This paper reviews studies on classroom talk and on mother-child interaction; it compares the latter with classroom talk and speculates on what language in the classroom could be. The discussion of language in the classroom revolves around: (1) the speech situation, that is, a situation organized in terms of some nonverbal activity; (2) the speech event, that is, one directly governed by rules or norms for the use of speech; and (3) particular speech acts. The analysis of discourse at home finds the closest similarity between classroom and home in language games with infants and picture-book reading. Studies on these activities are reviewed and related to Vygotsky's concept of the "zone of proximal development." The examples of speech in the home are discussed in terms of their relationship to later speech development. The research reviewed in the previous sections is applied to language in the classroom with emphasis on the help children get in three activities, namely, answering teacher questions, participating in typical classroom-lesson discourse structure, and other discourse forms. (AMH)