This book provides an excellent introduction to recent developments in genre analysis and related pedagogies. Although it assumes some background knowledge of applied linguistics and genre studies, the volume should be of interest to writing researchers as well as professors who teach the teaching of writing and other courses dealing with genre-related issues. The book is also suitable for any serious Master's or doctoral student with an interest in genre issues, whether for the purposes of scholarly investigation, teaching, or both.

The text is divided into sections, each of which contains two or three thematically related chapters. These sections are preceded by an introduction written by the editor that provides a concise entry into each sectional topic. The seven sections (“The Sydney School,” “Related Approaches,” “English for Specific Purposes,” “Bridging Text and Context,” “The New Rhetoric,” “Pedagogical Quandaries,” and “Conclusion and Response”) contain chapters by authors in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

On the basis of her experiences attending genre theory conferences (which tended to lack information on pedagogical implications of the work being discussed), the editor decided “that we practitioners needed a volume that focused on pedagogy in which the various important theoretical camps were represented” (p. i). This goal has been accomplished: There are indeed a wide variety of perspectives represented here, which range from largely theoretical or research-based background information with implications for practice to very practical classroom-based illustrations and applications of the theoretical concepts. However, the two foci are not sharply divided but rather blend together smoothly and support each other.

In the former group, for instance, in addition to the introduction, we find the chapters by Johns (on the need to destabilize the existing genre theories of college freshmen as they begin to undertake university-level writing responsibilities) and by Grabe (contrasting narrative and expository approaches to writing). In the latter group, which makes up the bulk of the volume, the chapters about applications and illustrations are well motivated by theory and well supported by research findings. These include Macken-Horarik's paper on teaching genre in secondary school science, Feez's historical description of genre in Australia's Adult Migrant Education Program curriculum, Paltridge's detailed discussion of genre and text-types in an English for academic purposes curriculum at the University of Auckland, Flowerdew's work with Middle Eastern science and engineering university students, Swales's discussion of teaching the literature review, Samraj's chapter about teaching writing in content courses on resource policy and wildlife behavior, Adam and Artemeva's use of writing students' e-mail exchanges to exemplify problem solving and collaborative learning, Coes's description of teaching students to write political briefs, Guleff's work with university sociology students who must write an ethnographic paper, and Dudley-Evans's work with business students who must write essays. Still others (e.g., Hyon's study of a university-level reading and vocabulary course or Pang's investigation into textual analysis and contextual awareness building as two approaches for teaching genre) report on new research findings related to or directly based on pedagogical practices.

Four of the chapters contain clear appendixes with copies of research instruments or teaching activities. These will be helpful to readers who wish to replicate these studies or practices in their own contexts.

The last section of the book is particularly interesting. It contains a provocative paper by Grabe, which argues for “a general two-part distinction between narrative and expository prose” (p. 253). He draws on research literature from cultural psychology, learning theory, educational psychology, cognitive psychology, educational linguistics, and applied linguistics corpus analyses. Three other authors (Martin, Bhatia, and Berkenkotter) respond to Grabe's position—each raising concerns and arguing for their own positions. Each of the three respondents critique Grabe's argument but from very different perspectives. Perhaps calling this section “Conclusion and Responses” is misleading. Although it is the concluding section of the book, it raises as many questions as it answers and promises interesting future debates at conferences and in print.

One additional strength of the volume as a whole is that every chapter contains a thorough review of the relevant literature. The reference list for the entire book is 43 pages long. This broad coverage suggests that the book would be an ideal starting place for dissertation- or thesis-level research.