifling	Adjective	90	Academic
ungenerous	Adjective	36	Fiction
vegetables	noun	1750	Magazine
virtue	noun	1817	Academic
wants	Noun	8613	Spoken
wasted	adjective	1311	Fiction
woollen	Noun	488	Fiction
woven	Adjective	587	Magazine
yarn	noun	866	Magazine

 

Tier Two words – BNC Frequency

 

Tier 2 Word	Type of word – in context	British National Corpus Frequency	Largest context (per mill)
however	Adverb	58967	Academic
per	Preposition	52333	Non-academic
power	noun	31134	Academic
experience	Noun	20924	Academic
member	Noun	17107	Misc
simply	adverb	17099	Academic
Total	Noun	17097	Misc
art	Noun	14987	Magazine
feeling	noun	12308	Fiction
nor	Conjunction	11879	Academic
generally	Adverb	11352	Academic
Employment	Noun	10562	Academic
economy	Noun	10174	Non-academic
ensure	Verb	10137	Misc
opportunity	Noun	10026	misc
wants	Noun	8613	Spoken
otherwise	Adverb	8558	Academic
merely	Adverb	7372	Academic
materials	Noun	6691	Non-academic
dinner	Noun	5858	Fiction
sufficient	Adjective	5827	Academic
expenditure	noun	5408	Misc
employed	verb	5001	Academic
aged	Adjective	4584	Newspaper
injury	Noun	4556	Academic
permanent	Adjective	4410	Non-academic
etc	Adverb	4393	Misc
odd	Adjective	4255	Fiction
persons	Noun	3943	Academic
charity	Noun	3627	Newspaper
collected	verb	3442	Academic
thrown	Verb	2861	Fiction
Cotton	Noun	2348	Magazine
saving	Verb	2310	misc
generous	adjective	2234	Magazine
virtue	noun	1817	Academic
gathering	verb	1811	Fiction
recommend	Verb	1754	Magazine
vegetables	noun	1750	Magazine
purchased	verb	1664	Magazine
knitting	Verb	1611	Magazine
praise	noun	1563	Misc
beef	Noun	1481	Magazine
supper	Noun	1390	Fiction
laying	Verb	1322	Fiction (just)
fragments	noun	1317	Academic
wasted	adjective	1311	Fiction
doubtful	adjective	1202	Academic
earning	verb	1133	Newspaper then spoken
creditors	Noun	1106	Academic
knit	verb	1081	Magazine (by far)
instinct	noun	1057	Fiction
deserves	Verb	883	Magazine then newspaper
yarn	noun	866	Magazine
overlooked	Verb	797	Academic
impulse	Noun	713	Fiction
selfish	Adjective	648	Fiction
baked	Noun	644	Fiction
owes	verb	631	Academic and newspaper
skins	Noun	623	Magazine
Housewife	Noun	621	Non-academic
woven	Adjective	587	Magazine
readiness	Noun	583	Non-academic
economical	Adjective	489	Magazine
woollen	Noun	488	Fiction
stockings	Noun	453	Fiction
tending	Verb	423	Non-academic
despised	Verb	399	Fiction
housekeeping	Noun	341	Magazine
stew	Noun	325	Fiction
mince	noun	295	Spoken
coals	Noun	248
savoury	Adjective	164	Magazine
trifling	Adjective	90	Academic
minced	Verb	88	Magazine
lard	noun	84	Magazine
frugal	Adjective	79	Magazine then fiction
avarice	noun	49	Fiction
obeys	Verb	48	Non-academic
thoughtlessly	Adverb	42	Fiction
ungenerous	Adjective	36	Fiction
sundries	noun	16	Misc

 

Notes: 30 words under 1000 frequency: 10 magazine, 10 fiction, 4 non-academic, 3 academic, 1 misc, 1 spoken, 1 missing

 

15 nouns , 7 adjectives, 7 verbs, 1 adverb

 

Tier 2 Words – Largest Contexts

 

