The traditional grammar-based teaching of English was downgraded years ago, but teaching grammar, punctuation and spelling is back on the agenda. Submissions have recently closed on Kevin Rudd’s new national English curriculum, which aims to restore grammar and language along with literacy and literary studies to the Australian classroom. But many might argue that the ability to correctly form sentences and the lack of understanding of nouns, verbs and adjectives is not the disadvantage it once was, and that the old-fashioned method at the level of the sentence compromises critical literacy, which is even more important. Neil James, Mark Tredinnick, Michael Meehan and Dominic Knight debate the issue.
Neil James is Executive Director of the Plain English Foundation, which combines plain English training, editing and evaluation with a public campaign for clearer public language.
His latest book, Writing at Work critiques how public language is used and abused, and suggests how it can be radically improved. This draws on Neil’s work developing and presenting writing workshops to more than 5,000 professionals Australia-wide.
Neil is the editor of Writers on Writing and The Complete Sentimental Bloke. He has also published over 50 articles and essays on language and literature in publications as diverse as the Times Literary Supplement and the Daily Telegraph. Neil also speaks regularly about public language in the national media.
MARK TREDINNICK (LOCAL) MARK TREDINNICK is a poet, essayist and writing teacher. He lives and writes in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, where he runs the Cowshed Classes. Much of Mark’s writing engages with landscape and literature - with the syntax of places and the ecology of paragraphs. Mark’s awards include the Newcastle Poetry Prize, the Blake Poetry Prize, the Calibre Essay Prize and the Wildcare Nature Writing Prize. His seven books include The Land’s Wild Music, The Little Red Writing Book, The Little Green Grammar Book, The Road South and The Blue Plateau.
marktredinnick.com.au
MICHAEL MEEHAN (INTERSTATE) MICHAEL MEEHAN studied law at the University of Adelaide, and literature at Monash and Cambridge Universities. He has taught in universities in many countries in Europe and Asia, and is a professor and former head of the School of Communication and Creative Arts at Deakin University. His novels have been published in Australia, the UK and the US, and he won the NSW Premier's Award for Fiction in 2000 with his first novel, The Salt of Broken Tears. His latest novel is Deception.
DOMINIC KNIGHT (LOCAL) DOMINIC KNIGHT is a founding member of the hit television team The Chaser, and has appeared in a number of their programs including CNNNN. These days, he prefers to stay behind the scenes and focus on writing (unless the rest of the team have all been arrested and then he has to be out in front of the public). Disco Boy is his first novel.
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