[ElleJay]

I fully agree with this article - Australia's literacy levels are so poor compared to other developed countries. This is even reflected on the banners that scroll across the bottom of the tv screen during the news segments - so much misspelling! My pet hate is "less" and "fewer". Less is singular - less traffic - while fewer is plural - fewer cars. I've even sent an email to a make-up company about the misuse of less - less wrinkles - in their catalogue!

Yes, I also hate the use of "less" when it should be "fewer". Too many people who should know better, like TV news reporters, say "less people" when it should be "fewer people".

 

[ElleJay]

I love good grammar, spelling and punctuation. However I went through high school in the 1970s, when education went through a "hippie" phase and we were taught no formal grammar at all. English classes consisted mostly of writing our own stories, poetry and plays. I learned grammar by being an avid reader and having a keen interest in language. I know very few formal grammar rules, but I can often tell something is wrong simply because it looks or sounds wrong.

 

[ChrisTasmania]

I taught Conversational English for 15 years in a Chinese University. They had specific teachers for Grammar there. I am ashamed of the literacy rate in Australia, a supposed first world nation, as well as the way Australians generally speak and write. The students I taught had a good grasp of between 3-5 languages. When I returned to Australia, I was constantly asking people to repeat themselves, as I had no idea what they were saying. Even with people my own age (68), I discovered they have poor spelling, grammar and comprehension skills. Yes, I'm sounding like an old f@rt, but check the literacy statistics in Australia before you make a comment.

 

[Pat T]

In grade 5 , 1958 (10 years old) , homework was 6 new words. We had to use them in sentences, then tested next day on their spelling. Then each word was analysed in subject, predicate, noun, verb ,adverb, preposition, conjunction etc. A couple of years ago I had a Korean student boarding with me and was surprised to see that she was being educated the same way that we were. She spoke very good English (better than my kids), and 4 other languages.

 

[terri]

And also these days the use of the 'I' and 'me". It more often than not is used incorrectly. Once upon a time it was the other way around. So irritating. But I think we are fighting a losing battle to get the younger generation to understand grammar. I know someone who consistenly writes 'use' as a plural form of 'you'. You has not, and never will be plural, and it certainly isn't spelt 'use'.

 

[ElizaKaye]

I feel ashamed whenever I hear or read the incorrect grammar or spelling in our news readers, papers and magazines. I think it is one of t he most import subjects that children should learn at school. The trouble is a lot of school teachers don't know the difference.

 

[mylittletibbies]

Spelling is my biggest peeve. My husband calls me "the spelling police".
There are so many signs around these days with incorrect spelling. A sign needs to go through the originator of the sign, the sign maker and, you would think, a proof reader but no one picks up these spelling errors.
I remember, when at school, we would have to write a composition and woe and behold any spelling errors, they would come back with big red crosses through them and you would usually have to write these words out correctly 20, or sometimes, 50 times, to ensure you remembered how to spell them the next time.
I think good spelling skills come from reading,of which we did a lot as young children, before TV.

 

[CatheA]

Learning grammar is just as important as it always was but the way we teach it has changed​

Many students are returning to school this year face a renewed focus on grammar. Just before Christmas, the NSW curriculum was overhauled to include the “explicit teaching of grammar, sentence structure and punctuation in high school”.

This comes amid concerns about literacy levels, particularly among teenage boys. Last month, a major Productivity Commission report on schools also criticised nationwide literacy (and numeracy) standards.

With so many online tools now available to help us write, why is grammar still important?

What is grammar?​

Grammar is the backbone of any language. We use the rules of grammar to structure words into sentences and sentences into longer speech and writing others can understand us.

View attachment 13030
Grammar is the backbone of any language. Syd Wachs/Unsplash​

Examples of grammatical rules in English are locating an adjective before the noun to which it refers, and using “who” to refer to previously-mentioned human subjects in a sentence.

There is no universal system of grammar rules. For example, in French, adjectives usually follow the noun to which they refer, and it forms the future tense differently from English. Grammar rules are only useful when all users of the language know how to use them.

In English you can also express the one idea in several different ways. Suppose you want to tell someone about an event. You could say “Bill pushed Tom”, “Tom was pushed by Bill”, “It was Bill who pushed Tom”, or “Bill pushed Tom, didn’t he?” These examples differ in the grammatical rules they use.

The actual grammatical rules we use at any time depend on the social context. How we talk about an idea with colleagues may differ from how we talk about the same idea at home. We also write and speak in different ways.

