This compilation includes the following essays: (1) "Conversational Inference and Classroom Learning" (John J. Gumperz); (2) "Persuasive Talk--The Social Organization of Children's Talk" (Jenny Cook-Gumperz); (3) "Ethnography--The Holistic Approach to Understanding Schooling" (Frank W. Lutz); (4) "Triangulated Inquiry--A Methodology for the Analysis of Classroom Interaction" (Maurice J. Sevigny); (5) "Issues Related to Action Research in the Classroom--The Teacher and Researcher as a Team" (Cynthia Wallat and others); (6) "Entering the Child's World--Research Strategies for Field Entry and Data Collection in a Preschool Setting" (William A. Corsaro); (7) "When is a Context? Some Issues and Methods in the Analysis of Social Competence" (Frederick Erickson and Jeffrey Shultz); (8)"Mapping Instructional Conversations--A Sociolinguistic Ethnography" (Judith L. Green and Cynthia Wallat); (9) "Cultural and Situational Variation in Language Function and Use--Methods and Procedures for Research" (William S. Hall and Larry F. Guthrie); (10) "Social Dominance and Conversational Interaction--The Omega Child in the Classroom" (Olga K. Garnica); (11) "Analysis of Teacher-Student Interaction--Expectations Communicated by Conversational Structure" (Louise Cherry Wilkinson); (12) "Discussion--Needed Directions in Face-to-Face Interaction in Educational Settings" (Barbara Hutson); (13) "Beyond Instructional Context Identification--Some Thoughts for Extending the Analysis of Deliberate Education" (Normand R. Bernier); and (14) "Inference in Preschool Children's Conversations--A Cognitive Perspective" (Carl H. Frederiksen). (JB)