ABSTRACT
One of the most interesting developments in discourse studies in the past two decades has been the predominant use of genre theory, not only to the description of language in use, but also to the teaching and learning of language in context, where it has been effectively used at various levels of language teaching, from the elementary and secondary school levels to the tertiary and university levels and beyond to workplace and other professional contexts (Candlin, 1993). Whenever a concept has such a range of applications to contexts as diverse as those mentioned, it is only natural that there would be variations in interpretation, use, and values attached to individual interpretations and applications. Grabe’s chapter on “Narrative and Expository Macro-Genres’’ is no exception in this respect. In his comprehensive account of two macro-genres, he identifies two major issues: first, the issue of the direction in which genre research as gone and, second, that of pedagogical application. Let me take up these issues one at a time.
