Grammar needs hip operation The Australian - January 28, 2009 FOR many over-50s, the word "grammar" conjures memories of stultifying lessons in parsing and analysis, red marks over a composition, the faint odour of unhappiness in classrooms. For younger ones, it suggests the lost knowledge teachers reach for in moments of difficulty with a sentence. Either way, she seems a dated dame. As the national curriculum party gathers, grammar arrives, blowsy in her '50s-style dress, keen to reacquaint herself with old friends in English. There are few familiar faces: media teachers raving about the performance poetry of Taalam Acey or the YouTube cartoon called "Beached Whale", functional linguists talking to critical literacy "experts" and post-structuralists arguing about problems of logocentrism in English. The old girl might dismiss them as riff-raff but even she would recognise that English has changed since she was last at the party. Students study Shakespeare's plays in folio and film, essayist argument and the blog, the novel and the website. It's crowded inhere! But it's not all beer and skittles at this party. Australia is distinctive among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries for its long tail of students who are unable to process - much less understand - the texts of which English brags. And problems of access are not confined to students in low socioeconomic enclaves. Even middle-class parents find it increasingly difficult to help their children produce successful assignments in a discipline so different from the one they studied. And, so, grammar is back; hauled out of retirement to help, no, to party. (To read the whole article, go to - http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24971662-12332,00.html ) ----------------------------------------------- ** Etni homepage - http://www.etni.org or - http://www.etni.org.il ** ** for help - ask@xxxxxxxx ** ** to post to this list - etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ** -----------------------------------------------