This pamphlet is the second in a series of ten stemming from the view that language is central to learning, that teachers can gain insights into their work and into learning by examining the language of the classroom, and that current language theory can be the means to such insights. The pamphlet contains a description of a study designed to discover how talk enabled four secondary school students to comprehend the meaning embedded in difficult readings. It includes the procedures followed; selections from transcripts emphasizing the successful techniques used by the students, as well as the problems they encountered, in a discussion of a prose work; and selections from a transcript of a discussion of a poem in which the teacher participated. Among the results cited are that shared personal experiences led to relevancy; that through use, vocabulary was internalized; and that students relied on each other rather than on an authority to discover meaning. Other findings reported are that an apparent nonparticipant in the discussions actually played an active role and that the students' attempts at word analysis sometimes led to confusion. The prose selection and the poem used for the study are appended. (FL)