This article discusses the development of a unified social theory of genrelearning based on the integration of rhetorical genre studies, activity theory,
and the situated learning perspective. The article proposes that these three
theoretical perspectives are compatible and complementary, and it illustrates
applications of a unified framework to a study of genre learning by novice
engineers. The author draws examples from a longitudinal qualitative study
of a group of novice engineers who developed their professional genre
knowledge through both academic and workplace experiences. These examples
illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed framework for the study of
professional genre learning.