A Fresh look at the basics

This book takes a fresh look at the basic idea of 'literacy' and proposes some new definitions to take us into the twenty- first century. It brings together nine Australian scholars of distinction. They argue that schools must teach explicitly the nature of language, and that students must be given clear criteria for, and support in achieving, excellence in controlling the different types of written language used in their various fields of study. Teachers need a clear sense of the changing nature of literacy, of the differences between speech and writing, and of the characterstic patterns of discourse used in the school subjects they teach. The arguments about literacy are made using examples selected from students' writing and textbooks, and demonstrate in a pleasing way the benefit to education of some selected linguistic research. This book is essential reading for educational policy makers and curriculum writers, as well as for teachers of all levels and disciplines.