The Powers of Literacy: A Genre Approach to Teaching Writing.

Documenting an educational experiment that began in Sydney, Australia, this book presents essays by theorists and practitioners in the genre literacy movement that describe this approach to literacy instruction in a clear, practical, and accessible way. The book notes that the genre approach to literacy teaching emphasizes content, structure, and sequence in literacy learning, moving beyond traditional literacy pedagogies (which stress formal correctness) and beyond the process pedagogies (which stress "natural" learning through "doing" writing). After an introduction ("How a Genre Approach to Literacy Can Transform the Way Writing Is Taught" by Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis), chapters in the book are (1) "Genre as Social Process" (Gunther Kress); (2) "Histories of Pedagogy, Cultures of Schooling" (Mary Kalantzis and Bill Cope); (3) "The Power of Literacy and the Literacy of Power" (Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis); (4) "Gender and Genre: Feminist Subversion of Genre Fiction and Its Implications for Critical Literacy" (Anne Cranny-Francis); (5) "A Contextual Theory of Language" (J. R. Martin); (6) "Grammar: Making Meaning in Writing" (J. R. Martin and Joan Rothery); (7) "Curriculum Genres: Planning for Effective Teaching" (Frances Christie); (8) "Genre in Practice" (Mike Callaghan and others); and (9) "Assessment: A Foundation for Effective Learning in the School Context" (Mary Macken and Diana Slade). A Bibliographic essay ("Developing the Theory and Practice of Genre-based Literacy by Bill Cope and others), a glossary of terms, and a 16-page bibliography are attached. (RS)