This book, according to the editor, “took shape from discussions among language teacher educators” who were interested in “reconceptualizing and redefining their practices” (p. 3) in order to reflect a shift from viewing language learning as an object to be dissected on paper to a view of language learning as discourses embedded in and shaped by situated social situations. It was, therefore, not surprising to discover that the chapters in this edited volume are all framed within a common sociocultural perspective that views language not as monolithic but as composed of many different social languages or discourses. Traditionally, language instruction, whether it be the teaching of traditional foreign languages, English as a foreign language or English as a second language, has focused on teaching grammatical structures and has been centered around teaching one correct form.

The book begins with a list of the contents followed by the editor's acknowledgements. Author biographies up to the year 2004 are then presented. The chapters vary in length from 19 to 36 pages. The book concludes with an index of authors' names and subjects.

Five of the authors come from American institutions, one from Australia, and two from Johannesburg, South Africa. Thus, the reader is exposed to diverse perspectives and experiences. Especially interesting is the first chapter by Gee. His chapter provides a framework for the contents of the six other chapters. Gee argues for a change in how we speak of learning languages and recommends instead using the terms “social languages and discourses” to better describe what actually occurs in verbal and nonverbal human interactions. The author of the second chapter, Stein, elaborates on what Gee describes as knowing how to play the game, not only knowing the game. Developing the skills to play the game demands a different view of language teaching that moves away from teaching the rules (of the language) to teaching how to use the rules to achieve specific objectives. Writing about the challenges in teacher training in the post-apartheid education system, Stein describes two projects with two different groups of teachers in training, one mostly white, the other mostly black. To frame the two projects, she deliberately invokes new notions of literacies, defining them as performances based on archival data and visual literacy. She argues that academic literacy—linguistic literacy—is simply one type of literacy and that teachers need to use the lived experiences of pre- and post-apartheid lives as learning resources.

Shifting continents, we next read of challenges of designing the type of curriculum that would both fulfill the demands of state mandates and at the same time reflect students' interests, values, and experiences. Using a geographic metaphor of rippling waters and shifting sands, Willet and Miller try to capture the uneasiness and instability of educational attempts to bring about systemic reform through curriculum rewriting and student input.

In chapter 4, Hawkins examines what happens when students engage in extended class activities using a listserve to discuss issues relating to linguistic and cultural differences of students from other backgrounds. She argues that one of the benefits of the listserve is to allow space for previously passive students to interact with each other, with native as well as nonnative speakers of American English. She recommends the use of instructional technology as an effective mediational tool for promoting meaningful classroom discussion.

In the final chapter of this book, Freeman ties the preceding chapters together and puts forward a three point argument: the need for us to question the technology of subject matter (what is taught), the need for us to examine the architecture of instruction (how we teach—do we package and deliver, for example), and the need to rethink teacher education from outside in and inside out.

This volume is framed within sociocultural views of language learning and has much in common with socioconstructivist and poststructuralist theories that examine the interrelationships between language, identity, culture, and context. This edited volume adds to those discussions that challenge traditional views of language learning and language teaching. It should find a cherished place on teacher educators' bookshelves.