Arguing that being "literate" carries a different expectation from even the recent past, this book asserts that schools must explicitly teach 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. The arguments about literacy in this book use examples selected from students' writing and textbooks, and demonstrate the benefit to education of some selected linguistic research. Chapters are as follows: "The Changing Face of Literacy" (Frances Christie); "Is Learning to Read and Write the Same as Learning to Speak?" (Jennifer Hammond); "Authorizing Disadvantage: Authorship and Creativity in the Language Classroom" (Pam Gilbert);"Literacy in Science: Learning to Handle Text as Technology" (Jim Martin); "Literacy in the Social Sciences" (Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis); "On Literacy and Gender" (Janet White); "Literacy for Learners of English as a Second Language" (Lynn Wales); and "Literacy in the Curriculum: Planning and Assessment" (Frances Christie and Joan Rothery). An annotated list of further readings for each chapter is included. (RS)