A study tested the hypothesis that educational differences experienced by children from minority and nonmainstream cultural backgrounds are caused by the discrepancy between the expectations, strategies, and schemata used at home and the cognitive and motivational demands of the classroom--a discrepancy not experienced by children from the mainstream culture. The study examined the cultural and situational differences in one aspect of communication: the use of internal report, or words used to refer to internal states, processes, or experiences. Conversations produced by 39 preschool children from different socioeconomic and racial backgrounds were recorded in two different situations--dinnertime at home and during teacher directed activity at preschool. The conversations produced a complex picture concerning the use of internal report. Although few effects of race or socioeconomic status were found in the internal report use by the adults in the target children's environment, the internal report use by the black children gave some support to the hypothesis under investigation. (FL)