This book is a sophisticated analysis of the teacher's role and authority in postmodern academic settings. Xin Liu Gale argues that the teacher's authority is inevitable and indispensable in effective teaching, and that, furthermore, it is necessary for "symbolic imposition." The author insists that teachers and scholars should explore how the teacher's authority functions in the pedagogic context and how it can help students develop critical literacy.

Influenced by the works of Mikhail Bakhtin, Pierre Bourdieu, Jean-Claude Passeron, Paulo Freire, Richard Rorty, and various poststructuralist theorists, Gale investigates the complex relationships among the teacher's and the institution's authority, the teacher's discourse(s) and social and pedagogic roles, and students' discourse(s) and diverse backgrounds. She then proposes a two-level interactional model of teaching that is based on a new discourse relationship characterized by the "edifying" role of the teacher.