Tier 2 Word	Type of word – in context	British National Corpus Frequency	Largest context (per mill)
however	Adverb	58967	Academic
power	noun	31134	Academic
experience	Noun	20924	Academic
simply	adverb	17099	Academic
nor	Conjunction	11879	Academic
generally	Adverb	11352	Academic
Employment	Noun	10562	Academic
otherwise	Adverb	8558	Academic
merely	Adverb	7372	Academic
sufficient	Adjective	5827	Academic
employed	verb	5001	Academic
injury	Noun	4556	Academic
persons	Noun	3943	Academic
collected	verb	3442	Academic
virtue	noun	1817	Academic
fragments	noun	1317	Academic
doubtful	adjective	1202	Academic
creditors	Noun	1106	Academic
overlooked	Verb	797	Academic
trifling	Adjective	90	Academic
owes	verb	631	Academic and newspaper
coals	Noun	248
feeling	noun	12308	Fiction
dinner	Noun	5858	Fiction
odd	Adjective	4255	Fiction
thrown	Verb	2861	Fiction
gathering	verb	1811	Fiction
supper	Noun	1390	Fiction
wasted	adjective	1311	Fiction
instinct	noun	1057	Fiction
impulse	Noun	713	Fiction
selfish	Adjective	648	Fiction
baked	Noun	644	Fiction
woollen	Noun	488	Fiction
stockings	Noun	453	Fiction
despised	Verb	399	Fiction
stew	Noun	325	Fiction
avarice	noun	49	Fiction
thoughtlessly	Adverb	42	Fiction
ungenerous	Adjective	36	Fiction
laying	Verb	1322	Fiction (just)
art	Noun	14987	Magazine
Cotton	Noun	2348	Magazine
generous	adjective	2234	Magazine
recommend	Verb	1754	Magazine
vegetables	noun	1750	Magazine
purchased	verb	1664	Magazine
knitting	Verb	1611	Magazine
beef	Noun	1481	Magazine
yarn	noun	866	Magazine
skins	Noun	623	Magazine
woven	Adjective	587	Magazine
economical	Adjective	489	Magazine
housekeeping	Noun	341	Magazine
savoury	Adjective	164	Magazine
minced	Verb	88	Magazine
lard	noun	84	Magazine
knit	verb	1081	Magazine (by far)
frugal	Adjective	79	Magazine then fiction
deserves	Verb	883	Magazine then newspaper
member	Noun	17107	Misc
Total	Noun	17097	Misc
ensure	Verb	10137	Misc
opportunity	Noun	10026	misc
expenditure	noun	5408	Misc
etc	Adverb	4393	Misc
saving	Verb	2310	misc
praise	noun	1563	Misc
sundries	noun	16	Misc
aged	Adjective	4584	Newspaper
charity	Noun	3627	Newspaper
earning	verb	1133	Newspaper then spoken
per	Preposition	52333	Non-academic
economy	Noun	10174	Non-academic
materials	Noun	6691	Non-academic
permanent	Adjective	4410	Non-academic
Housewife	Noun	621	Non-academic
readiness	Noun	583	Non-academic
tending	Verb	423	Non-academic
obeys	Verb	48	Non-academic
wants	Noun	8613	Spoken
mince	noun	295	Spoken

 

Notes: 21 Academic, 19 Fiction, 19 Magazine, 9 Misc, 8 non-academic, 3 newspaper, 2 spoken, 1 missing

 

Tier 2 words – word types

 

Tier 2 Word	Type of word – in context	British National Corpus Frequency	Largest context (per mill)
sufficient	Adjective	5827	Academic
aged	Adjective	4584	Newspaper
permanent	Adjective	4410	Non-academic
odd	Adjective	4255	Fiction
generous	adjective	2234	Magazine
wasted	adjective	1311	Fiction
doubtful	adjective	1202	Academic
selfish	Adjective	648	Fiction
woven	Adjective	587	Magazine
economical	Adjective	489	Magazine
savoury	Adjective	164	Magazine
trifling	Adjective	90	Academic
frugal	Adjective	79	Magazine then fiction
ungenerous	Adjective	36	Fiction
however	Adverb	58967	Academic
simply	adverb	17099	Academic
generally	Adverb	11352	Academic
otherwise	Adverb	8558	Academic
merely	Adverb	7372	Academic
etc	Adverb	4393	Misc
thoughtlessly	Adverb	42	Fiction
nor	Conjunction	11879	Academic
power	noun	31134	Academic
experience	Noun	20924	Academic
member	Noun	17107	Misc
Total	Noun	17097	Misc
art	Noun	14987	Magazine
feeling	noun	12308	Fiction
Employment	Noun	10562	Academic
economy	Noun	10174	Non-academic
opportunity	Noun	10026	misc
wants	Noun	8613	Spoken
materials	Noun	6691	Non-academic
dinner	Noun	5858	Fiction
expenditure	noun	5408	Misc
injury	Noun	4556	Academic
persons	Noun	3943	Academic
charity	Noun	3627	Newspaper
Cotton	Noun	2348	Magazine
virtue	noun	1817	Academic
vegetables	noun	1750	Magazine
praise	noun	1563	Misc
beef	Noun	1481	Magazine
supper	Noun	1390	Fiction
fragments	noun	1317	Academic
creditors	Noun	1106	Academic
instinct	noun	1057	Fiction
yarn	noun	866	Magazine
impulse	Noun	713	Fiction
baked	Noun	644	Fiction
skins	Noun	623	Magazine
Housewife	Noun	621	Non-academic
readiness	Noun	583	Non-academic
woollen	Noun	488	Fiction
stockings	Noun	453	Fiction
housekeeping	Noun	341	Magazine
stew	Noun	325	Fiction
mince	noun	295	Spoken
coals	Noun	248	Coals
lard	noun	84	Magazine
avarice	noun	49	Fiction
sundries	noun	16	Misc
per	Preposition	52333	Non-academic
ensure	Verb	10137	Misc
employed	verb	5001	Academic
collected	verb	3442	Academic
thrown	Verb	2861	Fiction
saving	Verb	2310	misc
gathering	verb	1811	Fiction
recommend	Verb	1754	Magazine
purchased	verb	1664	Magazine
knitting	Verb	1611	Magazine
laying	Verb	1322	Fiction (just)
earning	verb	1133	Newspaper then spoken
knit	verb	1081	Magazine (by far)
deserves	Verb	883	Magazine then newspaper
overlooked	Verb	797	Academic
owes	verb	631	Academic and newspaper
tending	Verb	423	Non-academic
despised	Verb	399	Fiction
minced	Verb	88	Magazine
obeys	Verb	48	Non-academic

 

Notes: 40 nouns, 19 verbs, 14 adjectives, 7 adverbs, 1 conjunction, 1 preposition

 

American	3
cents	3
dollars	3
lb	3
Oil	3
soda	3