CensusAtSchool: Languages Spoken by Students


Did you know, in 2013, 11.8 per cent of the 23,745 students who completed the CensusAtSchool Questionnaire were born overseas? Did you also know that Arabic is the most common language spoken by Australian students after English? These interesting statistics, and more, can be found in the rich data collected by the CensusAtSchool Questionnaire.

Australia is a country rich in multiculturalism and this is reflected in the data collected by the questionnaire. This data is particularly relevant as, in any given classroom, there are bound to be students who can speak a language other than English. This presents an exciting opportunity for students to explore the cultures of their peers.

Here are some fast facts:

• Besides English (87.3 per cent), the top languages spoken by students were Arabic (1.4 percent), Mandarin (1.3 percent) and Cantonese (1.1 percent).
• Since 2008 there has been an increase in the number of languages spoken by students. In 2008, 20.6 per cent of females and 19.6 per cent of male students could speak two languages. In 2013 this number increased to 26.8 per cent of female students and 22.8 per cent of male students being able to speak two languages.
• In 2013, 6.7 per cent of female students could speak three languages compared to 4.3 per cent in 2008.

How can I find this data? This data can be found using either the Random Sampler or the National Time Series Tables. These resources can be found on the CensusAtSchool home page.

Idea for the classroom: Is your class a typical Australian class?

Since 2008, CensusAtSchool data indicates the number of children speaking only one language has declined, while the number of children speaking two or more languages has increased.

1. Make a prediction: will the number of languages spoken by members in your class be similar to a random sample, or the Australian population? What percentage of students do you expect in your class to speak one language. What percentage of students in your class do you expect will speak more than one language?

2. Conduct a survey: conduct a survey of your class asking the question 'In how many languages can you hold an everyday conversation?' Record your results in a frequency table with a separate column for girls and boys. For an example see the frequency table of the CensusAtSchool National Time Series Table 5: Number of spoken languages by sex (%). Compare your prediction to your results from your class survey. Was your prediction correct? Why/Why not?

3. Take a Random Sample: use the CensusAtSchool Random Sampler to get data of number of languages. Make sure you get a random sample of the same number of students as your survey. Record your results in a frequency table with a separate column for girls and boys.

4. Compare samples: Compare your class survey results with the results from the random sampler. Are they similar? Why/why not?

5. Compare your samples to the population: compare your results from your class survey and the results from the random sampler to the CensusAtSchool population using CensusAtSchool National Time Series Table 5: Number of spoken languages by sex (%). Compare your survey results, and the random sample results, with the National Time Series table. Describe any differences and similarities between your two samples compared to the National Time Series table.

6. What would happen next? If you took more random samples, do you think you would get different or similar results to what you already have? Explain why.