Does it matter?​

Many older people will recall being explicitly taught grammar at school. But this fell out of fashion because it was judged to be relatively ineffective in enhancing the use of grammar in spoken or written communication.

You may believe that with AI tools – such as writing assistant Grammarly – and computers, we don’t need to learn grammar.

But learning grammar is as important as it always was. To use grammar, the rules need to be in our brains, not in our hands. Devices can assist our brains but not replace them.

Without grammar, it is hard to communicate effectively. We might, for example, recognise individual words in what someone says but we would be less able to understand the links between them.

Research suggests children’s grammar predicts their reading comprehension later. For example, grammatical knowledge at four years of age predicts reading comprehension two years later. It also affectschildren’s social competence, self-confidence and identity, because it helps them see that they can communicate meaningfully and get positive feedback for what they say.

How do children learn it?​

We can learn grammar both by immersion and by explicit teaching, that is, simply by experiencing its use in specific situations and by specific instruction.

Young children learn grammatical knowledge gradually. Most children begin to say and understand strings of two and three words around the age of two, without specific teaching. They learn it by being exposed to language in their everyday environment.

View attachment 13031
Children begin to learn grammar from young age. Shutterstock​

The speech they hear is usually accompanied by meaningful actions in particular events. For example, they hear “more milk?” when milk is being offered. The actions help them learn how to fit the language to the meaning or function.

What they say and understand shows they can use grammatical rules or patterns. However, they are usually unable to say precisely what these rules are.

Some linguists believe immersion works because the human brain has an innate capacity to learn language.

Gradually children learn more complex grammatical structures. Older children and adults may not become aware of the explicit rules of grammar – and this isn’t necessary to use them.

How can you teach it?​

Many readers may have been taught grammar by analysing random sentences into their component parts. At school, you may have had to identify the nouns or adverbs and to arrange them accordingly.

But this approach had little impact on literacy or oral language development.

There are lots of different ways to teach grammar but effective teaching today uses the following techniques:

• it takes account of the grammatical patterns and rules the child already uses
• it introduces grammatical rules in specific contexts or events that are meaningful for the child. If you are teaching the passive voice, and using the example of the “cat chased the dog” show a picture of a picture of where a cat chases a dog
• acting out sentences using a new rule as the first step in learning the new rule
• arranging a set of words into sentence using the new rule
• helping the student use the new rule in their everyday speech and writing to show they understand it.

The aim is to teach both the rules and to help students use them in their everyday communication.

If you want to help your child with grammar, talk to your child’s teacher. They can direct you to most appropriate materials (there are plenty online) that are relevant to what your child already knows and work with what is being done at school.

This article was first published on The Conversation, and was written by John Munro, Professor, Faculty of Education and Arts, Australian Catholic University

I can’t stand the use of ‘yous’ instead of you (plural).
Also we now have those of a certain gender not wanting to be ‘he’ or ‘she’ but referring to themselves as ‘they’. They is plural. I read an article where ‘they’ were kidnapped and held hostage. I was so confused when there was only one person rescued??? Where were the rest of ‘they’?

 

[MHM]

In Australia, the most significant problem that we encounter with grammar is the importation of American language styles via magazines, books, films, videos and most of all websites. These importations are often picked up and used by Australian journalists who consider the use to be fashionable, most often to the detriment to their users.
It seems that educationalists (and following on from them, teachers) are inclined to adopt the "Americanese", for whatever reason (laziness is my explanation).
I do not accept that use of standard Australian lingual and literal styles is any worse that those of any other population which uses English as its first language.
From my perspective it is the failure of educationalists and, following on from them, teachers to revert to a disciplined approach so that students (and others) can distinguish between "proper" English language and colloquialism.

 

[Annie]

All those people out there who cannot compose a correctly spelled and properly constructed piece of writing for their posts on various websites should know that those of us who know how to spell and correctly use grammar rules, automatically think ‘ this person is not very bright‘. Whenever someone misspells words they are announcing to the world that they are not smart enough to know their own language.

 

[Jumping Jack Flash]

English was my favourite school subject; I would receive an A+ each exam.
It really irks me when the written word is spelt incorrectly or a sentence is grammatically incorrect OR whole paragraph does not make sense!
Australian schools need to go back to the basic - reading/writing/arithmetic AND employ QUALIFIED teachers (possibly 'old school') who know the value of the written word and will not sprout nonsense like 'climate change', gender issue, the Voice, etc. etc......like what the younger woke teachers of today are doing - talk about indoctrination (of the gullible)
Regarding discipline - bring back the strap!